Short for Artisinal Electronics, these products are based on small electronics systems designed to scratch a particular itch. They aren't made to be high volume, standard consumer electronics. These are mostly based on a couple of generic items that are then customized for a particular function and replicated as needed.
Tired of only seeing the birds at the feeder when you're doing dishes? I was. So I built something about it. The birdcam uses a raspberry pi with its camera to run the thing. An adapter board provides a power link over the ethernet cable that makes it visable from whatever wherever. The adapter board can also provide a link to a variety of Generic boards or others that conform to the *system* imposed upon them from this dastardly unit.
The birdcam takes snapshots whenever activity occurs in its field of view. The results of this heinous surveillance are available over the web, of course.
A basic processor with all the goodies that make it actually do something useful. Supporting a RS-485 half-duplex communications link and an unregulated power connection through a 4 wire communications link, this unit provides a large amount of simple, round holes. These can be used to add all kinds of electronic circuitry to provide whatever I/O capabilities you'd like to the module. The board can be mounted inside a DIN mount plastic enclosure to further enhance its respectibility.
What more is there to say? This beauty comes with not one, not two, not even three completely separate current controlled channels but FOUR! Twelve amazing bits of resolution - more than 1 amp of current per channel! Truly amazing and so is the damn price! Way over designed and with simply ridiculous specifications these things will take your breath away. And possibly light your way to the other side.
This module is a simple interface to a common small touchscreen ready to be installed in a surface mount conduit enclosure. Designed primarily to control the infamous lamps referenced above, this unit can be reprogrammed to do whatever the hell you want! Most of the thing is a purchased touchscreen module with lots of existing software. What is provided is that and an adapter board based on the Generic so that it can hang on the string.
Want to record your prespective on the coming (here?) weather apocalypse? There's a blog for that somewhere else. What this does is record data provided by devices. Its designed to connect to a rather inexpensive rain gauge, wind vane and anemometer (speed) measuring system. It also provides connections to record temperature and humidity. It drops into a specially modified DIN mount enclosure perfect for mounting in a nice weather rated plastic box or dangling from wires out in the air. It'll still work but the length of that working time will be very different.
This is yet another module based on the Generic (yes, it's a pattern, duh) that uses a separate RS-485 bus to talk to a Samlex AC Power Inverter. It can extract the current AC volts, amps, frequency, watts, and power factor along with the over-voltage and over-temperature alarms. It only works on the 1500 and 3000 watt inverters and is likely to fail if they decide to change the design - their interface specification is not published. I made it work for me and maybe you can make it work for you. No guarantees.
Based on the Generic this device provides a lot of connections to a bunch of stuff. There are two 4 to 20mA powered current loop connections, two DC relay drivers, an analog temperature sensor connection, two AC current sensors, and a pwm-controlled, tach sensed switched power fan connection. It's kind of a mess. The temperature sensor can be used to drive the fan. At least, it does it now. The rest is either logged or operated on by a remote entity.
The prototype for this is where the Generic was spawned. The circuitry of the Generic comprises about 25% of the total and after doing that once it seemed pretty stupid to keep doing this by hand for .every. .single. .module. that was foreseen. This module controls a high speed blower that pushes air between the two sheets of plastic that form the roof of a greenhouse. It has circuitry for protecting the fan from over and under voltage situations along with over current. It can control the fan speed and monitor the tachometer on the fan. And just to be silly, it can also monitor the air pressure inside the plastic sheets using a pressure to voltage sensor. A little bit of coding and the loop could be closed with the pressure driving the fan. Ain't done it yet but its possible.
Yet another prototype that inspired building a Generic with a larger footprint in mind. This won't fit in the smaller enclosure and uses the next size up. It could probably fit in the smaller one if standard screw terminal aren't used for the various feedbacks. The module controls a large 24VDC high speed fan and the exhaust louvers it throws air at. It provide high amperage PWM control of the fan motor proper along with tach connections for that fan (that never worked right since it was a poorly done optical tach - next try is a hall effect!) along with bidirection motor control for opening and closing the louvers. Limit switches provide the fully open and fully closed feedback. The louver motor also has a pot to detect the position of said louvers. Woo hoo! Its lasted a long time having dispatched the first fan motor to the halls of burned out bearings.
This hasn't been used for years but still talks about itself on the network. It controls a submersible low voltage DC pump that pushes water from a big fish tank into a 4 inch PVC tube with holes cut in the top and loaded with gravel. This would periodically be filled then drain out on its own. It also uses pressure sensors to detect the water level within the pipe.
Created : 5 March 2022