IoT Liquor Lights using Spark Core

My whiskey collection was starting to outgrow the space that was allocated for it in the kitchen so I was brainstorming a new place to put them. I love how unique the bottles and colors are for each drink, so I wanted a way to display them. With the help of my girlfriend, we decided to move them into a small bookcase in the corner of our apartment that was mainly used for displaying knickknacks. We decided it would look nice if we could light up the bottles, and I of course needed to connect that light to the internet!

Spark Lamp Update

At the beginning of the year, I posted my Spark Lamp project. It worked fine most of the time but I noticed when I would get home from work and flip the light switch on the wall to turn the lamps on, it would take 10 to 15 seconds before the lights actually turned on. This really started to become an issue when Daylight Savings ended in November and it was dark out when I got home from work.

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Spark Lamp

     There is a light switch on the wall at the entrance of the bedroom in my apartment. You would imagine it would turn on the bedroom lights, but since there are not ceiling lights in the bedroom, it can't do that. What it actually controls is the power to a single receptacle on the wall. In the past, I've had two lamps plugged into this one receptacle. The lamps sit on nightstands on either side of the bed, but there is a problem. Imagine you're getting ready for bed. It's dark out, so as you walk into the bedroom, you flip the light switch on and the lamps come on. Just as expected. Now you're going to bed and you want the lights off - you have two choices: go to the wall and flip the switch again, or individually turn the lamp's power switches off. Of course you're not going to get out of a warm and comfortable bed to flip the light switch so you turn the lamps off. Now here's the dilemma. In the morning, you want the lights back on, right? You have to clumsily reach under both lampshades to turn the lights back on because the light switch won't do squat if the lamps are powered off. That's what this project aims to solve. The light switch will work as any other light switch does - flip it up and both lamps come on and down to turn them both off. Each lamp will have a switch that not only has the ability to turn that lamp on or off, but also to control the other lamp just as easily. And finally, have control of the lights and read their status over the internet. Because this is the future and I want to turn lights on I can't even see. Read on to see how to do it.

Past Few Months

     I noticed I haven't posted anything for four months. Now that I have a job doing electrical engineering, I don't have the same urge to tinker on the nights and weekends. I've still being doing some small things every once and a while, but since I haven't finished any of it yet, I haven't posted anything about them yet.

     I got some new development boards that I've played with. I got two different watches from Texas Instruments. One is Bluetooth (and doesn't seem compatible with any phones made in the last few years) and the other has a 915 MHz radio that I wanted to connect with my home security system (but it has a proprietary wireless stack and I don't want to rewrite it to use with my system. Also, I had to take my security system down after a thunderstorm hit my apartment and destroyed the power system for it.) I also got a TI BLE Sensortag which seems pretty neat, but I need an Apple computer to mess with the iPhone app, so I haven't used it for much of anything. I bought some ATTiny13 chips to work with those programmable LED Christmas lights. I was having a problem using my cheapo programmer to set the clock frequency right, so I stopped working on that. I received my 2 Borderless Electronics Arduino clones. I haven't done anything with it yet but I'm keeping one of them in my car in case a situation comes up where I need to hack something. The creator of the project just launched a part 2 for that project which I decided to back because of how quick and professionally he dealt with the first one. His fundraiser was the best experience I've ever had with a crowd-funding website.

     Last week, I went to a design workshop for work and got to play with a Avnet Wi-Go module so I could use that for an internet-controlled project in the future. I also won one of the new MSP430 Launchpads with the USB HID interface but I have no idea what kind of project I would use that for. The last thing I've been working on is an internet-controlled AC switch that uses the electric imp for it's brains. I need a MOSFET with a Vgs of 3.3V to finish the electronics of the project. I can't believe I have so many electronic parts but can't find a suitable MOSFET. After that, I'll create a 3D-printed case and it should be done. It's pretty simple overall, but I'll still try and write up a blog post on it.

Adjustable RGB LED Color Cube

     I took a sculpture class during my last semester at Penn State so I could meet the required number of credits to graduate. One of the last projects in that class was to create an interactive art installation. I went through a few ideas in my head and doodled them in the Paper app for iPad. You can view the PDF of my ideas here. After I had a good idea of what my design would be, I ordered the parts I did not have on hand from Amazon and eBay. I ordered an Arduino Mega clone, the SainSmart MEGA 2560 Board for Arduino, some Common Cathode RGB LEDs, and some slide potentiometers. I also made a trip to the local hardware store for materials for the overall structure. Before the break is a video explaining the operation of the final project. After the break, I’ll explain how I created the three main pieces to this project - the electronics, the code on the Arduino that controls everything, and the casing for both the base and the controller.

Programming Arduino Bootloader on ATmega328p with ZeptoProg II

     I love creating electronics projects in the most cost effective way. If you're going to use an Arduino in a project, you could embed the whole $30 board, or just the $3 IC chip. Unfortunately, after using just the chip, a brand new ATmega from electronics resellers won't work with the Arduino right off the bat. You have to program the bootloader onto the chip for it to work properly. This blog post will show you how to program the bootloader using a great $20 electronics multitool, the ZeptoProg II, in a few easy steps.

Arduino Diecimila and ZeptoProg II 

Automatic Garden Waterer: Part 2

     This Automatic Garden Waterer project has kept me busy all summer long. Last time I posted about it, I had (mistakenly) thought it was finished, but issues with the solenoid valve caused me to take another path with it and create a new controller. I can confidently say that the new controller, not only functions a lot better, but looks much nicer while doing it. This is my first project using an Arduino, 16x2 character LCD, and 3D printing along with my other skills to create a cohesive product. Below is a video overview of the completed project, and below the break is all the work that occured to make it happen.