So, printed circuit boards – or PCBs to most of the electronics COMMUNITY. My friend and one-time business partner has been designing them for around 35 years so he has been through just about every way of laying out a circuit that there is. This means that he started out…
Electric Iron Soldering Kit
This is much better… I’ve just received a complete “electric Iron Soldering Kit”. Here are links.. US: https://ebay.to/2Hs5tO2 UK: https://ebay.to/2ERnmQY As some of you know, I am waiting to move into our new accommodation and meanwhile much of my tech kit is in cold storage – very frustrating. I have…
A Short Piece About Webmin
When referring to “the script” which installs Node-Red, Mosquitto, SQLite and a host of utilities onto Raspberry Pi and other boards and forms the basis of all of my installs, I rarely mention Webmin, as it is just part of the furniture… however this morning I noted that my test…
Sonoff 4CH PRO R2
It is always exciting to get something new in the post from Itead and the current postbag includes a Sonoff 4CH PRO R2 unit. This enclosed 4-relay switching unit operates from 5-24v or mains (90-264vac) as required and has four uncommitted outputs with normally-closed and normally open options rated at…
USB Soldering Iron TS100
I’ve been kindly sent a rather neat tiny soldering iron my the name of TS100. Here are the links: UK: https://ebay.to/JOYaOC and CA: https://ebay.to/2HrYJQ5 This unit comes in a small box with nothing more than the iron (with tip separated for storage) and an allen key with two spare small…
Home Control ESP Software Branding at Last
For far too long I’ve been sitting watching others give their ESP8266 home control software branding without following the trend. Having just spend umpteen solid hours updating the software, I’m taking the opportunity, merely for clarity, to go with the trend, The ESP8266 software, used extensively here and by blog…
The Script and ESP8266 Code for Beginners
I’m often asked about setting up MQTT, Node-Red etc. on the likes of Raspberry Pi, NanoPi or similar, with a view to controlling ESP8266 devices. Novice readers start here Usually it is difficult for me to see this from a beginner perspective, but having spent 2 months in hospital thanks…
Ruideng UM25C USB Colour Display Tester
You may recall I have, elsewhere in here, blogged about Ruideng power supplies. The Ruideng UM25C USB tester unit comes in a handy metal container without leads. There is almost no info with it but a PDF document is available online. A snug fit in the hand, the UM25C does…
IKALOGIC WS200 and SQ200
In today’s mailbag I received a box containing an IKALOGIC WS200 hand held scope and an SQ200 logic analyser. These French-made units are oscilloscope and logic analyser respectively and they arrived in attractive packaging, directly from IKALOGIC in Limoges, France. Translations to English are spot-on, if only some others used…
Maker Faire Newcastle on 28th 29th April 2018
This year, Maker Faire is at the Science Centre in Newcastle Upon Tyne on 28th and 29th of April. Don’t miss this opportunity to meet up with like-minded enthusiasts, everything from traditional crafts to hi-tech.
Mustool G600 Microscope from Banggood
Some time ago, Banggood send me a Mustool G600 Microscope. The intended use for this was and is as a visual aid when assembling and testing small electronic boards (that’s what I need it for anyway). The scope is excellent for this as it is adjustable from just a few…
More of my Postbag
It could take some time before I’m fully fought up with my various postbags, here is some more: Yokogawa TY720 True RMS Digital Multimeter In the last entry I looked at the UNI-T UT61E Digital Multimeter in this entry I’ll talk about the Yokogawa TY720 True RMS Digital Multimeter. The…
First reviews of 2018
Thanks for your continued patience, everyone. Following on from my little mishap in December, which has effectively prevented me from blogging or making YouTube videos from mid-December onward, I plan to start doing some blog writing with more detailed blogs and videos to follow perhaps in April/May when I’ll also…
Welcoming in 2018
Here we are in 2018 and I’m sure it will be another great year for IOT. It could be a while before I’m back in the driving seat but for those who have been firing in questions about my health, just to let you know that I am still in…
Waiting for Peter, closing out 2017
MrShark at the console, while we’re all waiting for Peter to come back, let’s try to add some new content to the blog 🙂 I’ve a couple of new boards to test, unfortunately they’ve to wait I receive their PSUs… material for an other time 🙂 So, I’ll add some…
Why has Peter been so quiet?
I’m posting this entry on behalf of Peter (my name is Jonathan – a long time friend of Peter who he has mentioned a few times in the blog). Peter says: “Unfortunately last Friday (December 15th) I was taken ill and find myself in hospital. While I am making a…
Another Very Busy Week
I’ve been working on all sorts of projects this week, some more successful than others. I have a new Owon digital Bluetooth multimeter, I’ve done the first of a pair of videos on the Tarantula 3d printer, got my new Doogee Mix 2 smartphone – but first….
ESP8266 Mesh Experiment
In case anyone else (like me) has been sitting on the shelf over this one – and would like to have a go at an ESP8266 mesh… we’ve been having a play. Regular readers may recall I wasted the better part of a year with those AWFUL NRG24L01 boards trying…
Odrvm 4K Action Camera
Slightly out of the normal, I’ll grant you but I thought this was worth doing a short piece on because of an alternative use for this camera. So what we have here is the Odrvm 4K Action Camera, which comes as a complete kit, in my case from Amazon. Here’s…
SI5351 Clock Generator
A short while ago I put together a little poor-person’s signal generator (or signal generator for people who only use them once a year). It is currently waiting for me to drill a tiny box to put it in. Meanwhile of course I’ve taken possession of a FeelTech function generator…