Secretly change settings for your wearable outfits or use this button as a secret prank trigger! Here’s a quick & easy tutorial on how to build and program a “state change switch.” AKA a button that cycles through different settings. It’s super easy and has tons of practical applications! Read Time: ~ 5 min…
What does a baby elephant weigh?* How much impact force does a jump have?? How can you tell if a rain barrel is full without looking inside??? Answer all these questions and more by building your very own Internet of Things (“IoT”) industrial scale using the SparkFun OpenScale board! This project is intended for…
Checking your car battery life, debugging circuits, and finding that pesky short are all super useful functions that can be performed with just one awesome tool: the multimeter! First of all, what the heck is a multimeter?? Excellent setup question! It’s a handheld device with bunch of different electrical meters — hence, multi-meter! Measuring voltage,…
A survey questionnaire come to life! Use (nearly) any object to gather helpful data through an interactive, engaging, and fun multiple-choice survey. This project uses the Makey Makey microcontroller in combination with a Raspberry Pi computer to read in participants’ survey choices and save the results in a text file. Planning & Design! This…
Walking across large, metal pipes in search of urban adventure, my inner voice joked, “Hey, magnet shoes would be handy right about now.” Well, no arguing with that! Off to build my very own magnetic shoes! This tutorial gives an overview of my build process for a magnetic boot prototype in hopes of inspiring you…
Build a portable gas monitor to check for dangerous levels of hazardous gases in your home, community, or on the go and prevent your friends from lighting a cigarette during a gasoline fight.* This tutorial shows you how to build a web-connected “canary” monitor for three hazardous gases: Liquid Propane Gas (“LPG”), Methane (aka natural gas),…
Visualize all those mysterious electronic signals with an oscilloscope! Learn how to build and use a super simple $30 oscilloscope perfect for electronics hobbyist applications. It’s also a great way to get started using some of the fancier oscilloscopes! Reading and Changing the Oscilloscope Display Every oscilloscope has a window that displays the voltage output…
Bring science fiction to life with a personalized light-up outfit! EL wire is a delightfully futuristic-looking luminescent wire that has the added benefit of staying cool, making it ideal for wearable projects. Combining sensors and a microcontroller with EL wire allow for a wide range of feedback and control options. This project uses the SparkFun…
Whether it’s to keep Fido (or in my case, Marley) visible on an adventure or as an awesome all-year-round costume, a light up dog harness is an excellent accessory for your favorite pup. EL wire is a great option for wearable lights. It stays cool, is flexible, and comes in lots of different colors. This…
This is a minimalistic design for a proximity sensor glove: a light-up glove that dims in brightness when an object, or person, is close to the sensor. This project costs less than $10, although it does take some time to build (1 – 2 hrs). This is also a modular design, meaning that it is…
