Logging Rainforest RAVEn/EMU-2 Data to ThingSpeak (node.js on Raspberry Pi)
Last year, I bought a Rainforest EMU-2 energy monitor. It wirelessly talks via zigbee to the smart energy meter that SCE installed at my house a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, its logging capabilities are rather primitive. All it does is give you a crude bar graph of the current and previous day’s usage. SCE […]
Logging Nest Thermostat Data: Update 1
I have updated my Nest thermostat data logger. The changes are as follows: added fan status, heater status, and AC status. polling interval increased from 15 min to 1 min. data are pushed to ThingSpeak only if at least one field changes. The new node.js code: The corresponding ThingSpeak Channel also needs to have 3 […]
Logging Nest Thermostat Data
I recently had a Nest Thermostat installed at my house for free by my gas company as part of a pilot program that they’re running. It’s a pretty cool device, though I wouldn’t spend $250 to buy one. I like the fact that it’s a lot easier to use than my previous smart thermostat, especially […]
LeafCAN v2 Firmware in Alpha Test
I have been working on v2 of the LeafCAN firmware, which adds a whole slew of new screens, selectable via a rotary encoder. The rotary encoder is connected to the AD0/1/2 pins on the expansion header of the LeafCAN V2 hardware. The code is currently in alpha testing, and is available in the development branch […]
UCTronics 3.2″ TFT LCD Arduino Shield with Touchscreen
Updated 2014-03-14 I’ve been looking for a way to add a touchscreen UI to my projects. To this end, I purchased a UCTronics 3.2″ TFT LCD Arduino Shield. Most of the cheap TFT touchscreens that I found need about 38 pins, and therefore, need to interface with an Arduino Mega. What makes this UCTronics shield unique […]
Build a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) Controlled RGB LED
I have been wanting to play with my RedBearLab BLE Shield for some time, but have been too busy. This weekend, I finally was able to allocate some time to experiment with it. I decided to do something relatively easy as my first project, so as to familiarize myself with the Bluetooth API’s on both […]
LiquidTWI2 v1.1.0 Released
For the Adafruit RGB LCD Shield (MCP23017), I changed the GPIO writing from 16-bit to 8-bits. This increased the library size by 14 bytes, but it’s well worth it, because writing a 47-character string has sped up from 99ms to 76ms on my Arduino Duemilanove – that’s about a 25% increase! This is vs Adafruit’s […]
LiquidTWI2 – A Lean, High Performance I2C LCD Library for Arduino
I have released LiquidTWI2, a lean, high speed I2C LCD Library for Arduino. This library is an extension of the great work done by FalconFour on his LiquidTWI library. Notable additions to LiquidTWI: support for Arduino 1.0+ support for Adafruit RGB LED Shield (MCP23017-based) LiquidTWI2 also supports the Adafruit I2c Backpack (MCP23008-based) in I2C mode. […]
AT90CAN Support for Arduino 1.0+
I have adapted the Arduino AT90CANxx support to work with Arduino 1.0+. Also, I have moved the code to github, so that it will be easier to update. Note that the Arduino 1.0+ support is currently only alpha quality. I have compiled a few sketches, but I also have found some which currently can’t compile. […]
RedBearLab BLE Shield – First Look
SeeedStudio was kind enough to send me a BLE Shield. Designed by RedBearLab and sold by SeeedStudio, the BLE Shield is a convenient way to experiment with Bluetooth Low Energy on an Arduino. Bluetooth Low Energy is a feature of the Bluetooth 4.0 specification, which is aimed primarily at low-power, low-latency wireless applications. Here is […]