Category Archives: Random

FlipDot Display

Posted on 2024-10-29 by Nigel VH

FlipDots are a very cool electromechanical display mechanism, and can offer significant power advantages, as they only consume power when changing state. These have been commonly used in roadside construction signs because they’re reliable, and can be easily powered from … Continue reading →

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Grid Frequency Measurement

Posted on 2024-07-16 by Nigel VH

Some recent conversations with a friend regarding instability of the power grid, and particularly the issues they are facing regularly down in California, got me interested in setting up some logging of the local grid frequency. Of course, there are … Continue reading →

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Customizing a Smart Plug – Part 2

Posted on 2024-01-18 by Nigel VH

In the first part of this endeavor, I opened up a some Wyze Plug Outdoor units, and reprogrammed the ESP32 inside with my own control code. These units have been working really well, and I wanted to add some of … Continue reading →

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Holiday Ornament

Posted on 2024-01-17 by Nigel VH

A quick photo of some holiday ornaments I made this year. The boards use RGB LEDs, silkscreen, and gold plating for decoration. The batteries will run it for more than 100 hours of continuous runtime. Made for some good little … Continue reading →

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Measuring Mechanical Clock Accuracy

Posted on 2024-01-17 by Nigel VH

A little while back I was given one of my great grandmother’s mechanical clocks, which appears to be a Seth Thomas from (as best as I can tell) 1906. I remember this clock sitting on the mantle as a kid, … Continue reading →

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