DIY Electronics Projects

Building on the Arduino Distance Sensor project you can now add motion detection to the features of the device. It detects when objects appear in front of the sensor and because it's ultrasonic it will work in the daylight just as well as it does at night. This can be an advantage over passive infra-red detectors. More...

Sensing the proximity of objects can be achieved effectively using ultrasonic echo techniques. Transmitting pulses of ultrasonic sound and measuring the time it takes the echo to return does present us with some interesting challenges however.

The sound can bounce off more than one object at different distances or the pulse is scattered. Sometimes the receiver doesn't even hear the echo. Luckily these problems can be overcome and a useful instrument built using an HC-SR04 ultrasonic transceiver and a little clever software running on an Arduino. More...

Here is a simple one transistor touch switch that you can build easily on a solderless breadboard. Learn how to build a circuit that turns on an LED lamp simply by placing your finger across two wires.

This project illustrates how you can use a transistor as a solid state switch. No moving parts. Exept for your finger of course. More...

Here is a simple two transistor darlington transistor touch switch that you can build easily on a solderless breadboard. This build follows on from the single transistor touch switch project to significantly increase the sensitivity of the touch sensor. More...

Have you ever wondered how they make the parking sensors that you seem to find on all new cars? You know, the ones that start beeping when you are getting close to an object you should be avoiding. The beeping gets faster and faster as you get closer until the beeps all merge into one and... too late you've hit it! More...

Don't be afraid to use interrupts in your Arduino sketches. Interrupts enable you to do so much more with your Arduino that it's well worth taking the trouble to learn a few simple rules. Almost every project you work with, whether it's a user interface, a clock or you are controlling a robot, your sketches are likely to benefit from some use of the interrupt mechanism. More...

The Arduino Uno is an inexpensive computer on a board. It has everything that you need to make a smart controller similar to the ones that you might find in any electronic product available nowadays.

If you are looking for a cheap way to start learning how to design embedded microconroller circuits or you need a programmable controller for a project then this could be your simplest and most cost effective solution. Anyone can use one of these More...

I was so impressed by the potential of the Sound Card PC Oscilloscope probe described in an earlier article that I decided to look for alternative software packages that could be used with it. I found one that appears to deliver better results which I am posting here. More...

A good oscilloscope can cost you a lot of money but you can build this PC based oscilloscope for less than a decent cup of coffee. Yes it has limitations but if you have no way of observing the signals in your electronics projects and you can't afford to buy a full featured oscilloscope then this little project could be the answer to your prayers. Not only does it give you a dual channel oscilloscope but it will also do a Fast Fourier Transform analysis of your signals too. More...

One of the first electronic circuits I ever built was an astable multivibrator. It's a very simple yet reliable method of flashing a couple of LED's that you can build on a solderless breadboard in no time. Follow these simple instructions and experience the thrill of creating an electronic device and watching it do it's job. More...