Medium OtterBox plus an LPC1114 802.15.4 Transceiver
While there are definately no dead otters in my freezer (<confessions>a few choice duck parts may be hidden in there somewhere</confession>), there are a few OtterBoxes. While looking for ways to test out some new wireless sensor nodes to make sure that the deep sleep mode works as expected (so that the batteries last years instead of, well, hours) and just to make sure that the lights actually DO go off when I close the door on the fridge, I stuck a sensor node plus a digital luminosity sensor (a TSL2561 from TAOS to be specific, which approximates the human eye and measures both regular and infrared light levels), and used the LM75B I2C temperature sensor on the board to see just how chilly it really is (or isn’t) in there. Inspired, no. Safe and practical, yes. You can read more about it here
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, or even use Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for MakeCode, CircuitPython, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell with Google Hangouts On-Air is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
