Circuits For Fun - Projects

This is the controller for the Auto Pano Project used to convert an old telescope into a pano shooting robot. Enter in your camera lens FOV, how many degrees of coverage you want to shoot and the pixel overlap and the controller does the rest, rotates the camera into place and does the camera shutter release.

This prototype uses the Microchip ZG2100M wifi module along with a Microchip pic 18F97J60 and was intended to be a mini web server module for use in various projects, but over time as progress was made other more affordable solutions came out that were more appealing.

iTrigger is a bluetooth controlled remote camera shutter release with timer controls for time lapse shooting. It also has an additional accessory port for other types of external trigger sensors like light or sound, or chain them together to trigger multiple cameras at once.

InterACT LED is an interactive LED module that can operate individually or chained together to form strips or grids. The RGB LEDs can respond to close proximity motion ~1m and produce several different color effects, or you can use an ir remote like a virtual paint brush to control the color effect from across the room. Each RGB LED can also be indvidually addressed using i2c.

This controller was one part of the Canon Lens adapter for the RED Digital Cinema camera, this controller along with the lens adapter allowed you to mount and control a canon EOS lens on a RED camera giving you full control of F-stop and focus. This version of the controller built on the previous basic version from 2008, it added more sophisticated follow focus control, bluetooth and ir remote control as well as a better user interface.

Populated Canon Lens Controller Board v2.0 - Top

Populated Canon Lens Controller Board v2.0 - Bottom

Bare Canon Lens Controller Board v2.0 Rev2 - Top

Bare Canon Lens Controller Board v2.0 Rev2 - Bottom

HDR Shot is used to control a Canon EOS digital camera for shooting High Dynamic Range photographs. It makes it super easy to quickly shoot all the exposures needed to make high quality HDR images.

Populated HDR Shot Board v1.0 - Top

Populated HDR Shot Board v1.0 - Bottom

Bare HDR Shot Board v1.1 - Top

Bare HDR Shot Board v1.1 - Bottom

Early prototype of a paintball gun ammo counter, you set the initial counter for the number of paintballs your hopper holds then it counts down everytime a paintball leaves your barrel. Makes it easy to know exactly how many shots you have left before you need to refill.

First prototype board with 3D printed case and hacked together PVC barrel attachment.

Bare PCB

This prototype was made to see how well some high powered LEDs would affect the growth of house plants that weren't getting enough natural light. It uses red 620nm and blue 457nm wavelength LEDs to simulate the growth and flowering spectrum that plants need. The microchip provides pwm signals to drive the mosfets powering the lights along with a timed sequence which in turn provides an ideal amount of mixed color and intensity over the course of the day.

Projects - Older (Undocumented)

2013 - 2012 - IDK (interactive Development Kit)

IDK Started as an idea at the local hackerspace in 2012 and slowly formed into a working prototype over the course of a year. It was then presented at One Spark 2013, the response was great and we did fairly well on the votes, we had hoped that the interest from the show would help with our Kickstarter effort but unfortunately it was not successful so the project has been put on the backburner for now, maybe we'll look at bringing it back at a future date.

IDK board and some sensors

These are older undocumented projects in various stages of development representing work over the past 6 years. They will be presented from newest to oldest with a brief description, if one of the projects peaks your interest and you would like more information please feel free to contact us and we'll be more than happy to discuss it in further detail. If there is enough interest in a particular project then some effort can be put into generating documentation for it.

Simple Bluetooth breakout board for the Bluegiga BLE112A, needed something simple to mess around with this nice Bluetooth 4.0 low energy module on a breadboard.

Bluegiga BLE112A on breakout board

2012 - Bluetooth Breakout Board

2012 - Fiber Optic Tester

Fiber Optic Tester with multiple test modes and rechargable lipo battery power.

Populated Fiber Optic Tester Board - Top

Populated Fiber Optic Tester Board - Bottom

This is a breakout board for the MCP1640 adjustable boost voltage regulator with an added push button for soft start power on / off. This was made for prototyping the circuit that was going to be used in the Fiber Tester and has since been useful for prototyping other new projects that need boost power.

MCP1640 Breakout board with push button soft start

2012 - MCP1640 Boost Power Regulator Breakout Board With Push Button Soft Start

2012 - MCP73831 Linear Charge Management Controller Breakout Board

This is a breakout board for the MCP73831 linear charge management controller. This was made for prototyping the circuit that was going to be used in the Fiber Tester for charging the lipo battery and has since been useful for prototyping other new projects that need lipo charging.