Reader [alberto ricci bitti]’s DVD thermometer is a temperature sensing infrared remote that controls a DVD showing the temperature. Since the box doesn’t get any feedback from the DVD player, it stops and starts the disc to make sure it is at a known state. The brain of the device is a Motorola MC68HC908QT4, an 8-pin microcontroller. Communication with the Maxim DS1621 temperature sensor I2C bus is done in software. Even if you don’t want to build a gaudy thermometer the article features a lot of interesting information. It covers reverse engineering the remote, emulating an I2C bus, and creating a programmable pulse generator instead of bitbanging.
that is one of the most clever ideas on displaying information i’ve ever seen. i love these novel ways of displaying information without a regular add-on lcd. one of my other fav was somebody using a multipmeter to display number information by generating a frequency and the frequency was displayed. good job alberto! keep them comin’
So simple, yet so good.
I love the stuff on Alberto’s site. I’ll admit, living in the land of NTSC, its a huge letdown to find that some of his other projects use PAL (via a SCART connector no less). Still, there’s a wealth of information on his ‘designs’ page.
I was thinking “well, why not just replace it with a PC?” and then I figured out the costs (particularly for software). Packaged, this would be a really interesting product to sell — TigerDirect already has “computer-less” presentation building and viewing devices.
Ok quick question could someone please tell me where i can order some of these blank circut boards that are used every where? i’ve googled and can’t find just plane blank ones.
to justin:
I think, if you are talking about the pre-drilled protoboards, you can get them with/out the pads around each hole at Radioshack.
to justin:
I think, if you are talking about the pre-drilled protoboards, you can get them with/out the pads around each hole at Radioshack.