A Dynomometer measures actual horsepower and torque output at the wheels of a vehicle. Aside from racing, it’s long been the way to test out engine modifications. [Steve] built his own. It uses a Basic stamp for data acquistion, and a custom machined drum for the physical interface.
Author: Will O'Brien805 Articles
Long Range R/C On 868Mhz
Been looking for some extra range for your R/C projects? [Tron]’s managed to control his planes from 9.8Km using this kit at 868Mhz. I don’t know if I’d have the patience to fly the plane for that long, but this beats the pants off of just about everyone else home R/C gear.
Hack Your Prius With Prius Batteries
Adding extra battery capacity to hybrids is becoming pretty common, but this one is better than the average lead acid trunk fest. The pack was built from three prius NiMH packs picked up from salvage yards. These batteries can’t simply be bolted together, but with some research and effort you can save some nickel from the junk yards and cut your fuel bill.
Teach Your Robots To Cook
The nitty gritty details are a little bit hidden, but [Sylvain]’s work is awesome enough that I just don’t care. He’s been doing research on robot learning with some tasty results. After all, who doesn’t want a robot to make breakfast for em? He’s taken the time to publish some source code, so robot made breakfast isn’t that far out of reach. mmmm.
Cornell ECE Final Projects: Spring 08
I was starting to wonder when [Bruce] would send in this years final projects from the Electrical and Computer Engineering students at Cornell University. The first project looks like a great one for the green geek – a controllable power usage monitoring power outlet. The music geeks should dig midi trumpet interface, but the car geeks might have problems keeping away from the soldering iron after they see the CAN bus SD card data acquisition system. There are plenty more, so go check em out.
Hacking Harmony For Linux
A while back, [Phil] got ticked off and started working on linux support for the Logitech Harmony remotes for quite a while. Having owned one of these sweet remotes, I can honestly say that yes, they rock, and yes, the driver software can be pretty freakin’ annoying. If you’ve got a Harmony remote and would like an alternative to the usual fare, check out [Phil]’s project.
Add Bluetooth Audio To Your GPS/etc
[sudija] wrote up a nice instructable on adding bluetooth audio output to a tomtom gps unit. It’s not too technically advanced, but you’ll have to add an audio jack if your gps lacks one. This looks like a great way to turn a cheaper unit into something suitable for a motorcycle rig.