We’ve said it time and again, the Arduino is a prototyping platform. In that spirit, [Doug Jackson] shows you how to conserve the expensive Arduino board and Ethernet shield by building your own Arduino Ethernet module. You may remember the ENC28j60 as a NIC for your microcontrollers. [Doug’s] board makes use of that chip and adds an ATmega168 with a crystal, power regulator, breakout pins, and even a few DIP switches which can come in quite handy.
Chances are you’ve come across an Ethernet cable where the small plastic tab that holds the plug in place has broken off. We have a crimper on hand and usually just throw on a new RJ45 connector but [Laxap] found a simple alternative to fix Ethernet plugs. By using a couple of correctly sized cable ties you can secure the damaged connector without replacement. The boxy locking mechanism on the end of the cable tie is used as the catch, slimmed down with the help of an X-Acto knife or razor blade. Once you’ve got the right fit, use a second cable tie to secure it to the Ethernet cable. Simple is brilliant.
[Thanks Password]
Arduino has just released an official ethernet shield. It’s based on the same WizNet W5100 chip that was used in the tiny ethernet board we covered earlier. The W5100 handles the full IP stack and can do TCP or UDP with four simultaneous sockets. The board has a power indicator plus six LEDs to debug the connection. It works with the standard ethernet library. The reset button resets the shield and the Arduino. The SD adapter is not currently supported by the Arduino software.
[sgk] built this tiny ethernet board to be used with the Arduino. It’s based on a WIZnet W5100 chip. The chip handles all of the TCP/IP communication and you talk to it via SPI. It’s compatible with the standard Arduino ethernet library. [sgk] hand soldered these boards including the 80pin LQFP main chip. His next project is to put the AVR and W5100 all on the same board. It sounds like he’ll use components larger than 1005 though.
Adding PoE(Power over Ethernet) just wasn’t good enough for [steve]. Not only does he have power running over his Cat-5, he shared the ground wire and used the remaining pair to add a serial console to his rooftop mounted wireless router. Nice.
[Laurens Tromp] stumbled upon this LED lamp project while looking for a datasheet. The lamp has two heads with 252 LEDs each. The individual heads have equal number of red, blue, green, yellow and white LEDs. At the base of the lamp is a touch pad that has a virtual slider for each individual color’s intensity. The heads can be controlled separately or together. The lamp can also be operated over ethernet since its controller is a RabbitCore RCM2200. The only answer I can’t seem to find in the extensive documentation is how much this milled aluminum monstrosity weighs: 110 pounds.
Continue reading “Multicolored Ethernet Controlled LED Lamp”
Power over ethernet lets you add a DC voltage source to the unused pairs in your ethernet cable. This power can be used to power devices that are poe compatible by just plugging the cable into them. Other devices can be powered by using a “tap” to break the DC pairs back out of the cable. POE is a good choice for powering devices in remote locations. A router can be placed on a roof right next to its high-gain antenna, reducing signal loss, without having to run a separate AC line. Plugging the DC “injector” into a UPS will keep dedicated VOIP phones functioning during a power outage. Terry Schmidt has written a nice guide covering the theory behind scratch building poe injectors and taps. It also has photos and descriptions of other peoples projects along with tips on how to keep from turning your router into a pile of plastic goo.
