Soldering pen with OLED display

Hackaday Prize Entry: OLED Displays For Soldering Iron Tips

May 17, 2017 by 33 Comments

Having soldered one end of a wire to a switch, you move on to the next step in your hack, soldering the other end of the wire to the more temperature sensitive pin 11 on the 6847 video chip. You set the soldering pen’s target temperature to something lower. You position the end of a tinned wire just so, with the solder held between the ring and pinky fingers of the same hand. You stare hard at the pin while you still know which one it is. Luckily this soldering pen has a display in the handle, close enough for you to glance at it quickly and see that the target temperature has been reached. You solder the wire in place.

The previous hack was one I did back in 1982 to my TRS-80 color computer but alas, there was no display in the soldering pen’s handle. I was just too early for the sweet soldering pen that [vlk] is making, and has entered into the 2017 Hackaday Prize.  It’s powered by a LiPo battery and can go from 25 to 400℃ in 5 seconds. The handle contains the electronics, including an STM32F031, and we’re impressed with how small he’s managed to get it all. Two buttons provide control and an OLED display simultaneously shows what looks like two target temperatures, the current temperature, voltages, battery charge level, and status. And if you want to make your own, his page even includes the schematics. Watch how easy it is to use in the videos below the break.

While [vlk]’s soldering pen has all the precision and ease of use you’d want, check out what is probably the simplest approach to soldering iron temperature control we’ve seen here. Or you could go for something in between, this one that’s also powered by LiPo batteries but has the display in a small laser cut box.

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Solar Powered Camper Is A Magic Bus Indeed

May 17, 2017 by 36 Comments

There’s no doubt that Volkswagen’s offerings in the 1960s and early 1970s were the hippie cars of choice, with the most desirable models being from the Type 2 line, better known as the Microbus. And what could be even hippier than
converting a 1973 VW Microbus into a solar-electric camper?

For [Brett Belan] and his wife [Kira], their electric vehicle is about quality time with the family. And they’ll have plenty of time, given that it doesn’t exactly ooze performance like a Tesla. Then again, a Tesla would have a hard time toting the enormous 1.2 kW PV panel on its roof like this camper can, and would look even sillier with the panel jacked up to maximize its solar aspect. [Brett] uses the space created by the angled array to create extra sleeping space like the Westfalia, a pop-top VW camper. The PV array charges a bank of twelve lead-acid golf cart batteries which power an AC motor through a 500-amp controller. Interior amenities include a kitchenette, dining table, and seating that cost as much as the van before conversion. There’s no word on interior heat, but honestly, that never was VW’s strong suit — we speak from bitter, frostbitten experience here.

As for being practical transportation, that just depends on your definition of practical. Everything about this build says “labor of love,” and it’s hard to fault that. It’s also hard to fault [Brett]’s choice of platform; after all, vintage VWs are the most hackable of cars.

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Yet Another IoT Botnet

May 17, 2017 by 19 Comments

[TrendMicro] are reporting that yet another IoT botnet is emerging. This new botnet had been dubbed Persirai and targets IP cameras. Most of the victims don’t even realize their camera has access to the Internet 24/7 in the first place.

Trend Micro, have found 1,000 IP cameras of different models that have been exploited by Persirai so far. There are at least another 120,000 IP cameras that the botnet could attack using the same method. The problem starts with the IP cameras exposing themselves by default on TCP Port 81 as a web server — never a great idea.

Most IP cameras use Universal Plug and Play, which allows them to open ports from inside the router and start a web server without much in the way of security checks. This paints a giant target in cyber space complete with signs asking to be exploited. After logging into a vulnerable device the attacker can perform a command injection attack which in turn points gets the camera to download further malware.

The exploit runs in memory only, so once it has been rebooted it should all be fine again until your next drive by malware download. Check your devices, because even big named companies make mistakes. IoT is turning into a battlefield. We just hope that with all these attacks, botnets, and hacks the promise of the IoT idea isn’t destroyed because of lazy coders.

Part of feature image from Wikipedia, Creative Commons license.

Friday Hack Chat: All About Hardware

May 17, 2017 by 2 Comments

Join us this Friday an noon PDT for a Hack Chat that’s all about hardware. We’ll be discussing Open Source hardware, product design, security, manufacturing, manufacturing in China, assembly, crowdfunding, DFM, DFA, and a whole bunch of other three-letter acronyms that make you say WTF.

Every Friday, we bring someone on the cusp of new technologies and interesting devices and invite them into the Hack Chat over on Hackaday.io. This week, we’re sitting down with [Mathieu Stephan], about designing, building, fabricating, and selling hardware.

[Mathieu] has a wealth of experience under his belt. He’s a firmware engineer who is very involved in Open Source, and he’s been alternating between positions ranging from Formula E cars to security engineering for Kudelski, to a Hackaday contributor. He’s the guy behind the Mooltipass, which was created as a project along with the Hackaday community back in 2014. In short, if you want to learn about building a thousand of something and selling them, this is the guy to talk to.

If you’ve ever wanted to know how to prepare a crowdfunding campaign, produce a truly secure device, manage order fulfillment, or have something manufactured in China, this is your chance. We’re going to be taking questions from the community, so if you have something you’d like to talk about, drop your question here.

Here’s How To Take Part:

join-hack-chatOur Hack Chats are live community events on the Hackaday.io Hack Chat group messaging.

Log into Hackaday.io, visit that page, and look for the ‘Join this Project’ Button. Once you’re part of the project, the button will change to ‘Team Messaging’, which takes you directly to the Hack Chat.

You don’t have to wait until Friday; join whenever you want and you can see what the community is talking about.

JeVois Machine Vision Camera Nails Demo Mode

May 17, 2017 by 31 Comments

JeVois is a small, open-source, smart machine vision camera that was funded on Kickstarter in early 2017. I backed it because cameras that embed machine vision elements are steadily growing more capable, and JeVois boasts an impressive range of features. It runs embedded Linux and can process video at high frame rates using OpenCV algorithms. It can run standalone, or as a USB camera streaming raw or pre-processed video to a host computer for further action. In either case it can communicate to (and be controlled by) other devices via serial port.

But none of that is what really struck me about the camera when I received my unit. What really stood out was the demo mode. The team behind JeVois nailed an effective demo mode for a complex device. That didn’t happen by accident, and the results are worth sharing.

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Exoskeleton Aims To Prevent Falls For Seniors

May 17, 2017 by 12 Comments

When we think of exoskeletons, we tend to think along comic book lines: mechanical suits bestowing superhero strength upon the villain. But perhaps more practical uses for exoskeletons exists: restoring the ability to walk, for instance, or as in the case of these exoskeleton shorts, preventing hip fractures by detecting and correcting falls before they happen.

Falls and the debilitating injuries that can result are a cruel fact of life for the elderly, and anything that can potentially mitigate them could be a huge boon to public health. Falls often boil down to loss of balance from slipping, whether it be a loose rug, a patch of ice, or even the proverbial banana peel. The “Active Pelvic Orthosis” developed by [Vito Monaco] and colleagues seeks to sense slips and correct them by applying the correct torque to the hip joints. Looking a little bulky in their prototype form and still tethered to an external computer, the shorts have motors with harmonic drives and angle sensors for each hip, plus accelerometers to detect the kinematic signature of a slip. The researchers discovered that forcing the leg that slipped forward while driving the stable leg back helped reduce the possibility of a fall. The video below shows the shorts in action preventing falls on a slip-inducing treadmill.

At the Hackaday Unconference in Pasadena, we heard from [Raul Ocampo] on his idea for autonomous robots to catch falling seniors. Perhaps wearing the robot will end up being a better idea.

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A Few Of Our Favorite Chips: 4051 Analog Mux

May 17, 2017 by 57 Comments

Raindrops on roses, and whiskers on kittens? They’re alright, I suppose. But when it comes down to it, I’d probably rather have a bunch of 4051, 4052, and 4053 analog multiplexers on the component shelf. Why? Because the ability to switch analog signals around, routing them at will, under control of a microcontroller is tremendously powerful.

Whether you want to read a capacitive-sensing keyboard or just switch among audio signals, nothing beats a mux! Read on and see if you agree.

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