AM/FM SOS Beacon Saves Your Bacon

February 27, 2011 by Mike Nathan 26 Comments

bacon_beacon_breadboard

[BadWolf] sent us a device called the “Bacon Beacon“, which is his 555 Design Contest entry. In short, it’s a life-saving device that emits an S.O.S. signal in Morse code over both the AM and FM bands. The device uses five 555 timers to get the job done, each of them dedicated to a specific task. Three of the timers are used for clocking and Morse generation, while the remaining two are used to produce and transmit an audible signal over the air waves. Currently, the signal can be received about a mile away from the source, which would theoretically allow for a search and rescue team to locate you with a simple radio and directional antenna.

The current design is still a bit rough around the edges, but the final plans would have the circuit built into a flashlight-like device equipped with red and green signaling LEDs. It’s a clever project and would make for a great tool if you got lost while hiking, or in the event of a zombie apocalypse.

Stick around for a quick video of the Bacon Beacon in action, and swing by [BadWolf’s] site if you want to know why his project has such a strange moniker (hint: it’s not because it can “save your bacon”).

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Hear That? It’s A 555 Timer AM Radio

February 25, 2011 by Mike Nathan 16 Comments

[Eric] recently built an AM radio based on a 555 timer, and posted a few pictures to the Hack-a-Day Flickr pool. He used the 555 timer as an AM demodulator and power amplifier in order to drive the speaker. A hand-wound inductor is used to tune the signal which is then superimposed over the ramp signal produced by the circuit he built. [Eric] points out that he chose a CMOS 555 timer because of its superior performance in this particular application since the timer is used in a bit of a nontraditional manner. He shared his circuit diagram as well as a great video walking through each part of his design, finishing off with a demonstration of the radio, which can be seen below.

This is yet another great project that will be entered in the 555 Design Contest – simple and elegant. We love seeing these, so keep them coming!

If you want to see more cool projects made by Hack-a-Day readers, be sure to check out our Flickr pool as well as the forums.

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555 Two-fer – Baby Swing Upgrade And A Headphone Tube Amp

February 24, 2011 by Mike Nathan 22 Comments

baby_swing_tube_amp

[Jason] sent in two 555 timer driven items that were worth sharing, both of which are entries in the 555 Design Contest.

The first item is a circuit that automatically resets an infant swing. [Jay], who built both items, has an infant swing for his daughter that spins a mobile and plays music. It’s great but it only works for 7 minutes and 15 seconds before a button push is required to trigger it again. He found this limitation to be annoying, and as I have owned the same swing, I can echo his frustrations. He probed the swing and found that a 5v pulse was required to reactivate the mobile, but it had to be sent after it turned off to have any effect. He put together a simple circuit that would do the button pushing for him, as you can see in the video below.

[Jay’s] other entry is a headphone tube amp using a quartet of 6DJ8 vacuum tubes. The 555 timer in the amp is used to drive a FET and the hand-wound transformer he built for the amp. You can see a video of the amp in action below as well.

The projects are lacking a thorough write-up, but he does provide schematics for both the swing reset switch and the tube amp for those looking to replicate either item.

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555 Timer-based Charge Controller

February 24, 2011 by Mike Nathan 13 Comments

555_charging_controller_circuit

Several years ago [Michael Davis] built a charge controller for his wind turbine and published his construction plans online. This build became quite popular, especially among people that live in remote regions. He states that he is flooded with email each day with questions about his charge controller from people trying to troubleshoot its construction or from people who are unable to source the proper parts.

In order to make things easier for people, he decided to revisit his controller design to see what could be improved, and more importantly, what could be removed. The revision was shelved for awhile, but while in the process of working on another project, he realized that most of his original circuit could be easily replaced with a 555 timer. Since the 555 chip is so ubiquitous, he figured it was a fantastic way to simplify his charger, even if he wasn’t using the chip in the manner for which it was originally designed.

He continued revising his charger, sourcing very basic components and simplifying the circuitry enough that even he was able to build it correctly the first time around. Needless to say, this charging circuit will be his entry in the 555 Design Contest.

Be sure to keep reading for a quick video of his charger in action.

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Punch Tape Musical Synth

February 16, 2011 by Mike Nathan 26 Comments

synthanola

[Jeri Ellsworth] sent over a 555 design contest entry that struck her as particularly interesting. The Synthanola is a three-channel music synthesizer that accepts input from an old Heathkit paper tape reader. While this hack might seem overly retro, it’s actually an extremely appropriate use of technology, as the Heathkit H-10 and the 555 timer were both popular tech in the 70’s. This retro-focused synth uses fourteen 555 timers, twelve of which are dedicated to synthesizing audio. If this entry does not win the contest, it certainly must be a strong contender for most 555 timers used.

[Thrashbarg] gives a detailed explanation of the logic used to drive the music playback from the punch tape, as well as full circuit diagrams for his entry. So far he has encoded MP3s of Bach’s Invention and Fugue in D Minor to tape, with hopefully more to come. In order to truly appreciate his efforts, the Synthanola should be seen as well as heard. Stick around for a pair of videos of the synth in action.

If you’re interested in seeing more 555 contest entries, be sure to check out some of our previously featured projects.

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Chrome In The Pwn2Own Contest

February 3, 2011 by Devlin Thyne 18 Comments

Google has announced that it will be sponsoring a $20,000 prize at the 2011 CanSecWest Pwn2Own Contest. $20,ooo will be given to the first person to escape Chrome’s sandbox through Google-written code in the first day. If researchers are unsuccessful on the first day, then days two and three will be opened up to non-Google-written code. In addition to the cash, there is also a Google CR-48 running ChromeOS offered as a prize, but it will not be the actual platform used to hack Chrome. We look forward to seeing what comes out of this contest.

[via GearLog]

Reminder: Santa-Pede Challenge Ending Soon

January 28, 2011 by Caleb Kraft 9 Comments

This is just a friendly reminder that our Santa-Pede challenge will be ending soon. Please send your submissions to us by emailing them to bbb@hackaday.com or by posting them in the projects section of our forum (did we mention we have a forum now?) by the end of January to be considered. We don’t care how silly, stupid, simple,or slick it is, just send it to us! We have some fun prizes from Adafruit and Make and even have [Phillip Torrone] as a judge. Get those submissions in ASAP.