Nuts and Volts - November 2014

Nuts & Volts (ISSN 1528-9885/CDN Pub Agree #40702530) is published monthly for $26.95 per year by T & L Publications, Inc., 430 Princeland Court, Corona, CA 92879. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT CORONA, CA AND AT ADDITIONAL MAILING OFFICES. POS TMAS TER: Send address changes to Nuts & Volts, P. O. Box 15277, North Hollywood, CA 91615 or Station A, P. O. Box 54, Windsor ON N9A 6J5; cpcreturns@nutsvolts.com.

4 November 2014

08 Q&A

Reader Questions Answered Here

Read about solutions to fix a broken laptop, a VCR that eats tapes, and sound system hum.

12 PICAXE Primer

Sharpening Your Tools of Creativity

Introducing the RazzPi PCBs. Learn about two new printed circuit boards you can use in either PICAXE-Pi projects or pure PICAXE applications.

52 The Design Cycle

Advanced Techniques for Design Engineers

PICs and a Stick Pack Big Computing Power in a Small Package.

The Rapid USB prototyping stick is powered by an enhanced PIC16 microcontroller that can do the work normally relegated to PIC32 silicon. The PIC16F1459 under the USB stick's hood can spout USB lingo at one end and spit RS-232 bits out of the other. No external clock crystal is required to utilize the stick's ADC, comparators, DAC, SPI module, and timers. This installment will show you how to take advantage of the tremendous amount of computation power stuffed into a very small package.

59 Smiley’s Workshop Programming • Hardware • Projects The Arduino Classroom.

Arduino 101/Chapter 10: Sensing Light and Temperature.

Expand what you can sense with an Arduino utilizing light and temperature values as data.

68 Open Communication

The Latest in Networking and Wireless Technologies

Video Monitoring Over the Internet. Video has gotten so good and cheap lately, everyone seems to be using it. One growing trend in this area has been video monitoring or surveillance, and with the Internet of Things movement, what used to be expensive and tricky is now common place and affordable.

24 Zener Diode Tester

It’s very time-consuming to set up a power supply and voltmeter, and then select a series resistor to limit current just to measure the voltage of diodes. The unit described here is a simple two-transistor circuit that needs nothing more than a multimeter to build, test, and use it.

■ By Gordon Hoffman

32 Three-Axis Hockey Puck Accelerometer Data Logger

Accelerometers can be used in many applications, and this unique device is no exception — especially when it’s combined with our poor man’s seismometer from a previous issue.

■ By Ron Newton

40 Toss the Toggle Don’t let your projects be embarrassed by their old-school toggles and slide switches! Upgrade them to the power of pushbuttons!

■ By Jürgen G. Schmidt

46 Tools of the Trade

Whether you’re a professional or hobbyist (or both!), having the right equipment to accomplish what you’re doing makes all the difference in the world. Here’s a look at some of the “must-have” tools for a workbench.