An EL-wire driver based on 555 timer
I built my own circuit to handle conversion of 6 VDC power from the batteries to the 2 KHz AC power required by EL-wire.
Wifi spectrum analyzer
My latest gadget is a Wifi spectrum analyzer. Built on the Wio Terminal by Seeed Studios, it was a simple embedded device to set up.
3-D printed case for Raspberry Pi & LCD
I recently designed a custom case to fit a Raspberry Pi 4 and a 7″ LCD screen. I wanted a small tablet-like computer I could set up to look at while seated at a table, or standing at a counter in the kitchen.
Building an embedded device for sailboat racing: installation (take two) - success!
Time to wrap this up… I was, in fact, able to get this successfully wired up and mounted on the boat! All in all, I had a great time making this project and learned a lot.
Building an embedded device for sailboat racing: mounting and installation (take one)
All the pieces have come together. It’s time to hook this up on the boat and see how it works!
Building an embedded device for sailboat racing: fabrication and assembly
Now it’s time to put it all together! Mechanical fabrication is one of my weaker skills and this is where having handy friends really helped pay off.
Building an embedded device for sailboat racing: power and packaging
With the software running on the Raspberry Pi and touchscreen in a “bench test” format on top of my desk, it was time to start thinking about how I would actually package this up into a complete device that I could install on the boat. It needed to be waterproof, powered by the boat’s battery bank, and ideally no larger than necessary.
Building an embedded device for sailboat racing: the software
With the basic platform package chosen — Raspberry Pi, a 7″ 800×480 sunlight-readable touchscreen, and the NGT-1 — it was time to put it to work. This post dives into the software built to run on this platform and deliver that telemetry analysis and visualization I was looking for.
Building an embedded device for sailboat racing: a digression on suppliers…
This post covers some details about the shopping needed to identify and acquire elements described in post #2, “the platform,” as well as the numerous other smaller components that went into the complete assembly.
Building an embedded device for sailboat racing: the platform
To build a device that would accomplish my goals I needed to get the data from the sensor instruments, run some computation over it, and visualize it on a clear display. I needed to choose fundamental building blocks of the system to accomplish these goals.