Jeff Bachiochi

Ellington

Columnist at Circuit Cellar

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Articles

As a ‘Matter’ of Fact

2 weeks ago | circuitcellar.com | Jeff Bachiochi

Circuit Cellar has been featuring Home Control projects such as HCS and HCS II since Radio Shack first offered X-10 home automation components in the 1970s. Those X-10 products are still being manufactured, even though Radio Shack stores have disappeared from the landscape. X-10 uses gated RF over the power lines to send and receive messages/control.
Wireless Music - Circuit Cellar

Feb 4, 2025 | circuitcellar.com | Jeff Bachiochi

Rock and Roll originated from African American music, and was derived from or influenced by jazz, rhythm and blues, boogie-woogie, electric blues, gospel, and country music. The genre did not acquire its name until the 1950s. The beat is essentially a dance rhythm with an accentuated back beat, and is usually played with a drum set and one or more electric guitars. American teenagers discovered rock and roll thanks to AM radio and the ability to purchase vinyl records. It demanded volume.
3-Axis Digital Compass IC Modules

Nov 20, 2024 | circuitcellar.com | Jeff Bachiochi

3-axis digital compass ICs are multi-chip, surface-mount modules that measure a magnetic field in three perpendicular axes. They are used for low-field magnetic sensing in many personal navigation devices, including applications such as consumer electronics, mobile phones, and motor vehicle navigation systems. I became interested in these compass devices when many of my robots lost traction in one wheel, and even with optical encoders, they wouldn’t remain on the expected path.
Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs)

Oct 5, 2024 | circuitcellar.com | Jeff Bachiochi

Twenty years ago, your average hobbyist would not think of having a prototype circuit manufactured. It was prohibitively expensive to get printed circuit boards (PCBs) manufactured for a project. But times have changed. Today you can have multiple copies of a layout manufactured in record time. And, unless you need something in less than a week, the costs are reasonable, especially when compared with the time it would take to hand-wire a prototype.
Lighting a Miniature Holiday Village

Aug 24, 2024 | circuitcellar.com | Jeff Bachiochi

Part 2: It Takes Custom Lighting to Make a VillageIn Part 1 of this two-part series, Jeff explained how to replace the incandescent bulbs in the buildings of a miniature holiday village with DotStar RGB LEDs controlled by an ESP8266. In Part 2, he shows how to enable an HTTP server in each ESP8266 to allow users to change any command or change the color of individual LEDs—without reprogramming the module—by using a smartphone, tablet, or computer.
Lighting a Miniature Holiday Village - Circuit Cellar

Aug 20, 2024 | circuitcellar.com | Jeff Bachiochi

Crystal Lake has finally frozen over. I expect it to melt again this week, though, as the 10-day forecast calls for a warming trend. The Christmas decorations are finding their way back into the attic until the next Advent Season arrives later this year. Although the new year has just begun, I am already thinking about spring and leaving the frosty air behind, even if it is months away.
A Picture-Sound Association Game for Pre-Readers

Jun 22, 2024 | circuitcellar.com | Jeff Bachiochi

One of the first tech toys I bought for my kids was the Texas Instruments Speak & Spell (Figure 1). It was the first educational toy that used a speech synthesizer, and you can still purchase a second-generation knockoff with a membrane keyboard for less than $30.
Cellular, The Forgotten Wi-Fi

May 16, 2024 | circuitcellar.com | Jeff Bachiochi

When I got my first Motorola flip cell phone, it was like Star Trek come alive. The Star Ship Enterprise’s communicator was similar in size. I installed a sound clip to imitate the familiar opening of the communicator when I opened my Star Tac flip phone. In the beginning you couldn’t call to the next town with out incurring toll changes. When you left your cell network coverage, there were extra roaming charges. Today we have unlimited calling, text, and data plans.
Local Isolation: Using the Sun’s Energy

Apr 18, 2024 | circuitcellar.com | Jeff Bachiochi

Thanks to a grant from the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, our newly constructed equipment shed, the Eagle’s Nest, now has a system to collect and store solar energy, and then use it to power LED lighting throughout the shed’s two floors. The system uses two south-facing solar panels, a solar charge controller, a lithium iron phosphate battery, and a Bluetooth module (Figure 1, Figure 2, and Figure 3).
Local Isolation - Circuit Cellar

Mar 16, 2024 | circuitcellar.com | Jeff Bachiochi

This is my fourth start on this month’s column. I’m not sure what’s going on, but I just can’t pull the trigger, so to speak. So I’ll try something different. I just read Stuart Ball’s article on solar energy (“Solar Energy—Getting Started,” Circuit Cellar issue #395, June 2023) [1]. I’ve used solar power in many projects over the years, and determining the minimum panel/battery size is always a major headache.