Digital Amulet Part One: Board Design and Fabrication

This project was a combination of my finals for Homemade Hardware and Electronic Rituals. While reading personal posts on instagram, I realized that I often commented the phrase ‘sending love’ when I wanted to show my support for that person. In a way, through our connections on social media, we give each other protection and support. An amulet is an item that traditionally gives its wearer protection and good luck. I wanted to make an amulet that received its power through the internet.

Schematic and Board Design

Parts List

• ESP8266 Module (ESP-12E)
• WS2812B neopixel (10)
• 0.1μF capacitor (10)
• 10K resistor (4)
• 1K resistor (1)
• switch buttons (2)
• coin cell battery holder
• Li2032 3.6V Coin cell battery
• 3-pin header

Process

After the board was milled and reflowed

Airwire on the back of the board

Battery holder soldered on

Acrylic overlay cut out and installed

Link to part 2 about the programming of the board

Midterm: Neopixel Earring

I made a battery powered earing with neopixels. My goal for this assignment was to learn how to use surface mount components so I kept the design and functionality simple.

Schematic and Board Design

Parts List

• WS2812B neopixel (7)
• 0.1μF capacitor (7)
• ATTiny85
• coin cell battery holder
• 3V coin cell battery

Code

I used Adafruit’s example code for neopixels and adapted it for my needs. I turned the brightness down since I’m only powering it with a 3V coin cell battery.

#include <Adafruit_NeoPixel.h>

int pin = 3;
int len = 7;

Adafruit_NeoPixel strip = Adafruit_NeoPixel(len, pin, NEO_GRB+ NEO_KHZ800);

void setup() {
  strip.begin();
  strip.show();
  strip.setBrightness(20);
}

void loop() {
  rainbowCycle(20);
}

/*
  from adafruit's strandtest example
*/

// Slightly different, this makes the rainbow equally distributed throughout
void rainbowCycle(uint8_t wait) {
  uint16_t i, j;

  for(j=0; j<256*5; j++) { // 5 cycles of all colors on wheel
    for(i=0; i< strip.numPixels(); i++) {
      strip.setPixelColor(i, Wheel(((i * 256 / strip.numPixels()) + j) & 255));
    }
    strip.show();
    delay(wait);
  }
}


// Input a value 0 to 255 to get a color value.
// The colours are a transition r - g - b - back to r.
uint32_t Wheel(byte WheelPos) {
  WheelPos = 255 - WheelPos;
  if(WheelPos < 85) {
    return strip.Color(255 - WheelPos * 3, 0, WheelPos * 3);
  }
  if(WheelPos < 170) {
    WheelPos -= 85;
    return strip.Color(0, WheelPos * 3, 255 - WheelPos * 3);
  }
  WheelPos -= 170;
  return strip.Color(WheelPos * 3, 255 - WheelPos * 3, 0);
}

Process

I had to remill the board several times while making the dimensions larger so that the ground plane would not get disconnected.

After placing surface mount components and reflow:

I left pads to solder wires to that connect to my Arduino Uno to program the ATTiny85. While programming, something went wrong and I could no longer get a device signature from my ATtiny85. I ended up replacing it with another one which worked.

Mistakes in Board Design

After receiving the battery holders, I found out that they are different from the part I used in the board design. The ground pin is on the side and not in the center (as it is in the board design file). I soldered a wire to connect the ground plane in the center to the side plane which was not connected to anything. I then soldered the battery holder on top of that. While programming, I realized I also made a mistake in the board design and forgot to add an external pull-up resistor to VCC on the reset pin of the ATTiny85. I also did not add a resistor before my first neopixel which is recommended by Adafruit.

Documentation Images

Marquee PCBs

For the marquee, I was assigned the letter ‘i’. I designed the letter board and changed the sensor board since my last post. The new sensor board is based on Andy’s; I only changed the sensor headers from 2 pins to 3 to fit a potentiometer.

Boards after milling

After soldering on components

Schematics and Board Designs

ATtiny85 and sensor board

‘i’ board

Code

I programmed the ATtiny85 to make the leds pulse. I changed the interaction so that the potentiometer adjusts the pulse rate of the leds.

/*
  Changes speed of fading led based on potentiometer reading
*/

int led = 0;           // the PWM pin the LED is attached to
int brightness = 0;    // how bright the LED is
int potValue = 0; // value from potentiometer
int fadeAmount = 1;    // how many points to fade the LED by
int delayTime;

void setup() {
  pinMode(A1, INPUT);
  pinMode(led, OUTPUT);
}

void loop() {

  // set the brightness of pin 9:
  analogWrite(led, brightness);

  // change the brightness for next time through the loop:
  potValue = analogRead(A1);
  delayTime = map(potValue, 0, 1023, 30, 0);       //map pot value to a fade delay 
  brightness = brightness + fadeAmount;

  // reverse the direction of the fading at the ends of the fade:
  if (brightness <= 0 || brightness >= 255) {
    fadeAmount = -fadeAmount;
  }
  // wait to see the dimming effect
  delay(delayTime);
}

Video Documentation of Interaction####

It works!!

Marquee Schematic and Board Layout

Breadboard ATtiny85 Sensor

Made a simple sensor that dims the led through potentiometer value.

Schematic

Video Documentation