Sound sensor with Arduino, freeform

 

I was in need of a sound sensor board because I wanted to test some code that someone was experiencing issues with, so I scrounged around for some scrap parts and decided to make a free form circuit of the common sound sensor circuit, I used this as a base:

I made some modifications for the look of it, such as the ceramic caps and not the electrolytic ones.

The modification I made to the circuit was the addition of a comparator using the free half of the LM358. That is what the green trim pot is for at the top of the circuit.

I used enamel coated wire from a stripped transformer. The other parts were from various PCBs I have collected... Hackaday calls it Fracking.

 

 That seems to be about all the photos I took. But the idea is simple in that you take the wire and bend it around a cylindrical shape of your choice and arrange the curves to the way in which it best fits. 

I ran two lines straight down the centre to get Positive and Ground along the sides where the OP-AMP power pins are. Also I ran the output from the final stage down the side too. Any other connections were made however they best fitted into the arrangement.

General post on weather station

I have been busy with work and working on and off with the weather station. I have been working a bit on the FARS lately and have gone with plant pot basses with a 120mm diameter and made a 50mm hole in the centre for sensors and a 50mm PC fan I found/had lying around. I used 160mm 5mm thread bar by three, I used straws to hold each base at 10mm apart; each base is 20mm, 10mm is half way where the centre rim is, so it gives a nice overlap.

Weather Station - Anemometer

So I have been working on the anemometer on and off for the last month as I have also been working on another project. I have also been working on the final design of the weather vane setup and slicing my thumb :) This will be part one of this part of the weather station, discussing mainly the anemometer.

The basic build

Weather Station - General Update

A general update of the weather station. The anemometer is coming along nicely, except for changes in final design and construction which I keep making. I am working on a build post for that, which should be up soon.

I received components I ordered the other day so that I can start getting some basic data.

I have a BMP180, DHT22, and 2 RFM12Bs, pictured below for fun:

I have so far tested the DHT22 with the library from Adafruit, it worked well.
I have yet to have some time to test the other stuff and also to find a suitable library for the RFM12 module which doesn't have a heap load of stuff added in. I also have to make level shifters for the two transceivers.

I got these through a local distributor for SparkFun Electronics who had reasonable prices, which is better than paying the import costs and overseas postage.

A new name! Barium Electronics

So I have been toying with some names for my business & blog as the name is representative of my blog and of my actual business I have. I have thus officially re-named my blog and business today as:

•     The company is not too big that it will cause a huge mess with customers and my blog.
•     Search the word Ziggy, Ziggy Electronics or ZE this gave some weird  results which are not fit for a business when customers search.
•      Most people scoff at the name? Or at least a quizzical look, possibly the odd word.

So I have changed the name to something unique and more related to the electronics side:

Barium Electronics 

This is a name which is not used as a company name by anyone I can find. This should make the blog easily found by search engines as not much turns up in electronics projects, this should increase the traffic.