CubCadet CC500 Electric Mower – LiPo Battery Conversion
I decide to go the electric mower route about 5 years ago. I was hesitant as the 12V lead-acid batteries most electric mowers come with suck - and they are heavy. At that time, the only better technology was Lithium Ion battery-based mowers, but they were very expensive. I decided on the CubCadet CC500, which was a good balance of quality and price. It was a 48 Volt lead-acid unit. (more…)
Quads: Why you need Failsafe and a LOMA
I finally got my 250-sized quad ready to fly. The last 2 things I did were to add a LMOA (Lost Model Alarm) and configure failsafe in Cleanflight. Luck was on my side yesterday as Murphy's Law kicked in when I took the quad out for it's first full flight test in a nearby field. Admittedly, I still consider myself a noob with much to That said, I was flying FPV and decided…
IoT Garage Door Monitor/Opener with Finger Print Scanner
I've got a lot of stuff in my garage, and having 3 kids (one of them being me!) with forgetful minds, the garage door is sometimes left open over night. I don't really like that sinking feeling after waking up the next day to find the door was left open. Between loosing valuables and critters that make a mess of garbage, I finally decided it's time to take a stance! I have an IP Cam mounted inside the…
DIY Magnetic Bit Holder
I often need more than one bit when using drills/drivers for my projects. The next question is often "where's this bit, and where's that bit"... There's a simple solution - use a magnet to stick the bits directly to the drill/screwdriver. Although this idea is not new, I've been using it for years now and thought I would share it. All you have to do is pick-up some nickel-sized (approx 20mm) neodymium magnets…
DIY Speaker Build
The ShapeOko has been sitting idle for a while, so I decided to take a stab at making my own speakers. I wanted to do something small that I bring outside and hang on my pergola when entertaining guests on our new patio. After perusing the web and checking out some speakers and online enclosure calculators, I landed on a set of HiVi B3N's (3") and tweeters. Given that they won't be permanently mounted outside,…
Logitech MX Anywhere Mouse – Fix That Click!
The Logitech MX Anywhere mouse is by far the best mouse I have ever had. I currently have 2. However, these mice have a common design flaw - the mouse button that is used most often (left in my case) for clicking dies after a while. Maybe design flaw is a bit harsh. This is the only mouse that I have had for a long time and WANT to keep. I don't want another mouse because…
Quadcopter – Enhanced Lost Model Alarm
Just 24 hours earlier I built my first Lost Model Alarm. Not being satisfied with good enough, I've built an enhanced version. Of course, you could just buy one, but where's the fun in that?! As mentioned in my original posting, I wanted the alarm to have multiple modes. First, I wanted to be able to have it triggered while the TX is on using one of the available aux controls. Second, I wanted it to…
Shipped Products Packaging Praise – Sparkfun / Adafruit
I don't often do posts that are off-topic to my projects, but I could not resists posting this. Some of my schooling was environmental-related. Paired with moral obligation, myself and my family try to do our part to be environmentally concious. I wanted give praise to 2 companies that I often order electronics parts from for their effort to be environmentally concious with packaging and shipping. Specifically Sparkfun and Adafruit. I recently received my MicroView…
Outdoor LED Light Controller – Enclosure and Mounting
Over the past 2 years, we have working on our back-yard landscaping project. We added a patio, stones, a deck etc. One of the remaining bits was to add LED's to accent the rocks and other areas at night. After completing my outdoor LED light controller and Andriod app, I found myself struggling to find a way to enclose all the components in something that would protect the controller and power supply from the…
Fix: Samsung Galaxy Tab 3.0 – Won’t Charge
Let's cut to the chase. You have a Samsung Galaxy Tab and you are tired of Googling for solutions trying to figure out why your Tab won't charge. Hopefully this is the last place you have to look. My tab is about 2 yrs old and over the past few months I started noticing it would not charge consistently. I tried all the suggestions; using a different charger, swapping out the cable, disconnecting and re-connecting…