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Internet of Things (IoT)

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Articles related to Microcontrollers, single board computers, and other stuff. This page lists all posts in the category, in reverse chronological order.

• Note: An AI Generated pill displayed in the list below indicates that the post description displayed on the page was generated from the post content using Generative AI (GenAI). The post content itself was written by a human (me).

• Mounting Breadboard-friendly NeoPixels

  Posted Sunday, March 16, 2025 at 06:11 AM  in Internet of Things (IoT), Project Builds
  

  I build a lot of projects using Adafruit's NeoPixels. They dramatically simplify the process of wiring multiple LEDs into a project, requiring only three wires between each NeoPixel rather than two wires and a resistor to each LED. This article explains an issue I discovered with mounting Breadboard-friendly RGB Smart NeoPixel in a project and the solution I found for resolving it.

• USB 3.0 Cable Power Switch

  Posted Sunday, March 2, 2025 at 01:37 PM  in Project Builds, ESP32, Internet of Things (IoT)
  

  On a couple of projects lately I found myself repeatedly plugging and unplugging microcontrollers to/from my development system. This happens most frequently when writing faulty code for an ESP32 device and, when the compiled code runs on an ESP32, the code Panics and repeatedly reboots the device - panicking every time it restarts.

• Cloud Function Certificate Issue

  Posted Tuesday, February 18, 2025 at 07:53 PM  in Arduino, ESP32, Internet of Things (IoT)
  

  After publishing my M5StackC-Plus Cloud Function Execution example, I used it for about a week before it just stopped working one day.

• ESP32 Request Repeater With Sleep

  Posted Tuesday, February 18, 2025 at 06:46 PM  in Arduino, ESP32, Internet of Things (IoT)
  

  In my previous post I described how to put an ESP device to sleep (allowing it to wake up later). I used a sample sketch I created, ESP32 Request Repeater (HTTP), to show how it works.

• Putting an ESP32 Device to Sleep

  Posted Sunday, February 16, 2025 at 08:15 AM  in Arduino, ESP32, Internet of Things (IoT)
  

  While playing around this week with a hardware project, I decided to spend some time learning how to use Sleep modes in an Arduino project on an ESP32 device. It turns out that it's not that hard to do, but you really have to pay attention to a couple of things as you code your project. In this post, I demonstrate how to build an Arduino project that sends a HTTP request to a remote server, puts the device running the sketch asleep for a few minutes, then wakes up and does it again until the device loses power.

• ESP32 Parroting Web Server

  Posted Saturday, February 15, 2025 at 08:41 PM  in Arduino, ESP32, Internet of Things (IoT)
  

  I'm working on a version of my Pumpkin LED Controller for the Unihiker M10 single board computer. Web and mobile apps have a variety of issues when connecting to a web server running on an ESP32 device (as I wrote about in Accessing an Arduino ESP32 Web Serverand Pumpkin Controller Native Apps for Windows) and I think a device like the Unihiker may provide a way around them.

• M5Stack M5StickC-PLUS Garage Door Opener

  Posted Tuesday, February 11, 2025 at 05:26 PM  in Arduino, ESP32, Internet of Things (IoT)
  

  In ESP32 HTTP Client Request with JSON Body I demonstrated how to call a remote API from an ESP32 device; in that example, the request body passed content in JSON format to the server. As I described in that post, I built that sample because I wanted to be able to build an ESP32 garage door opener and that was a stepping stone for me to this project.

• Coding Unihiker Programs Using PyCharm

  Posted Monday, February 10, 2025 at 06:02 PM  in Internet of Things (IoT)
  

  AI Generated   I recently had the opportunity to work with the Unihiker M10 device from DF Robot. Using PyCharm, I was able to easily create a new project, write Python code, and deploy it to the Unihiker device. By configuring the deployment settings in PyCharm, I was able to upload my code to the device and run it successfully. Overall, the process was straightforward and allowed me to quickly test and run my Python programs on the Unihiker device.

• Playing Around with Info Orbs

  Posted Saturday, February 8, 2025 at 08:59 AM  in ESP32, Internet of Things (IoT)
  

  A while back, I learned about this ESP32 project called Info Orbs; it's a simple project that pairs 5 1.8 inch circular displays with a simple stand and some pretty cool software. The kit seems to be designed as a first project for people interested in getting into Arduino; it requires a little bit of soldering and the entire software configuration and deployment process runs in Visual Studio Code. The assembly instructions are simple and easy to follow.

• ESP32 HTTP Client Request with JSON Body

  Posted Wednesday, February 5, 2025 at 06:57 AM  in ESP32, Internet of Things (IoT)
  

  A few weeks ago I published an article called ESP32 Connect Using HTTPS that demonstrated how to build an Arduino sketch for the ESP32 platform that connected to a remote server using TLS (HTTPS). I wrote that article because I wanted to learn how to connect to a REST API running on a server online and I knew that most (all) modern API servers required TLS.

• Certificate to Arduino Command-line

  Posted Friday, January 24, 2025 at 06:59 AM  in Arduino, JavaScript, Internet of Things (IoT)
  

  Before I created the web application described in Automated Public Cert to Arduino Header Conversion, I started with a simple node.js command-line utility. I like command-line tools and starting with the Node version made sense to me. I switched to the web app version once I realized that most people who needed to do the certificate conversion to Arduino wouldn't have node installed on their development systems.

• ESP32 Connect Using HTTPS

  Posted Wednesday, January 22, 2025 at 07:02 AM  in ESP32, Internet of Things (IoT)
  

  As I described in my previous post, I'm working on a project where I'm using an M5Stack device to interact with a Google Firebase Function I have running in the cloud. As I started planning my project's code, I realized that the SSL (HTTPS) requirement Firebase Functions forces on applications would be a problem for me.

• Automated Public Cert to Arduino Header Conversion

  Posted Monday, January 20, 2025 at 07:59 PM  in ESP32, Raspberry Pi, Internet of Things (IoT), Web Development
  

  AI Generated   I was working on a project using an M5Stack device to interact with a Google Firebase Function, but I ran into an issue with the SSL requirement. After exploring different options, I found that ESP32 devices could send HTTPS requests, but required the server's public cert embedded in the code. To simplify this process, I created a web app called Cert2Arduino that automates the conversion of public certificates into Arduino-compatible code.

• Corrupt Arduino IDE Installation

  Posted Saturday, January 11, 2025 at 08:57 AM  in Arduino, Internet of Things (IoT)
  

  AI Generated   I recently encountered issues compiling code for an M5Stack project and struggled to resolve them. After finding outdated libraries on my system, I uninstalled everything, deleted leftover files, and reinstalled. I discovered additional files in the AppData folder that were causing the problem. Once I removed all the folders and reinstalled, my issues were resolved. It seems my system's configuration had become corrupted, preventing updated library installations.

• Flame Throwing Pumpkin

  Posted Tuesday, October 15, 2024 at 07:34 PM  in Arduino, Internet of Things (IoT)
  

  Back in 2019, I decided to finally start work on a Flame Throwing pumpkin project for Halloween. I saw some projects like this in the past, and I wanted to do my own version. Some projects do some pretty sophisticated things to make a flame thrower in a pumpkin (like using a solenoid to push down the nozzle of a spray can (hair spray or WD-40)) but others use a simple air freshener (short spurt) in front of a candle.

• Ali Express Parts

  Posted Wednesday, June 19, 2024 at 12:17 PM  in Internet of Things (IoT), Project Builds
  

  In my previous post, I mentioned that I like building electronic projects I find online. Historically, I purchased a lot of project components from online vendors like Adafruit and Sparkfun. Both offer their own proprietary boards as well as some standard electronics components you can use for your projects (such as battery connectors, cables, breakout boards, other connectors).

• Using the DFRobot I2C 16x2 LCD display

  Posted Saturday, April 13, 2024 at 10:22 AM  in Internet of Things (IoT)
  

  Describes how to use the DFRobot I2C 16x2(1602) LCD Display Module for Arduino in a project.

• Mounting the DFRobot mmWave RADAR

  Posted December 8, 2023  in Internet of Things (IoT)
  

  A while back, I started building a project using the DFRobot mmWave RADAR. However, as I described in IoT Component Manufacturers Ignoring Mounting Needs, I had some trouble figuring out how to mount the device in my project.

• Accessing an Arduino ESP32 Web Server

  Posted November 19, 2023  in Internet of Things (IoT), ESP32
  

  The third (and, I think, final) article in this series. In this post, I show the different options for connecting to the ESP32 web server highlighting the limitations and restrictions that apply to make your life miserable.

• Using UDP Broadcast to Synchronize Actions Across Arduino Devices

  Posted November 5, 2023  in Arduino, ESP32, Raspberry Pi, Internet of Things (IoT)
  

  Describes a way to synchronize actions or activities across multiple Arduino devices using UDP (broadcast and receiver).

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Header image: Photo by Robin Glauser on Unsplash.