As you will have seen from yesterday’s video the surprise in box nine was a temperature sensor. This initially seemed a bit strange for an advent calendar based around things that light up but makes absolute sense when you see the project for it.

We are pairing the temperature sensor with the ring LED that we used in the day eight project. Have a look at the project in action in the following video.

This project was slightly different than previous ones in that it needed to have a third-party library installed on the Pico to interact with the … Read the rest

Inside box nine was a bit of a surprise – it wasn’t something that lit up! It was a surprise as this year’s advent calendar is called “Let it Glow” in reference to it being all things that light up. So what was in the box? Have a look at the video below and check back tomorrow to see it in action!

Day Nine included the following:

• 1x DHT20/AHT20 temperature and humidity sensor
• 4x Male to male jumper wires

Yesterday’s box included a 12-LED RGB Ring which looked amazing and I was keen to get cracking with the associated projects.

As you can see from the video below the projects included lighting the LEDs in a number of interesting ways and changing the colours.

One thing I have noticed about the RGB ring is that colours can be very weak and watery tending towards white. I am not sure if this is a property of the ring itself or the colours chosen in the code. I am going to have a bit of a play with it to see … Read the rest

There was a nice surprise waiting for me inside the box for day eight. Take a look at the video below for details and then view the parts list below.

I have to say that I am looking forward to trying out the projects for this one!

Day Eight included the following:

• 1x 12-LED RGB Ring
• 3x Male to male jumper wires

Yesterday’s box included a slider potentiometer which I rather belatedly identified. The projects today make use of that in combination with the RGB LED light that was included in day six’s box.

Check out the video and expect flashing and changes in brightness!

Another day, another box. Initially, I was a bit confused as to what was in the box today but suddenly it dawned on me. Take a look for yourself in the video below and then have a look at the parts list at the bottom of the page.

Day Seven included the following:

• 1x 45mm slide potentiometer
• 1x Cap for slide potentiometer
• 3x Male to male jumper wires

Today we completely clear the decks of everything except the Pico. We’re not adding boughs of holly though but the contents of box six: two 10mm RGB addressable LEDs and yet more jumper cables – although I have so many now that I didn’t use the ones from box six.

I think that this is what I was expecting the block LED to be like in the day two box, i.e. one unit with multiple coloured LEDs. In this case, there are three (red, green and blue) that are individually addressable allowing for blends of colours to be produced.… Read the rest

Help! I’m drowning in jumper cables!

We’ve reached box six of PiHut’s Maker Advent Calendar which is the halfway mark. I notice that PiHut have already reached box nine in their guides which suggests that they are opening one a day. That also means that for them Christmas will be on the 13th December! I’m continuing with the every-other-day cadence which allows me a day for the projects too.

So here is me unboxing box six and spilling half the contents over the side of the table. Tune in tomorrow to see if the contents survived intact.

Day Six included … Read the rest

Yesterday’s box from the PiHut’s Maker Advent Calendar included a DIP switch and yet more jumper cables. Today’s project makes use of that and pairs it with the five LED block from day four. As you can see from the video below it has created a rat’s nest of cabling and was very fiddly to operate – but it did work.

Today’s box contained just one item of interest, if you ignore the inevitable jumper cables. A DIP switch – not to be confused with the DIPstick making the video 🤣. Given that this is a five-switch DIP it’s not hard to guess what the project is going to be to go with this but I’ll leave that excitement for tomorrow.

For now have a look at the video below to see the contents in all their glory.

Day Five included the following:

• 1x 5-way DIP switch
• 5x Male to male jumper wires

Tomorrow the DIPstick uses the DIP switch in … Read the rest