This was a very enjoyable project that made use of four of the days of components: LEDs, buzzer, PIR sensor and, of course, the Pico, board and numerous jumper cables.

Watch today’s video as everything seamlessly comes together:

This project was simplicity itself and you could really see the practical use for this kind of set-up.… Read the rest

Help! I’m drowning in jumper wires! Every single box has yet more of the things and my desk is literally covered in them. Take a look at the video below to see what was included in the day seven box along with the wires.

I have to admit that even when I looked this up on the PiHut page for the advent calendar I still had no idea what a PIR was so I had to do a search. Turns out that PIR stands for Passive Infared Sensor basically a motion detector sensor to you and me. More soon on … Read the rest

UPDATED! See at the bottom for a video showing the project working and why it wasn’t previous. [SPOLIER I was a numpty].

You’d have thought that by half way through I’d have been able to get the projects to work but apparently not.

Today’s project was to take the light sensor and use it to detect ambient light levels and turn on different coloured LEDs depending on the light level. As you will see from the video only one light ever comes on:

The instructions are very clear that you need to be careful with the sensor to make sure … Read the rest

We’re at the half way stage now as we open up box six. Watch the unboxing video below and then have a look at the notes underneath.

I said in the video that the contents included an LED. In my head I was thinking “well that’s a bit boring as we’ve had three of those already”. Turns out that I was wrong and it is actually a phototransistor which is just a fancy name for a light sensor. I’m going to have to be careful as the sensor looks identical to an LED!

Having the sensor will allow us to … Read the rest

Having struggled with the day three project I was a bit concerned that I may similarly come unstuck with these projects too. This was partly becuase no matter what I tried I couldn’t get the switches to work and I wondered if these projects would need the switches to be working. I needn’t have worried.

These projects make use of the potentiometer from day four and the buzzer from day five and I am glad to say that it was a lot more successful than day three. That said, as you will see in the video, I may have inadvertently … Read the rest

We seem to be racing through these boxes now! And after yesterday’s (unsuccessful) attempt at getting the supplied buttons I am more hopeful for what lies ahead. Here’s the latest unboxing video and below that some more notes.

Firstly, apologies for the state of my fingers which I clearly didn’t wash throughly after pumping up the tyres on my car!

This box is the first time that I have been genuinely perplexed about what was in the box. Even though I now know what it is I still have no idea what it does so todays project will be enlightening … Read the rest

I sat down last night to work my way through the project that makes use of the components in the day three box. The previous day’s project took the first two boxes, set up the Pico and then flashed the included three LEDs in sequence. This worked like a dream.

The day three project is to extend the main breadboard out onto the mini board to which you add three push buttons to turn on and off the LEDs. This did not work like a dream.

You can watch the video below for a short discussion on this on … Read the rest

And so we are a third of the way through this PiHut Makers Advent Calendar and my table now has a liberal scattering of bits and pieces strewn across it. Because of, well, life I haven’t yet been able to get to doing the project from day three but I am hoping to do that and the one from day four in the next 48 hours. I will report back again then. In the meantime here’s the unboxing video for day four.

I really wanted to say potentiometer but wasn’t confident enough and instead called it a ‘turny thing’. I … Read the rest

One of the great things about the PiHut Maker Adver Calendar is that it has been structured so that you are doing intersting things right from day two. Yesterday I ran through the day two project which flashed the three included LEDs in sequence. Very simple but immediately rewarding as you are doing something.

Here’s the unboxing video for day three.

Day three included the following:

• 3x 11mm tactile buttons
• 3x button caps
• 1x Mini breadboard
• 7x jumper wires

I assume that the next project will be to use the switches to activate the LEDs but that’s a job for … Read the rest