SPOILER ALERT! I have never been so disappointed during this opening of the PiHut Maker Advent Calendar when I couldn’t get the OLED screen to work.

Watch the very quick video below and then read on for more thoughts.

I have no idea why this didn’t work. I tried several things to try and coax it in to life stripping it right back to basics. The project includes a switch and the potentiometer but I removed all that just to try and get the screen to work. However, no matter what I did I just always ended up with this … Read the rest

Here we go with the penultimate box. I’d wondered all along whether the boxes would include this as a component. What is it? Have a look at the video below and then read the rest underneath.

A neat little OLED display which I can imagine using for displaying the current temperature using the sensor from the day eight box. Tomorrow I will run up the project and see how well it performs.

Day eleven included the following:

• 1x Mini OLED display with pre-soldered headers
• 4x jumper wires

Getting perilously close to the end of the advent set now with just a couple more boxes to open. Meanwhile we have the day ten project to savour. This one makes of the infrared beam sensors that were in yesterday’s box.

Watch today’s video to see it all hangs together:

As I say i the video these IR sensors have to be reasonably close together which means the projects that they can be used in are limited. You couldn’t use them to detect when someone walks through a hallway, for example. However, they do give you an idea of what … Read the rest

Another box opening where I didn’t know what it was when it was sat in my hand. Watch the video below and see if you recognise what it is. Answer below (and, actually, in the video).

Day ten included the following:

• 1x Custom IR break beam sensors with jumper wire ends
• 1x 10k resistor
• 4x Jumper wires

Another day, another project to dip in to. In day nine’s box was a ball tilt switch which, as the name implies, has a ball bearing in it that when rolled to the botton completes the circuit sending a notification to the Pico. You can imagine using this in a number of scenarios such as detecting when an object has been lifted.

Watch today’s video to see how it works:

This one was incredibly simple to wire up and in use which is what we like.… Read the rest

Today’s component was a bit of an anticlimax after the excitement of a temperature sensor yesterday. Want to see what you get in box nine? Watch the video below.

It’s tiny but mighty and I hope it is slightly more successful than some of the projects have been for me. Tune in next time to find out!

Day nine included the following:

• 1x Ball tilt switch
• 4x jumper wires

Time for another quick look at the project using the components I was so excited about yesterday – the temperature sensor. As I said I’ve considered getting a weather station so this might help put my own together.

Watch today’s video to see how it works:

The sensor showed the temperature in the room to be about 22 degrees. I suspect that this is reading a bit high and so I need to calibrate it in some way (if that’s even possible) or at least validate the readings. However, it is close enough for now.

Thinking more longer term there … Read the rest

I was genuinely excited when I opened the box and saw what today’s component was as I can see me making much use of it. Take a look at the video to see what it is that has got me so excited (even if I don’t sound it!) and no, it’s not more jumper cables!

I have been looking recently at possibly asking Santa for a weather station but now maybe I can save myself some cash by building my own!

Day eight included the following:

• 1x Custom waterproof temperature sensor with jumper wire ends
• 1x 4.7k resistor
• 3x jumper

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