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

After the excitement of the first box, which contained a power cable, breadboard and the Pico itself, I went through PiHut’s excellent tutorial to setup the development environment Thonny and run my first program to turn on the onboard LED.

Now it’s time to take a look and see what is in box number two.

Day two included the following:

• 1x Red 5mm LED
• 1x Green 5mm LED
• 1x Amber 5mm LEd
• 3x 330 ohm resistors
• 4x jumper wires

Once I have tried out today’s project I will add a new blog with details on that too.… Read the rest

In my previous video overview of the PiHut’s Maker Advent Calendar I explained that there were only 12 “draws” to open even though traditionally there are 24 days leading up to Christmas. I assume that this was a cost related decision. So I will be opening up one every other day and posting a short video of the contents. Here is the first video and below that is a parts list and more information. Enjoy!

Day one included the following:

• 1x Raspberry Pi Pico H
• 1x Half-size breadboard
• 1x 1m Micro-USB Cable

There is also a comprehensive page on the PiHut page … Read the rest