As this was my first attempt at getting out there in the physical world – I haven’t done a trade show or seminar or anything like that – I didn’t know what to expect.
But what a turn out! So many people came by, saw my stuff and gave me positive comments. I loved it. Many people also bought my kits. Sorry for not having enough kits available (sold out most of them).

If you are a maker/creator I’d say Make Faire is a great place to get involved.

Thank you so much for those who came by at my booth!

(Now I need a better picture…)

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I was doing some clean up and found some old works from years ago…

The one above is a multi-purpose PIC pad using PIC16F627. This was an exercise of multiplexing 7 segment LEDs and button matrix using the same set of I/O pins. I wrote code to make it work as a timer and organ (more like a beeper with notes). 2 AA battery holder was connected to it, but obviously lost.

This was done in April of 2003. Before Arduino and all that good stuff was available. Home etched and hand drilled PCB. What’s amazing to me now is that I designed the PCB in Adobe Illustrator! I did not have a CAD software.

> PCB Layout

Next up is my very first LED project using PIC microcontroller, which was done right around the same time as the pad above.

> Schematic
> PCB Layout

I used four microcontrollers on this one. three controlling LEDs, and another one controlling them. The center one is the “master”, sending command to the other controllers to orchestrate the animation. The three “slaves” are just controlling the LEDs as they are commanded. The setup seems more complicated than my recent projects, but back then I was literally applying “divide and conquer” method to the circuit design.
When I first envisioned this one, I had no knowledge of microcontroller. I had some electronics experience and knew how to use logic ICs, however it quickly became clear that what I wanted to do was too complicated to accomplish with logic ICs. So that prompted me to look around, which led me to BASIC Stamp. BASIC Stamp, for those who never hard of it, it’s kind of like a pre-Arduino. You can write the code in BASIC language and upload it to the chip over serial cable. It was easy to use, but the processor was very slow.
Faced by the limitation I decided to learn to code PIC microcontroller directly. It took me a while to get into, but I managed.

I made a revision of the same circuit, multiplying the number of LEDs by using a complementary drive approach. (July 2003)

> Schematic
> PCB Layout

After this prototype, I decided to move on up to manufactured PCB. Found a free PCB design software (called Osmond PCB – which I still use), and start having my PCB made by a factory. This enabled me to design with fine traces and more precision.

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I’ve created this Joule Thief design back in September 2011. Now sadly I found that there’s a knock-off of my design being sold by Eastern Voltage Research. Although their kit doesn’t have a light sensor (has a switch instead), the “look & feel” of the physical design is strikingly similar to mine.
While I did not invent the circuit, I did work hard to come up with a one piece design that integrates the battery holder. I also worked hard to make it look nice.

- I’d love to know what you think of this. Please leave comments. -

To be honest I feel cheated. Things of this nature is not good for the creative community. We all strive to create something great, and when you come up with something that people like or love, one should deserve the recognition. My contacting the company failed to produce a positive result. They neither deny or acknowledge the possibility of referencing my design. Even though there are few unexplainable identicality in our designs;

• two holes at the end of the PCBs to accomodate the hook up of paper clip battery holder (The photos on their site is now photoshopped to hide these)
• The two transistors on their PCB are named Q2 & Q3, mysteriously skipping Q1, which is the ambient light sensor amp transistor in my design replaced by a switch in theirs.

Hours after contacting them, photos on their website were retouched to hide the obvious clues (mentioned above), and the manual was revised. I can only see this as acknowledgement of them copying my design. (and an effort to avoid possible legal issues…)

This isn’t about money, but it’s about giving credit where it’s due…

- Purchase Night Joule Thief Kit -

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I have finalized the designs of new Aurora 9×18 mk2 and Aurora 18×18. Developing these things takes a lot of effort, time and of course, money.
I really want to make those Aurora’s available as kits, however I need a small capital to do so quickly. Otherwise I’d have to wait.

So here’s the deal, I will offer those kits at 20% discount until I have them shipping. Once the kits are in, the final prices will be $179 for Aurora 9×18, and $289 for Aurora 18×18. (At the worst case where I could not deliver those kits, your money will be refunded. PayPal will offer protection against non-delivery, so rest assured.)
I’m really hoping that with your help, these kits will be shipping within 4 weeks.

IMPORTANT: Like all other kits I sell, PIC microcontrollers are not preprogrammed. You need a compatible PIC programmer such as PICkit 3, ICD2/3, etc. to program the PIC. (PICkit 2 does not support the newer PICs used on those Aurora’s.) This is due to the fact that surface mount PIC need to be soldered to a PCB before being programmed.

Aurora 9X18 mk2 kit

Aurora 18X18 kit

Audio Interface for Aurora

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