InTheMail | Voltlog #444

In the latest installment of the popular “InTheMail” series, tech enthusiasts are treated to a diverse array of electronics and accessories straight from the mailbag. From compact chargers and carry cases to specialized tools and sensors, this episode covers a wide range of products that cater to various needs.

Kicking things off is the VOLTME dual USB Type-C phone charger, a compact and powerful solution for charging multiple devices simultaneously. Its small form factor and GaN technology make it an ideal travel companion. Next up are EVA hard shell cases, offering protection for soldering irons and oscilloscopes during transportation.

The Ulanzi VL49 RGB LED light is a versatile addition for photography and videography, boasting impressive specs like high CRI, adjustable color temperature, and long battery life. The episode also showcases a learning RF remote control with an impressive frequency range, perfect for hobbyists and tinkerers.

For those in need of cable management solutions, the video covers keyrings, USB cables (including right-angle and USB Type-B variants), and silicone-insulated cables designed for soldering applications. Fiberglass cable insulation rated for high temperatures is also highlighted, catering to projects involving hot environments.

The mailbag also unveils a hidden GPS tracking device with 4G support and an upgraded USB-to-CAN adapter for CAN bus interfacing. Specialized tools like a BNC T-split connector and ceramic heating plates are also explored, offering potential applications in electronics and temperature control projects.

Finally, the episode touches on a radar sensor module and a waterproof temperature/humidity sensor, both useful for home automation and outdoor sensing applications.

Voltlog #276 – What Is The CO2 Concentration In Your Home?

Welcome to a new Voltlog, in the previous video I showed how I built this monitoring system for CO2, it’s based on an ESP32 development board and it uses two sensors the MH-Z19B and the CCS811. In that video I explained the differences between these two sensors so please watch that to better understand the current video and the conclusions presented here.

I’ve let the system run and collect data for the past few days and now we can take a look at the data and draw some conclusions which might help you decide what sensor to use in your future projects or it might determine you to build a similar data logger to check the CO2 levels in your home because I assure you if you do not have a ventilation system, chances are you are sleeping in some high CO2 concentration levels.

Voltlog #275 – CO2 Concentration Measurement System With MH-Z19B & CCS811

Welcome to a new Voltlog, you might remember these two sensors from a previous mailbag, this is the MH-Z19B and this is the CCS811 both of these report CO2 levels but they measure this differently and I’ll explain this in a moment. I got these two sensors in order to monitor CO2 levels in my home, to determine if the levels rise too much at night, especially during the winter time when we tend to keep the windows closed most of the time. I live in an old apartment building where there isn’t much provision for ventilation and so I suspect the air I breath during sleep is high in CO2 levels as it builds up over night.

In this video I’m gonna show you how I built the monitoring system using an ESP32 board that reads the sensor data and then sends it over the network to an MQTT server running on my raspberry pi. I then use node-red to insert the data into InfluxDB and then finally Grafana to monitor all of this data in a nice graphical user interface. The beauty of this setup is that all of this software is free to use and open-source.

Voltlog #261 – InTheMail

Welcome to a new InTheMail, the series that will touch both your passion for electronics and your bank account at the same time.

Voltlog #216 – InTheMail

Welcome to a new voltlog, the series that will touch both your passion for electronics and your bank account at the same time.

We’re gonna start with this multimeter thermocouple which I got from ebay, it’s brown, it looks familiar to those who have a fluke multimeter, and yes it’s branded Fluke. However I got this from ebay for just a few dollars delivered from China so it might as well be fake but honestly who cares, it’s just a thermocouple, it’s gonna work just fine even if it’s a fake one. The think is I got my fluke 87 used without original packaging so it was missing the thermocouple but now I can plug this in and measure temperature as well.

Voltlog #60 – InTheMail

Welcome to a new InTheMail video where I show you everything I purchase electronics related.

A list of items appearing in this video:

  • 0:10 Hakko A1321 ceramic heating element
  • 4:30 Soldering iron soft metallic cleaning sponge
  • 5:25 Alcohol plastic container 200ml
  • 6:00 Antistatic ESD working gloves
  • 7:21 Star shaped led aluminium pcb base
  • 8:00 Cree XTE White LED
  • 9:33 Pentalobe 0.8mm screwdriver
  • 10:25 Excellway CH2 Quick Wire Connector
  • 11:30 M3 x 25mm black countersunk hex screw
  • 12:27 High voltage 3V to 7KV boost module
  • 14:32 1W 350mA led driver with pwm control
  • 16:38 DHT11 humidity and temperature sensor
  • 17:23 Bi-directional 4 line level converter module