Articles

. Here are the firmware change instructions for another budget WiFi controlled relay. The product presented here normally works with the Tuya cloud, but here I will show how it can be freed from the cloud and paired with Home Assistant. The unit discussed here appears under the ATLO-B1-Tuya... [Read more]

. Gemma 3 is the latest in a series of open multimodal LLMs from Google, based on the same technology as Gemini 2.0. Chatbots based on Gemma 3 not only operate with text, but can also describe images. This is where I will try to test this in terms of images relating to electronics.... [Read more]

. Before publishing, I wondered if anyone else was interested in this topic. But maybe there is still a maniac for flashing lights :) . Illuminophony - a somewhat forgotten topic. The device has, in my opinion, undergone a backward evouluation and at the outset let me quote my colleague... [Read more]

Brand Goodram Industrial showcased its offering at the Embedded World 2025 , held in Nuremberg. The stand attracted a lot of interest with its comprehensive presentation of storage solutions and DRAM modules, dedicated to the industrial sector, the defence industry and the enterprise... [Read more]

Are you trying to run latest Gemma3 multimodal AI models , but keep getting error 500 in Ollama WebUI? Here's a solution, but first few words about Gemma 3. Gemma 3 is collection of lightweight, open models built from the same research and technology that powers Gemini 2.0 models.... [Read more]

T34 a Wi-Fi and BT combo chip integrating BK7231N core along with crystal, RF matching component, and most other peripheral components within a tiny SMD case. The T34 dimensions are 6±0.1 mm (W) × 6±0.1 mm (L) × 0.85±0.1 mm (H). This reduces the size required on the board and saves... [Read more]

Good morning. I wanted to introduce my next design which is a threading arm. The base of the machine is a 400 kg magnetic lifter ordered from a well-known Chinese portal for the sum of 330 PLN. . I bolted a flat bar to the top of the magnet with a welded 30 mm shaft. I then screwed... [Read more]

Hi all! Let me share my teardown of TNCE TUYA Smart Plug WiFi I recently bought on AliExpress for 5 euros. The original Tuya firmware was pretty unstable and I decided to covert it to OpenBeken. Luckily, OpenBeken supports ECR6600 platform so it was possible to flash it via UART.... [Read more]

. How do I generate images on my own computer? How to change the content of a picture? Is AI able to suggest an interface sketch for a smart home controller? This is what I will try to find out here, all thanks to an easy-to-use web interface based on the Stable Diffusion XL architecture.... [Read more]

Test review and fix of the "MOES ZigBee Smart Sprinkler Water Timer with 1 Outlet" Technical specifications: Model: ZWW-YC Wireless Connection: Zigbee Working Water Pressure: 2.9-116 Psi Working Temperature: 40.1°F-113°F (4.5°C-45°C) Waterproof: IP55 Battery: 2x1.5V AA alkaline batteries... [Read more]

On 6 March 2025, Tarlogic published a press release entitled 'Tarlogic detects backdoor in mass-produced ESP32 chip that could infect millions of IoT devices'. This information was later picked up by the BleepingComputer website and circulated via Slashdot, Google News. In short,... [Read more]

I was written to by Eleo from HW Media Lab asking for a peek at their product called Webscreen. The Webscreen is a small AMOLED display, powered by the ESP32-S3 microcontroller, that allows users to monitor important information without being distracted from work or entertainment.... [Read more]

This topic covers detailed information about ECR6600 WiFi modules, datasheets, pinout, and firmware backup via UART and write procedure required to run ESWIN chips locally. Thanks to this, it's possible to pair ECR6600 devices with Home Assistant and use them free from the cloud.... [Read more]

. Hi, As the summer season is approaching, I have decided to build a weather station (or rather a "motherboard" for it) to control the irrigation system and also to allow a quick view of current parameters such as temperature, humidity or pressure, with the possibility of extending... [Read more]

Using Nichicon SLB batteries in IoT applications . The greatest challenges of modern electronics are efficient energy harvesting and storage. In response to such market needs, Nichicon, the Japanese leader in capacitors, has developed the small SLB series batteries: lithium-ion cells... [Read more]

. A few years ago I presented a simple way to control an individually addressable LED strip based on bit-banging , i.e. the simplest operations on the IO pins of a microcontroller. Here I will show a completely different approach, which is based on using the MOSI pin from the hardware... [Read more]

eWeLink RGBCW LED bulbs series is often using BW2L WiFi module based on BL602 chip. Those bulbs are easy to disassemble, although flash pins are only accessible on the back side of the module, it has to be desoldered before flashing. Here I will show you how you can do it step by... [Read more]

Good morning. As I've been using a dozen or so smart sockets of one type for over two years, I've finally matured into trying to make them cloud free. I use them for Home Assistant with LocalTuya integration (which in itself no longer requires the cloud), but I wanted to change the... [Read more]

. The Tuya Bluetooth device cannot be connected via WiFi to a router, it is usually controlled directly from the phone. This is quite inconvenient, because then we cannot create scenarios and we cannot control the equipment remotely. Fortunately, there is one way around this problem,... [Read more]

. In 2021, I featured two switches in the QTouch series on the forum, both of which were based on the ESP8285. Today I'm going back and checking out the latest copies in the same series, has anything inside changed in four years? And if so, how can they now be freed from the cloud... [Read more]

OpenBeken features an automatic self-testing system that checks the firmware for potential bugs and errors with each new commit. Each test simulates a practical use-case scenario, simulates certain inputs and verifies if the outputs are within the expected range. Thanks to this, we... [Read more]

Edit: 03-10-2025: I have corrected the circuit diagram for normalising the output signals, and refined the buffer (emitter secondary) which was causing some problems. Just for fun, I committed a function generator, sine, triangle and rectangle based on the AD9833 programmable generator... [Read more]

. Wireless solutions are often considered more convenient and handy than wired ones. Installation is easier, there is no need to pull cables, drill, hide them under angles and combine how to do it aesthetically. There is, however, an inconvenience - the need to regularly replace the... [Read more]

As in the title - today, when integrated circuits have made themselves at home in all sorts of amateur electronic constructions - there is a problem with this. However, is it really? Of course, I'm not talking about programmable circuits or specialised ICs designed for a specific... [Read more]

Goodram Industrial at Embedded World 2025 - cutting-edge solutions for industry, AI and defence The Polish industrial memory manufacturer will once again be showcasing its product range at Embedded World, which takes place in Nuremberg, Germany, from 11 to 13 March. The company will... [Read more]

This is an interesting device that has two separate power measurement circuits . It can be now run without cloud, in OpenBeken . I added support (version 1.18.17) for measuring devices with two BL0942 connected to UART1 and UART2 (Beken). Currently, energy is always counted only from... [Read more]

BL602 is a WiFi+Bluetooth 32-bit SoC found in some Sonoff and eWeLink devices. It comes in 2MB and 1MB flash versions, but here I will focus on 2MB one. BL702, on the other hand, is a Zigbee chip. They both can be read and flashed with BLDevCube, here are the connection details and... [Read more]

. Here I will show the inner workings of MQTT-based HASS Discovery, a way for Home Assistant to automatically detect and configure devices. HASS Discovery only requires our device to be connected to the MQTT broker in HA. After that, our device can already be detected. In order for... [Read more]

PCBWay Presents Glow-in-the-Dark PCBs at Embedded World 2025 . Major Information . - PCBWay is introducing a glow-in-the-dark PCB with a special solder mask that emits light in low-light conditions when charged with light. - The product will be exhibited at Embedded World 2025 in... [Read more]

. Welcome. Some time ago I started my adventure with PLC programming. To start with, I found that Siemens LOGO! was sufficient. Creating a program in FBD language is quite transparent but, as you know, the created program must somehow affect reality. It is a good idea to test the... [Read more]