Stripboard PID Arduino Shield, Part 1: Hardware

This easy-to-make shield converts your Arduino into a full-featured PID controller.

Jack-O'-Launchpad

Perhaps not the most imaginative used of a Tiva Launchpad, but the default application makes for a serviceable Jack-O'-Lantern. Powered by a USB adapter from CUI, a freebie via @digikey on twitter. Nice!

30 Second Light Sabre Autopsy

What we have here. A battery holder, 2 tactile switches, 4 LEDs, and a chip with a blob on that makes a crappy noise. I don't even want to know how the plastic shaft got broken but no ambulances were called. Nothing to salvage or Halloweenify. Let's move on.

LED Dimmer PWM Hack

This cheap dimmer is designed to blink LEDs with a variable duty cycle. The default frequency can be altered by swapping out a single capacitor. 20 kHz makes a whine-free speed control for a DC motor, 1 Hz gives slow PWM for high power resistive heating loads.

Solid State Relay Module

This solid state relay propels a puny logic signal into the big time, switching up to 20 Amps of mains electricity.

Stripboard I2C Logic Level Converter

A very easy logic level converter to translate I2C signals from, say, a 5 V Arduino to a 3.3 V slave device.

I2C LED Display From Hacked Voltmeter

LED voltmeters are a cheap source of 7 segment displays and can easily be repurposed. Using the I2C protocol, a master microcontroller such as an Arduino Uno can govern multiple displays with just 2 I/O pins.