New device: the Yocto-PWM-Tx

By martinm, in New stuff, march 20,2014.

A new Yoctopuce module is available: the Yocto-PWM-Tx. As its name suggests it, this module can transmit a PWM signal. This type of signal is often used when driving industrial equipments, motors, air-conditioners, or even lighting. Let's have a closer look at how it works.

A network humidifier in an afternoon

By Sébastien Rinsoz, in Internet of Things, march 13,2014.

When we founded Yoctopuce, one of the aims was to provide a fast, easy, and reliable solution for any geek DIY (controlling the coffee machine from your computer, knowing when to fetch the mail, and so on). Other solutions were already available, but none was simple enough for everything to work in half a day. This week, we had to quickly install a system to control humidity in a bedroom, and we had only an afternoon to do it. Here is what we did...

Yoctopuce relays and their secrets

By martinm, in Programming, march 07,2014.

Yoctopuce offers a range of relay modules. At first sight, nothing out of the ordinary, you can find tens of USB relays on Internet. But it so happens that the Yoctopuce relays provide a few rare features for this kind of devices. This week, we review some of these advanced features...

New product: The Yocto-3D

By mvuilleu, in New stuff, february 28,2014.

Have you ever wished to measure a tilt angle by USB ? To detect when an object starts moving or falling ? To measure the position of a nearby magnet ? To determine where a vehicle is heading to ? Be happy, the Yocto-3D can do all that, and even more. Let us introduce our newest sensors...

The return of the Yoctopuce mailbox

By martinm, in Internet of Things and DIY, february 21,2014.

Do you remember the laser mailbox? It works quite well, but we noticed a very annoying defect. Because the mailbox is made of metal sheets, it tends to slightly deform itself depending on temperature changes. This deformation changes the laser beam trajectory inside the box, sometimes to the point of bringing it off the light sensor target. Therefore, we had to regularly adjust the mailbox to solve this issue. After a while, we had enough and we came up with another idea to fix this. But this time, we are seeing big: we are going to render our mailbox autonomous thanks to a solar panel and a Wifi connection.