Measuring noise and sound loudness

By mvuilleu, in Measures and Reviews, october 24,2025.

A sound pressure sensor, or noise sensor, is one of those sensors that we've been asked for several times, but don't yet offer. The small on-board processors we use in our modules don't have the computing power to make this measurement, and until now we haven't found an external component we could integrate that met our quality criteria. But there is hope that this will change...

Can I use a dimmer switch with an LED bulb?

By mvuilleu, in Reviews, Electronics and Measures, august 15,2025.

With the disappearance of incandescent and halogen bulbs due to their poor energy efficiency, we're being encouraged to replace the bulbs in our lamps with equivalent LED bulbs. But if you're used to dimming your lights with a dimmer switch, you've probably noticed that your existing dimmer often doesn't work well with these new bulbs. Why is this, and how can we fix it?

The quest for the perfect USB battery, part 4

By martinm, in Reviews, november 15,2024.

The last time we broached the subject, we found a USB battery from WaveShare that could power experiments based on Yoctopuce modules with quite respectable performance: 19 days of continuous use. But we're not giving up just yet. This week, we're turning our attention to products from Voltaic Systems: if the specifications published on their website are anything to go by, there's a good chance that their USB batteries work exactly the way we want them to.

The quest for the perfect USB battery, part 3

By martinm, in Reviews, october 04,2024.

This week, we continue our series on the search for the ideal battery to power Yoctopuce modules, especially when driven by a YoctoHub which can go into sleep mode. This is important, because standard USB batteries have the unfortunate habit of shutting down completely as soon as the hub goes to sleep. After the success of variant (C) of the Waveshare Solar Power Manager battery and the fiasco of variant (B), we decided to test variant (D), just to be sure.

The quest for the perfect USB battery, part 2

By martinm, in Reviews, august 23,2024.

This week, we're continuing our quest for the ideal USB battery to power systems built with Yoctopuce modules, and we've found a model sold by Waveshare that seems worth a look.