Gameduino HDMI Progress; Going Solar
Gameduino HDMI progress
Last week's quick prototype is now generating a valid HDMI signal.
The resolution is 640x480 at the moment, based on this tutorial. It's now just a matter of merging it with the Xilinx reference design to get it running at the target resolution of 1280x720. Small steps!
We're on Solar
After California's recent power outages, I'm switching the Excamera office to a mostly-solar setup. The new inverter and panel arrived last week, as well as the top-up charger. These are all working quite well, and this week's batch of I²CDriver assembly was all powered by solar. Easy enough.It's using a single panel meter right now, but what I'd really like is proper current measurement for the whole setup getting the complete picture of the energy flows is obviously quite important. This means multiple inline voltage/current meters, capable of measuring up to 30 amps in both directions, connected via I²C. There is a nice hall-effect sensor available, the ACS711, but it is analog-out. Combining it with a minimal microntroller to let it talk I²C is quite straightforward, and a few minutes in Eagle got me this:
It's an inline current/voltage/power meter with Qwiic connectors for small solar installations. Summary:
- measures voltage to 30V, current (±31A) and power
- tracks charge and energy
- mounting holes on 1" centers, for pegboard
- Qwiic-connectors and I²C breakout
- eight I²C addresses set via DIP switch
Thanks for reading.