Liore Shai

Arduino

Turning a $10 kitchen scale into a WiFi smart scale for Home Assistant

Over the years I've seen a few posts on Reddit demonstrating the use of a load cell with an internet-connected microcontroller as a weight-based filament sensor for 3D printing. I decided to embark upon a similar project, retrofitting a $10 kitchen scale.

Arduino

555-Timer Oscillator for Ultra Low-Power Devices

Using the Astable Multivibrator circuit with a CMOS 555 Timer, power consumption on battery-powered sensors can be drastically reduced to microamps. This guide demonstrates two common circuits that can be used to achieve this.

Guides

10 Gigabit Networking for the Homelab: Beginner's Guide

When I first started to get into building a homelab, I didn't realize 10 gigabit was something that was really reasonable to have in a home network. Understand the 10 Gigabit landscape, what equipment is out there, and what to look out for in order to get the most performance for your money.

Reviews

MakerHawk USB 150W Load Tester - Review and Battery-Power Mod

I ordered this MakerHawk USB load tester a few months ago. For the price it packs a punch, but comes up short on the accuracy of voltage readings. I modded it to run on a single 18650 Li-ion battery, making it a much more portable and easy to use tool.

Arduino

Homemade Battery-Powered Alexa Smart Speaker

Using a disassembled Echo Flex device, I made a portable, wireless smart speaker with an integrated phone charger. Aside from being a fun project, it is cool to have a powerful speaker that just integrates with the rest of my Alexa devices.

Electronics

DIY Gigabit 802.3at PoE+ Splitter: Schematic and Build Guide

Making a 802.3at Power over Ethernet (PoE+) splitter using through-hole components and a controller IC. Schematic and build guide - this is a great way to learn about how Power over Ethernet powered devices (PDs) work.

Electronics

Read the Datasheet! How to use datasheets and select the right component for your circuit

Guide to reading and understanding components (ICs, resistors, MOSFETs, capacitors) datasheets. There is a ton of information that you are missing if you don't dive into datasheets!

Arduino

5V vs 3.3V: Which is better for Arduino? Logic level and operating voltage for Beginners

When working with Arduino Microcontrollers or Raspberry Pi boards, which voltage should you use your components? What is the difference between logic level and operating voltage? Let's walk through a beginner's guide to voltage levels in arduino projects.

Electronics

DIY Gigabit Passive PoE Splitter - Sharing data signal and power on the same wires

I build a homemade PoE splitter that supports Gigabit connectivity. It's a little more complex than the more simple PoE splitter that uses only spare wire pairs. Overall, it was a great opportunity to learn more about PoE.

Guides

VLANs for the Homelab: A beginner's guide to segmenting networks

I tried to condense the many hours I spent learning what VLANs are and how to implement them, trying to focus on the important information. If you've had a hard time understanding What a VLAN is, why you'd use it, and how you'd use it: check this out.

Arduino

Soldering tiny (SOIC/SO) surface mount ICs in DIY projects

You can use any SOIC chip in your DIY project without any special equipment. All you need is a cheap breakout PCB and regular soldering iron!

Arduino

DIY Peloton: Cadence and Resistance Sensors, Speakers - Powered by Raspberry Pi Pico

DIY Peloton project - created a smart exercise bike with cadence and resistance sensors and a built-in speaker. Powered by a Raspberry Pi Pico

Electronics

DIY Passive PoE Splitter with Integrated DC Buck Convertor

I made a passive PoE (Power-over-Ethernet) splitter/adapter to power my Ring base station. It has an integrated convertor that is integrated into the cable.

Electronics

Upgrading 18650 Lithium Battery Cells on a Dyson V7 Animal Vacuum

Guide to replacing Li-ion battery cells on a Dyson V7 Animal Vacuum. I replaced the 6 1850 2000 mAH cells with 3500 mAH LG cells, a 75% increase in capacity.

Electronics

Raspberry Pi Pico Neopixel Controller w/ Motion Detection Trigger

Guide to making a ws2821b LED controller triggered by an infrared motion detector. This is powered by a Raspberry Pi Pico Microcontroller running micropython. Build details and guide + schematic.

Electronics

Raspberry Pi 4B All-in-one Kids' Computer Part 2

I build a custom all-in-one kids computer based on a Sceptre 20" monitor and Raspberry Pi 4B SBC. It was a really fun project and I was able to end up with a clean look and only a single cable needed to power and operate it.

Electronics

Raspberry Pi Pico: First Impressions

This MCU board is Raspberry's entry into the microcontroller game. I managed to get a few boards the day after the release and got a chance to solder on some pin headers and try to run some code on it.

Homelab

1U Quiet, Short-Depth Mini-ITX Ryzen Virtualization Server Build

Powerful and power efficient 1U small form factor server build. This is a quiet, compact workhorse running Proxmox. It took a few iterations to get here, but I'm real happy with the result.

Electronics

Custom All-in-One PC Part 1: Disassemble and Paint Sceptre Monitor

How to disassemble a Sceptre 20" LCD monitor to custom paint it purple using spray paint.

Homelab

1U 3-port KVM-over-IP console appliance using PiKVM (Raspberry Pi 4B)

I built a 1U small form-factor KVM console for remotely managing laptops on my home network. This project was powered by PiKVM, an innovative open-source solution.