Review – Pi GPIO Reference card from Low Voltage Labs

 Review  No Responses »
Aug 032013
 
Review - Pi GPIO Reference card from Low Voltage Labs

Jamie over at The Pi Hut sent me one of these little GPIO reference cards to evaluate. Beautiful in its simplicity. I love the idea. It gives you a close at hand reference for the P1 GPIO header on the Pi, showing which pin is which GPIO port (and which aren’t). It’s perfect for use with an uncased Pi, but stumbles a bit when used with cases – mind you, that’s an occupational hazard of cases. In any case, GPIO work is generally hindered. (Pun intended.) The above shot is my Toxic Pibow in “GPIO […more…]

Review ISO-TECH IPS 3303D DC benchtop power supply

 Electronics, Review  8 Responses »
Jul 222013
 
Review ISO-TECH IPS 3303D DC benchtop power supply

This is a video review/tutorial of the ISO-TECH IPS 3303D DC bench power supply from RS components. It has 2 variable outputs (30V, 3 Amps) which can be connected in series or in parallel to double up the voltage/current. It also has one fixed output with three settings (2.5V/3.3V/5V – up to 3 Amps). I used it on 5V to power a RasPiCamcorder while I filmed this video. You can also control it with a computer via USB, but I haven’t tried that (yet). But this is meant to be a video review, so that’s […more…]

FLIRC – a programmable USB Media centre controller receiver

 Review  13 Responses »
Jun 272013
 
FLIRC - a programmable USB Media centre controller receiver

Jamie from the Pi Hut sent me a FLIRC controller for review. What is it? It’s a USB dongle that can be programmed to receive signals from pretty much any infra-red remote control that you may have lying around. And you can then use this to control your Raspberry Pi based* media centre (XBMC, OpenELEC, RaspBMC). Simple Setup Programming the remote controller needs another computer. But once programmmed, FLIRC works perfectly with the Pi. It can’t currently be programmed on the Pi itself, but there are setup utilities for Windows, Linux (x86) and Mac. So, […more…]

Testing RS 5200 mAh USB lithium battery pack as a UPS

 Raspberry Pi Hardware, Review  9 Responses »
Jun 222013
 
Testing RS 5200 mAh USB lithium battery pack as a UPS

At the end of my previous blog post, I mentioned that I was going to test the large pack to see if it was suitable as an uninterruptable power supply (UPS). Since it can be charged while being used, it seemed reasonable to see if it works for this function. Three days testing So I decided to put it on test for three days. Those three days ended at 9 am this morning, although I’ve still left it running. The pack has been powering the Pi, while the pack itself is connected to my 1 […more…]

Pi duration tests and review of two new lithium battery packs

 python programming, Raspberry Pi Hardware, Review  52 Responses »
Jun 192013
 
Pi duration tests and review of two new lithium battery packs

I’ve got a couple of new battery packs in from RS. As part of my testing, I wanted to see how long they could power a Pi at idle, with nothing but the battery pack and an Edimax wifi dongle connected. I know how much power this uses because I’ve made measurements in the past. Model B with just Edimax = 2.0 Watts at idle Model A with just Edimax = 0.81 Watts at idle (included for completeness – this test is on model B) I just want to know roughly how long it lasts […more…]

Part 2 – Raspberry Pi Camera stills VS video, Old VS New – resolution comparison

 Raspberry Pi Camera, Raspberry Pi Hardware, Review  16 Responses »
Jun 062013
 
Part 2 - Raspberry Pi Camera stills VS video, Old VS New – resolution comparison

In the previous comparison I did a week or two ago, the resolution of video and stills output was compared. With respect to reading a car license plate from across the street, there was precious little to choose between the output. With the latest release of the camera drivers, (sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade) I took the opportunity to run the test again with both old and new drivers. The most noticeable change is that the field of view of the stills is much greater. It transpired that the previous stills output was […more…]

Comparison of real resolving power of RasPiCam with other cameras

 Raspberry Pi Camera, Raspberry Pi Hardware, Review  5 Responses »
May 212013
 
Comparison of real resolving power of RasPiCam with other cameras

Talk to any photography geek and you’ll hear that the glass is a lot more important than the number of pixels. This is definitely true. It doesn’t matter how many pixels you’ve got if the light isn’t gathered and focussed nicely onto the sensor. Sensor size is the other large factor. The larger the sensor, the better the pictures (generally). The optimum is therefore good glass and a big sensor. With phone cameras, you usually have a small sensor and a small lens, which is far from ideal. Good glass costs hundreds or thousands and […more…]

Review of ISO-TECH IDM99III Digital Multimeter

 Electronics, Review  4 Responses »
May 112013
 
Review of ISO-TECH IDM99III Digital Multimeter

A multimeter is the Swiss Army Knife of electronics. You really do need one to debug your circuits when things aren’t working. GRRRRRR! Where is that dodgy connection? I’ve managed for years with a very cheap multimeter, but recently RS Components sent me this ISO-TECH IDM99III for review. Could it be “the one”? My brief is “an honest video review”. I receive no payment or kickback for doing this, but I do get to keep the product. I’m getting quite a lot of stuff in for review at the moment, from lots of different sources. […more…]

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