Dilshan R Jayakody’s Web Log

Couple of months back we decided to create our own media server to store our MP3s and digital photographs. But it gets postpone several months due to unavailability of main-boards and other resources. Finally, after reviewing several prototypes we decided to build our media server using Banana Pi (BPI) and MiniDLNA . Before finalize BPI we checked several main-boards which including Raspberry Pi B+ , Orange Pi One and BeagleBone Black . Out of all above main-boards we choose BPI M1 because of its inbuilt SATA2.0 interface, Gigabit Ethernet port and availability in local market. Final view of DLNA media server setup. As an operating system we use Bananian Linux , which is Debian derivative for BPI platform. To sore all our content, we use Seagate 1TB SATA 3.5 inch hard disk drive. Bananian OS and other packages are loaded into 8GB SD card. To power both BPI and SATA disk drive we design PSU using LM2576-5.0 step-down switching regulator IC. Also during the prototyping sta...

This is modified version of commonly available automatic car battery charger system. I obtain original layout of this charger from one of the commercially available Chinese car battery charger and modified some of the sections of original schematic to improve the performance and stability of the system. This charger is mainly based on LM311 comparator and 2 ×12V 4A transformer. Final view of automatic car battery charger All the components of this car battery charger are commonly available in the market. Ammeter in this system must be withstand for minimum of 8A current. Low cost ammeter can also be used with suitable shunt. For the relay it is highly advisable to use some high quality unit. During our prototyping we mainly use 12V Omron and Panasonic realys with this system. At the test stages we observe that some of the cheap relays may start to oscillate heavily with this system. Automatic car battery charger finished prototype Under normal conditions TIP142 and 7805...

This is quick post about 3W constant current LED driver which I was design to combine with some homemade furniture piece. The main components of this system is LM311 voltage comparator and IRF9 5 40 P-Channel MOSFET. Schematic of 3W LED driver module This module is design to drive maximum of two 3W high power LEDs and it requires 8V - 10V DC (500mA) power source. In this given configuration this module may not need any heat-sink (for IRF9540) and consume maximum of 500mA of power. Breadboard version of 3W LED driver At prototyping stages we test this module using 9V DC (1A) power supply with two 3W LEDs (EDEX-3LA1-E1). I developed final version of this module using piece of strip-board and PCB design is not done.