Chris Bergeron's Blog » electronics

Updated the kitchen kiosk computer

Chris — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 23:46:15 +0000

I was out of commission today, so I figured I could be productive by updating my blog. Here’s a picture of the kitchen kiosk computer:

Kitchen kiosk

The original thread can be seen here

Security System: Added mysql integration

Chris — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 18:46:16 +0000

I wrote a program to read events from the security system and put them into an RSS Event Log . I have some logic in it so that not everything gets recorded. I wouldn’t want a would-be robber knowing when the system is armed or disarmed, of course!

An event is anything that is monitored by the security system, including door openings, windows being opened / closed, etc.

Making a surge protector computer controlled

Chris — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 04:03:28 +0000

I have a computer in the kitchen that has an LCD and speakers that are AC powered. Instead of having switches mounted everywhere, I hacked a surge protector to make it computer controlled. This way, when I power on the PC it powers on the LCD and the speakers. When the computer is off, the surge protector is off as well. It was an easy project, just requiring a relay in place of the standard surge protector switch.

Using a DS1820 temperature sensor

Chris — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 03:06:22 +0000

Just for fun, I added a Dallas Semiconductor DS1820 temperature sensor to my home office. It doesn’t really serve any purpose; I just like data. Here’s a graph of it’s data:

Homemade home security system

Chris — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 05:49:18 +0000

I’m building a custom security system for my home. It’s going to be internet connected and it will integrate with my iPhone. I’ve built the interface board and I’m in the process of programming the software. Our home was pre-wired for security sensors, so it will be trivial to attach and integrate them.

Hacking the BMW iBus

Chris — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 06:06:23 +0000

Our BMW 330Ci uses an on-board bus (called the iBus) for intra-device communication. Hacking into this is relatively simple with an iBus to serial adapter. I recently assembled this unit which I purchased from: http://ressler.de. I’ll post more after I install it in the Bimmer and start playing with it.