Welcome to another Friday New Product Post. We've got a few products to talk about this week. We decided to take a revision of an older product and give it a proper demo, so check out the video if you want to see how the tilt-a-whirl works.
ReplaceMeOpen
ReplaceMeClose
There are numerous sensors you can use to detect orientation. You can use our simple tilt sensor for something just tipping over. You could use an accelerometer for exact position detection, or you could use the tilt-a-whirl for basic four-direction detection.
As seen above in the masterful demonstration, the Tilt-A-Whirl is a simple little board that makes position detection easy. It can detect four directions (forward, backward, left and right) with just two digital pins. The new version corrects some resistor values as well as an off-center silkscreen.
We have a couple 'new' motors. OK, they're not exactly new, but they're a tad different than the ones we've carried previously. We carry them in a 152 RPM and a 438 RPM. The gear-heads were revised for ease of manufacture, so that's why they have strange RPM values. I also dropped the price a bit, and put the previous versions on sale. Get the old ones while they last!
Lastly, we have the new IR remote control in retail packaging. We include a few extras in the retail kit, including a couple IR receivers, IR LEDs, and some resistors. We also have a new hookup guide to show you how to use the remote, as well as the IR receiver and LEDs. Check it out if you want to learn more about IR communications.
Well, that's it for this week. Don't worry, we'll be back next week with more new stuff. Be sure to check out the Mini Maker Faire this weekend in Loveland! We'll be doing some soldering classes and I might be wandering around, so check it out. Thanks for reading and see you next week.
That is a small circuit board!
It looks like the IRcontrol kit only comes in the blister packed "store pegboard" version. Couldn't you stuff it into a bag or a red box and knock a bit off the price for your online customers?
Also, by only including IR photo diode type receivers instead of the kind that detect the 38KHZ carrier you'd have to strip that off in software. Since you are including a 38khz remote control how about including one of those 38khz detector 3pin jobs?
Finally, while that is a cute little remote, I could REALLY use one with 0-9 numbered buttons on it (Lady Ada sells one like that BTW, and it doesn't look any bigger than yours). I've got this idea for an AM/FM/MP3 alarm clock based on Arduino software (You REALLY need to come out with a BO board for the SI4730 radio IC, I have the raw chip and I'm doing it the hard way with an TSSP to dip adapter). A remote control would be nice, but I need to enter the frequency somehow?
I'll get a wish-list thrown together for everything in the retail kit, so you can just add it all to your cart at once. And the retail packaging is pretty cheap, it really only adds $0.50 or so to the price, so it wouldn't end up being that much cheaper.
We can check into the other stuff.
BTW - has anybody mentioned your use of RED staples on the retail packaging is awesome. I bought some retail stuff the other day at Microcenter here in Atlanta and had to smile when I saw them.
wow, I totally did a wheel of fortune at 2:14.
"TEWRGLARMERS"
I have to say: I LOVE the red boxes as walls.
One of my favorite things (and is this really weird or am I OK?) about getting a SparkFun order is the boxes.
You are not alone. They are pretty popular.