A Very Merry Thursday Product Post

First order of business - SparkFun is going to be closed tomorrow (12/24) and Monday (12/27) for the holiday. We'll be back up and running Tuesday, so plan your orders accordingly!

Being as this is the holiday season, I felt it fitting to add a little holiday cheer to my weekly new product posts. So in addition to the video and the usual list of products, this week I've included a poem written by yours truly.

Just days before Christmas, and my goal is to write
 A holiday poem, which is sure to delight.

I'll borrow this classic, and well known rhyme theme
And toss in a reference to an Internet meme.

Our product selection, it grows every week
We're doing our best, to help show off your geek!

The SparkFun red boxes, are all packed with care
With sensors and widgets, and electronics you wear!

With RGB LEDs, you can make them glow,
It will make you exclaim, 'I can haz double rainbow!'

We are quickly approaching, another free day
You're probably preparing, for possible dismay.

But don't fear or fret, for there's plenty for all
Actually not really, some of you might bawl.

There are more products to post, so I'll waste no more time
On trying to use puns, be clever, and rhyme.

Though I do hate to leave, we must call this done
So have a happy New Year, from all at SparkFun!
 

Now that you've seen the video and read my lovely adequate poem, let's have a look at all the new products we have this week.

If you're looking to kick it old school, these analog meters are the way to go. We have a current meter, which measures from 0-20mA and also a voltage meter which measures from 0-5VDC. Both are a great size for embedding into a project enclosure and would look fantastic in a finished product.

The serial LCD kit allows you to build your very own 16x2 serial-controller LCD. Using the pre-programmed ATMega328 and some other parts (all included), you can make a kit that can display serial text on the included LCD. We've even broken out some pins on the ATMega328 so you can program it to be your full microcontroller!

Although we're calling this a kit, the MOSFET power control kit is really just a MOSFET breakout board. It uses a RFP30N06LE MOSFET and some screw terminals to allow you to easily use higher powered devices with your microcontroller. These can be useful to have on hand.

Some of our favorite projects always seem to include fire somehow. I am also a personal fan of Mythbusters, so it's only fitting that we would carry something that can be used as an igniter for such projects. The piezo igniter is just like the one found in gas grills. This one has a nice 'click' to it, and a long lead for remote mounting. We're not sure what to do with this, but we sure hope you do.

The ShiftBrite has been a pretty popular product so we're excited to talk about a few other products from MaceTech. The MegaBrite is a brighter version of the ShiftBrite. It uses 5-chip 100mA red, green, and blue LEDs. Each LED provides about 35,000 mcd, which is pretty bright! With an SPI interface, these can be daisy-chained with other modules to create a really impressive display.

The ShiftBar is essentially an SPI LED driver board. Think of it as a ShiftBrite or MegaBrite without LEDs. You can use this to control RGB LED bars, individual LEDs, or the Satellite Module 001. It also has a handy trimpot so you can adjust the current limiting for your LEDs.

The Satellite Module 001 is cluster of really bright LEDs. It has four reds, three blues and three greens. You wire the board up like a traditional RGB LED and can control it with the ShiftBar or another controller. Unlike the ShiftBrite or MegaBrite, this does not have an SPI interface, so it allows you to just use it like a big, bright LED.

This little piezo element can have a lot of uses. You can use it as a knock sensor, buzzer, or vibration sensor. By reading the output, you can easily detect taps or knocks. Or, by feeding it a signal, you can make a buzzer, alarm, or miniature speaker. These come in very handy indeed!

Measuring a fluid's level can be quite difficult. You could use some sort of mechanism with floaters and such, but if you're looking for a way to easily integrate the reading into your electronics, the liquid level sensor is perfect. This sensor can measure up to 8 inches of depth by simply changing its resistance based on the level of the liquid.

The right hardware can make all the difference in a project. In addition to our other standoffs, we now have two standoffs in black. They come in lengths of 3/4" and 3/8" and are tapped to accept 4-40 screws. They look quite nice in person and will add a little bit of style to your next project.

We have a new version of the geiger counter out. Not a lot has changed, mostly just some footprints and some layout fixes. It's still the same ol' counter, but we thought it would be worth mentioning since it has a new product number.

Speaking of revisions, we also have a new revised XBee shield. As with the geiger counter, we've just fixed a few footprints and revised the layout a bit and labeling a bit. Functionality remains the same!

As always, we will have even more products for you next week. Have a fantastic Christmas, Festivus, or just weekend. We'll see you next week with another product post.