My initial checkout of the unit was a let down, I just couldn’t get the display to work. Luckily there was a great Google Group  dedicated to this unit that ended up being invaluable. I came across all sorts of great advice and found and excellent troubleshooting guide which helped me isolate and correct several minor errors. The screen continued to be a problem so I posted to the group  for advice. While finding a resolution was not immediate, the actual manufacture contacted me and continued to help. Thought just a few emails they accurately determined my LCD had an error and sent a free replacement. (Thanks again!)
     Working on this kit was a great experience, I feel more comfortable with Surface mount soldering, learned some troubleshooting techniques, got to try out my Bus Pirate  for the first time. (Well documented here , which was another huge help.) Also officially made my first RF cable to check it out. My unit is still running the original Firmware, but I’m hoping to update it soon when some some Max232 I ordered come in. Was unfortunately never able to get the Bus Pirate to update the firmware, just to monitor it while running, which was neat enough for me (and ultimately help narrow down the problem to the LCD.)

     I have to give this unit and the manufacture the highest credit on several accounts: low cost, good documentation and support, continual firmware updates (improving capability and bug fixes), and a nice compact design. Pics are of my finished product, tape measure for size reference. Clicking on the picture goes to the Flickr set which shows a side view.

If your not familiar with TGIMBOEJ, it was started by Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories just over a year ago. The premise is simple, but fun for geeks, tinker’s and makers. The TGIMBOEJ is a progressive lending library of electronic components. Boxes are passed from person to person, you take alittle, you give alittle, and document what you can.

Here are some of the contents of the box I received from Dave in Missouri. This box called the “Zanzibar Initiative”:

-Hundreds of various resistors and components
-5.8GHz cordless phone (2 handsets) and answering base station
-Optical mouse
-Misc RF Components
-A few Wall Worts (16v x2 and 4.5v)
-LANCAST 4320 transceivers, Ethernet bridge
-PCI Serial and PS2 holder for PC
-PC Ram
-56k Fax Modem
-Handheld lighted Microscope
-Various pc cables

Below is a picture that links to the Flickr page with pictures of all the contents.

I think I’m going to keep the optical mouse, and try this project I heard about from
Hack-a-day, also maybe take apart the cordless phone to check out the components and make some room in the box so I can add some goodies before shipping it along.

When I created my account I got to type an area code or a word to search for a number. (I opted for an easy to remember word.) After I picked my number, I was ready to roll.

So far I have been forwarding my primary number to the google number when I’m away from my desk. It takes a message for me, transcribes it to text, and send me a text message and email. On the site you can read the message, or listed to it. (It will also text message the transcribed email.)

I’ve also been able to send text messages to my wife, almost using it as an IM client (since she has an unlimited text plan on her cell.)

The site has an fairly intuitive setup, almost like the Gmail page (maybe when it’s fully available they will be more integrated.)

Well done Google!

http://www.google.com/voice

If your on your Iphone:
-Click your iTunes App
-Select More
-Click iTunes U
-Learn!

In Itunes:
-Select iTunes Store
-Select iTunes U in left upper Itunes box
-Learn more!

I did some casual research online, initially  surprised not to find someone documenting how to open the Garmin Nuvi, specifically my Garmin Nuvi 350.  When you look at the thing all the screws are well hidden, so it doesn’t look very inviting to just go poking around in.   Most of the forums I came across online warned sternly against it, or just had endless gripes over Garmin charging $90.00 for mail in battery replacement.

I decided to go ahead an order a battery regardless. I got my battery from http://www.batteryship.com/  it came quickly, and with a free tool kit with all the parts needed for opening the case without causing any damage. (No instructions.)

When it arrived (and following abit more creating Googleing) I came across these helpful sites for instructions on how to dissemble the unit, and change the battery out:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/webspace8/

http://www.dacust.com/nuvi350/index.html

I like the simplicity of the 1st link, but the second adds abit more candor, pictures and warning. Probably worthwhile, as this kind of battery swap has a lot of room for error. Pretty much dissembling (& re-assembling) the antenna portion is the biggest trick. 

All and all, not for everyone. If you have shaky hands, generally klutzy, or don’t typically do much ‘handy work’ you may consider sending it to Garmin, or hitting up someone you trust.  If you have the confidence and patience, go for it.   When I fired mine up and it worked still, I was pretty thrilled. If this thing gives me a few more year I really can’t complain at all.  The battery swap was a minor inconvenience at best.

I really wanted to fire it up, but wasn’t sure how I’d work out the 170 Volts required. I was just getting into electronics in general and ordered an Arduino board from Adafruit that was just sitting around collecting dust.

I’ve started to follow HackaDay for inspiration and they mentioned that RobotPirate.com worked out an Arduino kit to power Nixie tubes. I immediately ordered it, and started to work on it when it arrived just a few short days later (in a cool little ESD safe bag).

Within a few hours I had the kit built and tested (no surface mount soldering, and not too many parts). I then fired up the Arduino environment and programed the board with the source provided from the RobotPirate/Arduinix site (worked perfect, only had to adjust the delay to keep each numeral lit). I had some minor issues that were quickly reminded with the help of the Robot Pirate bulletin boards. Also lucked out and found the datasheet for the National Nixie tube I had.

I’m sure its common for most projects, but most of my time went towards making a somewhat ‘finished looking’ kit. I found it fit very nicely in a old Apple Shuffe case, once the USB connection of the Arduino board was removed.

Some sticker residue was on the Shuffle case, tried to get it off with “Goof-off,” big mistake, started to melt the plastic case. (Why 1 side has a cloudy look to it.) If I could do it again I’d also be alittle more careful cutting the hole for the Nixie and power-cord, honestly abit sloppy. Either way, the end result is pretty cool, click the picture below for a link to the Flickr page with video of the device in action and other photos of the project.

Very fun project if you have some Nixies laying around, or want to get some and play around with the Arduino. This kit has the ability for this kit to power 8 Nixies, so many options for customizing this.

So what is The Chronulator? It is an electronic clock, but it displays the time on two analog meters. I think it looks great on its own, or in some custom display as many have done.

The assembly time is short, and I actually spent the majority of my time customizing my face plates, which can be found here if you’d like to re use the Gimp Images to manipulate on your own. The Sharebrained site also offer many options to choose from.

If your feeling highly motivated, source code is available from ShareBrained. The Chronulator is controlled by an Atmega168V microcontroller (~think Arduino), so the possibilities are endless to what you can make this kit display.

Can’t wait to see what other kits become available from ShareBrained, I’ll be first in line.

Check out my completed kit below, click on the picture to view my full Flickr account with more pictures of the project.