Software program engineer Ben Combee has created a Easy Add-On (SAO) badge accent that provides a badge a compact, round, shade show — utilizing solely off-the-shelf elements and a bit sizzling glue.
“After I heard about Hackaday Supercon 8’s emphasis on Easy Add-Ons, I made a decision to wished to show my badge hack from 2023 into one thing I may mount on this 12 months’s badge,” Combee explains, referring to a mission from final 12 months which performed again video information on the badge’s built-in round show. “A number of folks had seen that the core {hardware} within the 2023 VectorScope badge was much like a board that Waveshare sells, and I would purchased a number of of these after the con to port my code onto.”
In case your badge wants a show — or a couple of — this SAO is for you. (📷: Ben Combee)
The discharge of a smaller 0.99″ round show by hobbyist electronics specialist Waveshare gave Combee the concept to relaunch the mission, this time not concentrating on a particular badge however as an alternative making a Easy Add-On (SAO) accent, which may, in idea, be linked to any suitable badge so as to add a brand new show.
“I would initially wished to make my very own PCB, however whereas taking a look at different {hardware}, I discovered that Adafruit shares an AVR ISP [In-System Programming] connector on a breakout board for underneath $1 that precisely matches the add-on aspect of the SAO normal,” Combee remembers. “The pin labels aren’t the identical, however when you wire it up, who’s wanting on the board anymore?”
The SAO wants no customized circuit board, as an alternative merely mating the off-the-shelf show with an Adafruit breakout board. (📷: Ben Combee)
Utilizing the 2, plus some hot-glue to maintain the pair mated, Combee discovered it potential to show the show into the only potential SAO — fortunately enjoying again video on each the Vectorscope and Voya4 badges. It is even potential to handle the Waveshare board’s built-in inertial measurement unit (IMU) — although, Combee notes, not similtaneously addressing the show.
The mission is documented in full, with wiring diagram, on Hackaday.io.