BirdBox2017: end of another season

It's been a very successful year for our blue tits, great tits and our two Raspberry Pi powered bird boxes.

The last of our bird box chicks left the safety of their nest yesterday, and so ends another season for us.

Out of 15 eggs in two boxes, 14 chicks got the chance to explore the world outside and potentially become food for sparrowhawk chicks or maybe the short-term plaything for one of the local cats.

BirdBox2017: a few problems

This system was deployed just over a month ago and has been visited by blue tits almost every day.

It is basically doing its job by recording lots of video clips of both the inside and outside views of the bird box, which is mounted on the side of our pergola.

However, it does have a couple of problems that are rather annoying.

BirdBox2017: double Zero deployed!

I attached the new bird box & external camera to our pergola late yesterday afternoon, and by 8:30 this morning we had our first visitors.

Blue tits are very inquisitive, and certainly do not require a couple of months to get used to a new box (as some tv experts would have you believe).

So the 2017 season appears to have got off to a good start!

RoboBuggy and Me

I received another bag-of-bits type Christmas present in 2015.

This one contained nuts, bolts, bits of acrylic, wheels, motors and a battery holder.

Despite being involved with electronics for over 50 years, I have zero experience with robotics.

BirdBox2016: the role of the Picaxe

As 2015 gives way to a new year, so its time to ready those bird boxes for the coming nesting season.

My original 2014 Raspberry Pi box remains unchanged, although it will be sited higher than previous years, this time maybe 3 metres up the trunk of our Canadian Maple.

But last years (2015) Picaxe + Pi box has undergone a few more changes, so maybe this is a good time to mention them.

PicaxePi: in circuit programming

I used the combination of Picaxe and Raspberry Pi for the first time a year ago.

At that time I programmed the Picaxe by temporarily soldering a connector to the board and connecting it to my laptop.

But I've now made a few simple modifications to my BirdBox2016 controller so I can program the Picaxe from the Raspberry Pi.

Picaxe syntax highlighter for gEdit

I hate trying to understand and edit source code when its presented as plain black text.

It is funny how just a splash of colour can make so much difference to the readability of a source file.

So if you have to examine Picaxe source files on Linux (and you cannot use the LinAxePad editor) you need an alternative.

Bat Detector Overhaul: Portable Field Unit

Sooner or later I'm going to have to accept that the bats are not coming to me, so I need to get out and find them!

I could do that now just using the hand-held bat detector. But I'm thinking it would be nice to test the whole automatic design illustrated in an earlier post.

So I've put together a rough outline schematic and started collecting bits & pieces.

Bat Detector Overhaul: Logging Bat Data

I have to admit to being a lazy person, so even the effort of standing in the garden pointing my bat detector at the sky is too much for me.

It can also be a bit boring. Especially when its 11pm and I'm not seeing (let alone detecting) any bats!

So the next step is to leave the bat detector outside unattended and try to log any activity on a computer.

Battery Monitor for Pi using Picaxe

Small, low cost Picaxe chips are ideal for developing or enhancing control system functionality.

Battery powered computer systems really need some warning when the supply is failing or lacks the level of charge required to safely start.

The low power consumption of an 8 pin Picaxe makes the 08M2 a good candidate for this task.

Raspberry Pi Serial Comms: Gambas + wiringPi

I've been playing around with serial comms on my Pi/Picaxe dev rig.

Using Gordon's wiringPi library makes it easy to open the gpio serial comms port on the Pi and write code with Gambas.

So this post involves writing a simple Picaxe program, and then using wiringPi and Gambas on the Pi to communicate with the Picaxe.

Picaxe Programming with Pi

You can write Picaxe programs, compile and download to the device using Windows or Linux x86/64.

And it is also possible to use a Raspberry Pi and a few cheap components to develop and load your programs to a Picaxe.

This brief post describes how.

BirdBox2015: Picaxe controller details

Progress has been slow due to other commitments, and a heavy bout of man-flu.

But I've been testing the Picaxe powered controller with a RaspberryPi and it works just as I had hoped.

This low power controller may even be a useful building block for other battery-powered application.

BirdBoxPi2015: using a Picaxe controller

Looking back at my last 2 posts, I started thinking about how I might incorporate a Picaxe into the BirdBoxPi2015 controller.

Although the 8 pin Picaxe is a little more expensive than the 555 timer currently used, it does offer more flexibility.

My RaspberryPi bird box system runs from a 12Volt, 12Ahour "mobility" lead-acid battery.

Swinging the Picaxe on Linux

One of the more unusual gifts from Santa this year was a plastic bag containing a pcb, a USB cable and a small selection of components.

It must be 15 years since I found myself working in a development team alongside a crazy Picaxe fanatic ("hi Ian G").

I promised at the time that I would get familiar with these little critters one day. So I guess that day has finally arrived.