The Powered Expander is now available at http://shop.electrotap.com/products/expander. This is a version of the Teabox Expander that comes with an additional power supply to provide additional juice to sensors that consume a lot of power.

We’ve actually had these for quite a while, but they have not been available through our website until now. This is essential for using the Teabox with lots of IR distance sensors and other related sensors. It is quite convenient for a lot of other applications though, and we can even offer customized scaling built right into the expander for you.

When Electrotap started selling sensors almost 3 years ago, we initially offered all of our sensors in two versions: the full “polished” version, and a “project” version.

The project version came with no cable, no connector, no shrinkwrap, etc. It’s just the sensor and the conditioning circuit, at a lower price. This is great for people that want to solder their own wires onto the board, or do some other custom thing (or just save a few dollars).

After a long hiatus, I’m happy to say that we are now able to bring them back! All the info is on the sensor info pages:
http://electrotap.com/sensors/

We have a new sensor available:
http://electrotap.com/sensors/T305A.shtml

It’s a small 2D joystick with our standard sensor-conditioning circuitry.

Our new accelerometers (pictured above) are available. There are a number of improvements over the previous design:

• Superior performance and resolution
• Two mounting holes in the board for attaching it to things
• Use of standard RJ11 cables instead of bulky, quirky, heavy XLR splitter cables
• Power-on LED indicator
• Tilt version is built on the board with the accelerometer – meaning no external components are needed for tilt applications. This means that the sensor is easier to use, and also less expensive for tilt applications – now $95 instead of $149!

We’re pretty stoked about the new sensor – we’re very proud of it!

In July, we will be releasing a new accelerometer. This will be in addition to our existing accelerometer. Our current accelerometer is +/-2G unit, whereas the new one is a +/-5G unit.

One of the cool things about the new accelerometer will be the connectors. It will have 2 configurations: the first uses 2 of our standard cables, the other uses a single RJ11 connector. Also, a tilt-optimized version will be available – with all of the scaling built into the accelerometer itself.

On the existing accelerometer the tilt version is a regular accelerometer with two of our scaler accessories. While more flexible than the new accelerometer’s tilt version, it costs more and is a little harder to control. The new accelerometer is also larger than the old one.

It will be nice to have to some additional options in the accelerometer line. Pricing will likely be similar to the existing accelerometer.

Here is link that someone sent me recently that discusses flex/bend sensors:
http://www.ee.ualberta.ca/~rchapman/Cmpe401/lab1.html

A few intersting links have come across the CDM website recently:

• USB sensor interface
• MIDI Sock Puppet
• Accelerometers built into PowerBooks
• DIY Art Installation Electronics