Category: Electrical Engineering

  • Unmasking Sneaky Microcontroller Part 1: Reverse Engineering the Board

    Unmasking Sneaky Microcontroller Part 1: Reverse Engineering the Board

    Several years ago, I had added accessory lighting to my tractor since I used it to pull a trailer of stuff around my property and to plow a 200′ long driveway after work. Since after work is usually after 5pm, and during winter it’s dark, I wanted to be seen by all of the meth…

  • Spying on Chip Communications with Arduino

    Spying on Chip Communications with Arduino

    Recently, I had posted about the faceplate of a safe I had found, got to work, and talked about a method of breaching it. I decided to go a bit further and dump the EEPROM, but the contents of it have (so far) meant nothing to me. I decided it was time to see what…

  • Breaching a Digital Safe

    Breaching a Digital Safe

    OH LOOK BOB IS GOING TO SHOW US HOW TO USE A MAGNET TO MOVE A SAFE LATCH OR BANG ON IT WHILE PULLING TO HOP A SOLENOID. Not today my friends, but that sure sounds fun, and already done. Most nights, I try to get in a walk. That is, when it isn’t Surface…

  • De-FAANG: Replacing Echos Part 1

    De-FAANG: Replacing Echos Part 1

    I am not a lawyer or a radio engineer, I can search FCC things and even come up with some convincing understanding of laws, but I don’t have the proper test equipment or background to give this advice, so read it as a fiction novel. Cool, legalese out of the way, I did work for…

  • Ford Bronco EV Solar Mod

    Ford Bronco EV Solar Mod

    Hi owners of Ford Broncos! This is for the kids ride-on bronco. Sorry! Last Christmas, Santa brought my children something I always wanted — a ride on car! (People call these Power Wheels, but it isn’t a Power Wheels). Around the same time, I was into 3D Printing, and had designed an entire hitch system…

  • I’ve Built a Computer

    I’ve Built a Computer

    Here’s when it was more “in progress” Perhaps evident from this picture, that the 16K of RAM in the top right is still not connected. This means it’s still barely a computer, since input doesn’t matter to it, the output is clearly screwed up, and it can’t operate on anything larger than the registers of…

  • I’m Building a Computer

    I’m Building a Computer

    Wayyy back in the day, my parents had gotten me a computer kit for Christmas. I had meticulously assembled it, all of the headers for power / reset buttons and LEDs, the PC Speaker, everything, were ran along the underside of the motherboard and taped down., the power cables were tie-wrapped to the right size.…

  • Alarm System Part 5: How to Hack a Home Security System

    Alarm System Part 5: How to Hack a Home Security System

    This Blog is part of a Series! Check out the rest if you haven’t already: You read that title. Not “What parts did I order and what struggles did I have” No. “How to hack”, which means we’re damned successful at it, But not so fast. Last I reported, the alarm on a board was…

  • Alarm System Part 4: The Keypad

    Alarm System Part 4: The Keypad

    This Blog is part of a Series! Check out the rest if you haven’t already: At this point, I’ve dumped the EEPROM off the panel, and discovered that there can be some data stored in the PIC Microcontroller on the panel as well. The datasheet for that is >300 pages, so I’m not planning on…

  • Alarm System Part 3: Security System – Dumping the EEPROM

    Alarm System Part 3: Security System – Dumping the EEPROM

    If you’re coming here looking for the dump, I can’t share it. I don’t know what the laws are on this and it feels pretty DMCA-ish. Sorry. This Blog is part of a Series! Check out the rest if you haven’t already: So, the EEPROM programmer arrived today. For that, I’m excited. And nothing warms…

  • Alarm System Part 2: Security System Teardown

    Alarm System Part 2: Security System Teardown

    This Blog is part of a Series! Check out the rest if you haven’t already: First things first, it was time to tear out the EEPROM since the reader is coming soon. What You’ll Need Finding PIN 1 This part is important — you can’t take a game cartridge and jam it in backwards because…

  • Alarm System Part 1: The old security system

    Alarm System Part 1: The old security system

    This Blog is part of a Series! Check out the rest if you haven’t already: I’ve recently built my own home security panel. For the code, STLs, and a rambling blog about it, look over here. What does a technology hoarder do with the old system components you probably didn’t ask? I took the existing…