DIY electronics and microcontroller projects
Practical build notes on Arduino, Raspberry Pi and ESP8266 — written for makers who source components at local Romanian shops like Optimus Digital, Elecpro and Mega Electronics.
Building a GPIO-driven temperature logger with Arduino Nano
The Nano's 22 digital and analog pins cover most sensor-logging scenarios without the bulk of the Uno. This walkthrough covers wiring a DHT22 to pin D2, reading humidity and temperature over a serial connection, and writing CSV output to an SD card via the SPI interface — all components under 40 RON at Optimus Digital.
Read the full guideRaspberry Pi 4 as a home automation hub — without the cloud
Running Home Assistant on a Raspberry Pi 4 keeps your smart-home data local. This build covers image flashing, network configuration, adding a Z-Wave USB stick and integrating a Romanian-market Shelly 1 relay — total cost around 380 RON including the microSD and enclosure.
Read the setup notesRecent articles
Arduino Nano GPIO — a beginner's wiring guide
Covers pin numbering, PWM outputs, pull-up resistors and reading a push-button without external components.
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Raspberry Pi home automation setup
Step-by-step notes on flashing Home Assistant OS, configuring Wi-Fi, and adding the first Shelly relay integration.
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ESP8266 WiFi sensor network on a breadboard
Building a multi-node temperature mesh with ESP-01 modules, MQTT and a Raspberry Pi broker — under 120 RON total.
Read →Where to source components in Romania
Most Arduino shields, ESP modules and Raspberry Pi accessories covered in these articles are stocked at Optimus Digital, Elecpro and Robofun. For passive components — resistors, capacitors, transistors — the best prices are at E-K Electronics in Bucharest or their online catalogue.
Start with the Arduino guide
Have a build question?
Use the contact form below — include the board, the sensor and the symptom. Responses typically arrive within 48 hours.
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