siliconchip.com.au Australia’s electronics magazine July 2019 9
one to suit all the different machines
in use today (or even a majority of
them).
Motor types vary between manufac-
turers, with some direct drive, some
belt drive etc. The original wash cycles
and such would be virtually impossi-
ble to duplicate.
We think that if you are at such
risk, it is better to run the washing
machine via a large isolation trans-
former, which would provide some
protection from lightning damage.
But the only sure way to protect the
machine from damage is to unplug it
when not in use.
Adding snooze function
to DAB+/FM/AM Radio
I just finished building the DAB+/
FM/AM Receiver (January-March
2019; siliconchip.com.au/Series/330).
At the end of the last article, you sug-
gested submitting useful enhance-
ments. For me, not only being able to
complete the project but to also mod-
ify/add to the code to include a func-
tioning snooze option was a buzz.
I have included a photo of the final
unit (shown at right) with various at-
tachments. I had a great time complet-
ing the project.
Martin Caro,
Orange, NSW.
Adding Bluetooth support
to Wide-range LC Meter
I’m very pleased with your LC Me-
ter project from the June 2018 issue
(siliconchip.com.au/Article/11099). I
built it intending to add remote con-
nectivity, so I opted for a Bluno Blue-
tooth low-energy (BLE) board instead
of the specified Arduino Uno.
I then developed an Android phone
app to receive and display the meas-
urement data in a similar fashion to
the onboard LCD screen in your orig-
inal project.
I added some dynamic colour cod-
ing to the app display and speech syn-
thesis to the measurement displayed
on the fourth line (shown at right), so
it could be a baseline for all sorts of
useful embellishments.
Keep up the good work.
Steve Ereaut,
Scullin, ACT.
Portable DAB+/FM/AM Radio wanted
I am very interested in building
your DAB+/FM/AM Tuner (January-
March 2019; siliconchip.com.au/
Series/330). Will it have the option of
being fully portable as a standalone
radio receiver?
I want to be able to just install a
few off the shelf batteries to make it
truly portable and convenient. Also,
it would be great if it had at least one
internally-mounted speaker, like other
portable radios. Your design doesn’t
seem to include an internally mount-
ed speaker, nor does it seem to be bat-
tery-powered.
Yes, I know I could plug in my own
battery pack and even make my own
external speaker to connect to this
unit. But then I would have to carry
around all these separate units, and it
would make it not worth the hassle of
taking the unit anywhere.
Maybe there could be an option of
a larger custom-made case that has a
battery compartment and also an in-ternal mounted speaker to make the
unit a portable take anywhere radio.
Jaycar sells a radio that has DAB+/
FM/AM and even shortwave frequen-
cies all-in-one unit, Cat AR1946. But I
would like to build my own to ensure
it has very good sound quality.
All the best to you. Silicon chip is
a great magazine!
Kosmas Papandoniou,
Ivanhoe, Vic.
Response: We felt that this project was
already vast and complex without add-
ing a battery, charger and so on. As you
suggest, these are things that would
not be difficult for constructors to add.
You would need to build the radio
into a larger case, with enough room
for a battery and speaker(s). You could
then fit an internal Li-ion/LiPo/LiFE-
PO 4 battery pack and charger mod-
ule. Hopefully, there is an off-the-