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2024

Black Beauty
··1092 words·6 mins
The next-generation of hats, featuring an updated controller, power pack, and a refined method of construcion. It comes with it’s fair share of bugs, however the hardware itself is sound, and light enough to comfortably wear for long periods.
3000 mAh Power Pack
··1227 words·6 mins
A much smaller, lighter source of power than my previous devives. It uses a TP4056 module for charging, together with a couple of mosfets, and a zener diode to enable USB-Passthrough. This has proven safe, yet without voltage regulation I’ve encountered instabilities (and data corruption), so this is as much about what’s been done well, as what must be done better.

2023

ESP32-S3 OLED LED Controller
··1031 words·5 mins
This is the third in this series of controllers. Built on the Lolin S3 Mini, it packs enough processing power to handle sound-reactivity without compromising the UI. I incorporated an OLED Display, and a Rotary Encoder, making this the first device not entirely dependant upon network connectivity for use. Overall, a very solid unit.
2023.ryanhorricks.com
The 2023 version of my website.
ESP32-S2 LED Controller
··93 words·1 min
Continuing with my experiments, and my penchant for using spare parts, I built another controller using the ESP32-S2. I equipped it with a rotary encoder, however my prime interest was in seeing how limited the S2 was compared to the S3, when being tasked with audio processing. The answer was quite - it did in fact work, however it came at the cost of UI responsiveness, with the web server often slowing to a crawl, and the audio processing time entering into the DANGER ZONE.
ESP8266 Split Rail LED Controller
··49 words·1 min
Looking to experiment, I created another controller for a fixed installation using some parts I had lying around. It drives a single string of 5V addressable LED’s, as well as a strip of analog 12V LED’s, both being powered from either 5V USB pass-through, or a single Lithium Polymer Battery. What’s more, using experimental firmware, I was able to have it sync to the audio reactive data from my other devices (without needing to do the processing itself).
eMotors Direct
··5958 words·28 mins
Motiometer - IoT Sensor Project. Work etailed implementing Push Notificatios using a PHP Symfony Back-End, a React Front-End, and a Java Android App that collectively communicate, and process data collected from a swarm of ESP32 microprocessors.
Alpha
··70 words·1 min
Picking up where I left off in Lit Glamour Alpha, I proceeded to finish construction of the Alpha. Built using the ESP32-S3, It includes a microphone, enabling captivating sound-reactive visuals. Featuring a 5000mAh battery, it is in fact too heavy to comfortably wear for long periods (and yet I convinced someone to do it anyways).
Lit Glamour Alpha
··439 words·3 mins
An ambitious plan: Design, Develop and Scale a product from 0 to a dozen units within 6 months… Typical startup energy. I didn’t achieve my goal, however I figured out what I really wanted to make, and set the stage for everything to come. This is the story of the first six months.

2022

Pharmacokinetics
··1123 words·6 mins
A desktop app I built to project future blood levels of a medication, based upon known values for time, dosage history, and a given substances pharmacokinetics. Built with an Angular/Electron Front-End, and a Python/Django back-end (after a brief experiment with Go).