Postbag #17: TouchMe USB LED, Pulse Oximeter, MAX17043 LiPo Gauge

More Chinese Goodies.
Update - the "Touch Me" LED was quite easily fixed by re-making some of the solder joints.

[mbaker]

That heart rate was terrible for so little exercise. A visit to the doc would be a good idea.

[mnelson]

"Honey, you know the neighbor with all the stuff in his yard?  Yeah, he's running around in circles with his camera and blue thing stuck on the end of his finger...."  hahahahaha

[rstevewarmorycom]

Julian, I bought one of those "CMS50D+" same brand and color OLED with memory and USB dump to software for $40 from China, They work a treat! Used it to self-diagnose for Obstructive Sleep Apnea. My sats went down into the 80's several times while I slept. Let's you print out your graphs and everything. Bought an illegal CPAP machine from a friend who didn't like it and now I sleep great and my sleeping sats are normal, saved $4000 for a sleep lab and unit!! By the by, your high resting pulse and slightly low oxy-sat can be a symptom of that. -Steve in California

[mammutit]

nice find that oled. whats even nicer is that the electronics are carefully labeled and the chip numbers not shaved off

[deangreenhough]

Actually laid up in hospital with a DVT (3rd one)

I run a design & build company with my partner. The work is long and hard and much like the projects you see on Grand Designs. I stumbled across you sometime back.

I work with LEDs on a lot of the work I do and share your interest in solar too

You have managed to demystify a lot of things for me. I now open everything that breaks down, I take them home and reverse engineer where possible.

I'm aware of the limitation of electronic devices generally made for the public at large. I would like to be able to adapt and make bespoke electronics to meet my customers needs. I love design and smart devices.

There is no one bridging the building industry and the incorporation of electronics. I believe there is a gap.

Due to the. DVT I will just be managing, instead of doing. I thank God our paths have crossed along with Arduino, I know I can get good at this. I also like things that are invented for the real world, by people that install the things they make. I come across too any things that just have not been engineered correctly

I absolutely have PostBagitious, my partner blames you, but we are both happy and she will be involved as she is a damn good designer

[stonent]

A few years back I was in the hospital for a week with pneumonia and they would use these pulse oximeter leads that taped to your finger. It said something like "disposable, do not reuse" on it. When I realized they were about send someone in to take it off so I removed it myself and hid it under my sheets. I googled it when I was released and saw they have a standard 9 pin D-sub connector most use and found the pinout.  I read they use a phototransistor to measure the amount of visible light and IR light that reflects off your skin, and the measurement of that allows it to calculate heart rate and oxygen levels. I believe the LED is bi-color that does Red and InfraRed. Nellcor was the company that made the lead.  I never got around to doing anything with it, but had ideas about using the ADC on the arduino to take readings while alternating R/IR on the Led.

[BillySugger]

Your pulse-ox has a segmented OLED, rather than a full colour OLED. I have a similar device. It measures SpO2 of peripheral oxygen saturation. That's the oxygen content in the capillary bed of your finger nail. Physicians also measure Sats in other blood such as arterial blood. It has two LEDs, the one you saw was the red LED light, but the one you didn't was the IR LED light. It will fire them alternately and measure the intensity of each which passes through your finger. This way it can calculate the O2 saturation which depends on the colour of haemoglobin in your red blood cells - oxygenated blood is more red than de-oxygenated blood. Nice review of these items :-)

92% SpO2 is a very good reason to see your GP... Repeat the test, but try to hide the device from the sunlight. BTW, your pulse was also quite high while you were sitting...

[andytipping]

that's a very fast heart rate buddy i'd be checking it at rest - 60bps is more normal - if its accurate i'd be popping off to the quacks for a check up!

[beehive]

Around 15 Years ago my mother bought one when they first can out, for $500.00. Boy you can see how electronic item gets cheaper and cheaper. I still have it.

[deangreenhough]

Great post bag :) enjoyed the action sequence, although your resting heart rate appears high, or could be call the PostBagitious brought on by the oLed

Keep up the great work. Because of your channel I am giving up work to pursue electronics. You have been a wonderful and inspiring person. I believe I have PostBagitious because I stopped immediately what I am doing and just have to watch what you have come up with next. ;)

[andymouse]

I am from the future …………….in my time line (2018) Oled screens are everywhere and cheap also you are still alive and well

[EspenLodden]

First time I've seen a first person shoo... eh, pulse measurement video. Great concept for a future game!

Nice find of OLED too!

[Bob_Burton]

Are those arrow shaped pads on the Touch Me contacts of some kind or just decoration ?  Their shape and layout looked to me like an invitation to swipe along them, perhaps to adjust the brightness of the LED.

[superdau]

Check the USB touch LED with a device that's grounded. The switch doesn't look capacitive (you wouldn't need to touch a metal contact for capacitive switches) so it may work "using" a human as an antenna for the ubiquitous 50Hz.

[ipodmaurits]

your garden looks like my familys garden who happens to live in the uk too

[PilotPlater]

I just ordered an oximeter a few weeks ago to take in the airplane and experiment with oxygen level going to the maximum allowed altitude and looking for o2 levels. Will record a video when I get it in the airplane.

[danwwal]

Hi Julian Ilett  did you work out how best to wire your Lipo Gauge to your TP4056?

Thanks

[stephanc]

Dear Julian
Did you do anything with the oLed display from the heart monitor?
KInd regards

[AlfaSpd]

Wow, being only $12.50 I have to wonder how accurate that pulse/ox meter could be, considering care facilities can pay thousands for the same equipment. 
Also seeing that lipo fuel gauge being knocked off is nice, since before the only place I could find them was sparkfun which wanted $15 for one. I just decided to pick back up my arduino and play with it some, and seeing the prices on some of the more fun things I wanted to have a go with was frankly kind of discouraging.