About Louie

I have actively been interested and working in electronics, technology, computing, and scientific research for many years both as a practicing enthusiast and advanced maker, and in my professional career as an Experimental Scientist, Technology Manager, and IT Consultant. There are many insights I have gained over the years however, my failures have been my biggest source of frustration and learning. I created the “Research Lab Notes” site to capture and share my thoughts, discoveries, resources, and show case my projects with people who share the same passion for learning and innovation. While I will make ever effort to keep this blog simple and interesting, I will from time to time be blogging about advanced and complex topics because of my deeper interests. I hope you will find something of interest and more importantly learn something of value.

WiFi Enabled Battery Smoke Alarm

I have a 9VDC battery powered smoke alarm in my workshop and while you can hear it when it goes off in the workshop, you can’t hear it from upstairs or when nobody is at home. So I decided to retrofit an esp8266-01 to the smoke alarm to make it WiFi enabled so that it notifies me via SMS and email if the alarm goes off.… Read more

The Light Fantastic of Color (Colour)

Male Peacock Spider ColorsCauses of Color (colour for non-US readers) is one of the exhibits in the WebExhibits online museum, that promotes discovery through all learning styles. WebExhibits is a public service of the Institute for Dynamic Educational Advancement (IDEA).

The exhibit on color has some great explanations about the causes and importance of color in society. … Read more