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From: [2] http://makezine.com/makeitlast/

Welcome to Make It Last, a project build series and contest, sponsored by Microchip and Energizer. Over the course of this contest, we’re going to cover a series of three project builds, demonstrating some of the finer points of low-power microcontroller design. We’re hoping these will be fun, informative projects and a good introduction to using “bare” microcontrollers and learning more about the relationship between microcontrollers and power management. Starting with basic components, we will build up each design and you can follow along in a series of Make It Last build newsletters. We will be awarding some really cool prizes at the end of each build, based on the quality of your submission, what you learned in the process, your documentation, etc.

First Build: The Data logger

The first project in the build is a data logger. This is a battery powered device that can periodically sample the temperature and record it for later analysis. It’s basically like a thermometer combined with a recording device- you could track the temperature of your home, refrigerator, personal volcano, or anything else over a long period of time, using a single set of batteries. To save battery power, the device will spend most of its time in a reduced-power ’sleep’ mode, only waking itself up every so often measure a temperature probe before going back to sleep.

The contest part comes in when you try it at home and make your own version. You can follow along with our instructions, or build your own version using any parts that you want. The official rules are listed at the bottom of this page. To qualify, your build must be powered by a battery, and be capable of sensing and recording something in the environment (i.e. a “data logger”). The rest is up to you!

What would a contest be without prizes? The prizes for the first build are as follows. The entry that gets the most points will win a prize package consisting of the following items:

• MPLAB® ICD 3 In-Circuit Debugger
• Explorer 16 Demo Board
• F1 Evaluation Platform
• MPLAB® Starter Kit for PIC24F
• MCP1640 Single Cell Boost Converter for Energizer® MAX AlkalineAAAA
• Energizer® Night Strike Swivel Light
• $50 Maker ShedGift Certificate

And the second place entry will take home:

• F1 Evaluation Kit
• MPLAB® Starter Kit for PIC18F MCU
• MCP1640 Single Cell Boost Converter for Energizer® MAX AlkalineAAAA
• Energizer® Night Strike Swivel Light