Wile E. Coyote's ACME catalog may have never listed a coffee grinder, but if it had, it would probably have looked a bit like this.

This is the guide to controlling a coffee grinder with a TNT blasting plunger you never knew you needed! It is admittedly pretty darned specific -- however! you can use the techniques here to use nearly any high-powered AC device as a switch for your microcontroller projects. Plus, the addition of the controllable power outlet module means you can instruct your microcontroller to turn on and off a second AC powered device, such as a blender, drill, lamp, or pump.


Besides the electronics parts listed above, you'll need a 1000uF electrolytic capacitory, and need a source of AC power that you'd like to use as a switch, such as a TNT blasting machine or hand-cranked generator.

You'll also need something that can be plugged into AC to trigger, such as a coffee grinder, blender, lamp, or pump.

A small wooden, cardboard, or plastic box to use as enclosure will be helpful, as well as a pair of #6 x 1" screws, nuts, washers, lock washers, and wing nuts to use as terminal posts. 

This guide was first published on Apr 12, 2017. It was last updated on Apr 12, 2017. This page (Overview) was last updated on Jul 16, 2019.