So we go by a customer's house to check and see if one of her furnaces is emitting carbon monoxide, and I happened to notice a peculiar looking tire poking out of a pile of random crap. Immediately I ask "Is that a Roomba?" and turns out it was in fact a 5th-generation Roomba that they picked up at Goodwill for $70.
Seventy dollars.
How come Goodwill doesn't have anything cool when I go there?
Anyway they said there was a problem of some sort with it, and I jokingly asked if I could take a look at it.
15 seconds later she has it boxed up and says "here you go".
Just got an Arduino Uno and a starter kit from Vilros. :dance: I got the TAB Programming Arduino book, is it worth picking up any other books while I'm learning how to program / design stuff?
Well that was quick. Charging Error 5, battery problem. Pulled the battery out and one of the contacts appears corroded as well as a contact in the robot itself.
[QUOTE=Strider_07;46467641]Just got an Arduino Uno and a starter kit from Vilros. :dance: I got the TAB Programming Arduino book, is it worth picking up any other books while I'm learning how to program / design stuff?[/QUOTE]
Art of Electronics.
Just kidding, there are plenty of free books and videos on electronics such as [url]http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/[/url]
[QUOTE=Cakebatyr;46464796]Still can't wet this copper, but I did manage to melt the PTFE separating the two conductors on one of my coax terminals before the solder melted somehow.
So, reevaluating my use of lead free solder in these situations (shouldn't make a difference really), and am currently contemplating buying a heat gun/rework station and some solder paste.[/QUOTE]
People call me nuts for still owning and using a Weller gun but they're the only thing that works with low gauge wire. Regular wand irons are really not suited for the task.
[QUOTE=Cakebatyr;46465485]My [URL=https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12724]cheap soldering iron[/URL] is set to 300°C to avoid damage to the dielectric layer (that didn't work).[/QUOTE]
My teacher told us to use no less than 450°C for leadless solder, with the chisel tips we were working with.
We haven't used leadless solder yet though.
I'm currently looking at this [url=http://www.amazon.ca/Sigma-60D-Lead-Free-Soldering-Real-time/dp/B00MBQ41NS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415779772&sr=8-1]soldering station[/url] for now with some [url=http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B005T8MWQI/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB]63/37[/url] solder and [url=http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B002YM0HN2/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB]flux[/url].
Also I just won a bid for 1000 blue LEDs for $6 on ebay. I'll never need to buy more LEDs ever again. Everything shall be blue.
blue LED's are very bright so have fun with that :v:
also, most solder (if not all) has flux inside it.
[QUOTE=scratch (nl);46470263]blue LED's are very bright so have fun with that :v:
also, most solder (if not all) has flux inside it.[/QUOTE]
Some things, like SMD stuff requires buckets of flux.
Solder with flux works great where you are applying solder directly such as a through-hole pads but less well with larger surface areas (wire) or where you may need to apply solder directly from the iron tip rather than feed it on (surface mount).
I need to find a source for more of those P4 heatsinks I used on that high power LED.
If I make an array of nine of these bad boys we could mimic the sun almost anywhere.
I don't know how but I've never used flux and also never had any issues. I suppose I haven't ever soldered smd stuff or other high-precision parts, either.
[QUOTE=papkee;46471696]I don't know how but I've never used flux and also never had any issues. I suppose I haven't ever soldered smd stuff or other high-precision parts, either.[/QUOTE]
If you generally just do through hole stuff it's fine. I very rarely use extra flux.
All the flux you need is in your solder for your every day through hole stuff. High thermal mass parts, stupidly corroded / dirty leads and SMD is where extra flux comes in.
-snip- everything is nominal
I'm drowning in datasheets and bitches here.
So many pins still available on this microcontroller, I'm running out of functionality to add.
Add a clock.
Or a cupholder, those two things should be incorporated into all projects.
I'm already doing a WiFi-enabled temperature sensor with a 7-segment display, and the guy next to me is doing a clock.
Adding a clock would just be dickish. "Hey, you know that project of yours? I did that because I had some pins left".
EMF detector
[editline]13th November 2014[/editline]
Not sure what micro you're using but
[IMG]http://cdn.instructables.com/FI5/OSLT/G0RSH1X2/FI5OSLTG0RSH1X2.MEDIUM.jpg[/IMG]
[QUOTE=Leestons;46481333]EMF detector
[editline]13th November 2014[/editline]
Not sure what micro you're using but
[IMG]http://cdn.instructables.com/FI5/OSLT/G0RSH1X2/FI5OSLTG0RSH1X2.MEDIUM.jpg[/IMG][/QUOTE]
These diagrams are so hard for me to read (this one is simple, but..).
[QUOTE=AGMadsAG;46482808]These diagrams are so hard for me to read (this one is simple, but..).[/QUOTE]
Yeah fritzing is awful, I pulled that one from the web just because how simple it was. I usually avoid them.
Damn, the soldering station I was going to buy is now out of stock.
So I did some further testing on that Roomba. Power supply is putting out 22.5V, as it should, but the battery pack... Says it's a 14.4V pack and it's only measuring 1.5V. Was going to do a "manual charge" before I read the voltage being that low so now I'm having doubts. :v:
I've done something to abuse the RS-232 standard but continue to make it work.
The signalling consists of -12v as a MARK (1) and +12v as a SPACE (0). Anything between -3v and +3v is considered invalid and ignored.
RS-232 is designed for machine-to-machine connections with no accommodation for additional devices tapped in. In two separate projects I needed to inject data into the TxD side of the line, again the spec says you can't do this but on my assumption if you added a diode to the TxD pin of both transmitting devices, in theory it should work, however you would not get a negative voltage to pass properly so you either you sit at 0v or +12v (you get a SPACE but on MARK). Again, the spec says this won't work.
Anyways.....
[img]http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Computer%20related/232inj.png[/img]
[img]http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Computer%20related/IMG_7246.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Computer%20related/black_magic.png[/img]
(the modem was substituted with another computer and a null modem cable for the above screenshot)
Shit's black magic, yo. This shouldn't work.
[QUOTE=pentium;46485378]I've done something to abuse the RS-232 standard but continue to make it work.
The signalling consists of -12v as a MARK (1) and +12v as a SPACE (0). Anything between -3v and +3v is considered invalid and ignored.
RS-232 is designed for machine-to-machine connections with no accommodation for additional devices tapped in. In two separate projects I needed to inject data into the TxD side of the line, again the spec says you can't do this but on my assumption if you added a diode to the TxD pin of both transmitting devices, in theory it should work, however you would not get a negative voltage to pass properly so you either you sit at 0v or +12v (you get a SPACE but on MARK). Again, the spec says this won't work.
Anyways.....
[img]http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Computer%20related/232inj.png[/img]
[img]http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Computer%20related/IMG_7246.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Computer%20related/black_magic.png[/img]
(the modem was substituted with another computer and a null modem cable for the above screenshot)
Shit's black magic, yo. This shouldn't work.[/QUOTE]
If you want to do it in a proper way you could get a micro and 3 MAX232 ICs and just combine both streams in software. It would also allow you to prevent both devices trying to write data at the same time.
I can't establish connection any lower in the individual hardware. Your flow control is basically "Don't press on the keys."
[QUOTE=pentium;46487858]I can't establish connection any lower in the individual hardware. Your flow control is basically "Don't press on the keys."[/QUOTE]
Just have an mcu listening in on the dataline and check if anything is coming through. If there is, don't let any additional data onto the line. If there's nothing, send data.
If I find repeated problems with echo or interference I'll just add a switch. I can't be assed to add even more logic for such a simple task.
Anyways, the adapters are built. Excluding the hole for a standoff it's smaller then my thumbnail.
[IMG]http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Computer%20related/IMG_7250.jpg[/IMG]
Perhaps the serial controller on your host machine fills in zeros between timing intervals if it knows there's a legitimate signal. (Depending upon the number of data bits/start bit type/etc you feed it in software).
Perchance you could mimic the protocols found in I2C where the host/master sends out a polling byte with device-id information, which the corresponding device just pings back whatever data is requested, thus preventing bus contention.
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