Electrical Engineering V2 - Developers

[QUOTE=Xera;41413166]Is it [url=http://www.maplin.co.uk/60w-professional-lcd-solder-station-with-esd-protection-511927]this[/url]? Because I have one and it's awesome.[/QUOTE] Nope, [url="http://www.conrad.se/L%d6DSTATION-ST50-A-ANALOG-50-W.htm?websale7=conrad-swe&pi=588666&Ctx=%7Bver%2F7%2Fver%7D%7Bst%2F3ec%2Fst%7D%7Bcmd%2F0%2Fcmd%7D%7Bm%2Fwebsale%2Fm%7D%7Bs%2Fconrad-swe%2Fs%7D%7Bl%2F01-aa%2Fl%7D%7Bsf%2F%3Cs1%3El%F6dstation%3C%2Fs1%3E%2Fsf%7D%7Bp1%2F958951609c6ba959bf979eb97cda0091%2Fp1%7D%7Bmd5%2F5968234ced44feb93f4a12a5f0c947c2%2Fmd5%7D"]I have this one[/url] but the one you linked looks fine.

Both of those are Atten clones.

[QUOTE=Chryseus;41413818]Both of those are Atten clones.[/QUOTE] But the tip mount is hakko

[QUOTE=chipset;41415759]But the tip mount is hakko[/QUOTE] I don't know where the original tip design came from, I'm pretty sure however it did not originate with Hakko.

[QUOTE=Chryseus;41413818]Both of those are Atten clones.[/QUOTE] I think the Precision Gold one is just a rebrand of the AT938D rather than a clone, Maplin do that with a lot of products. I picked it up for about £30 and it's an awesome iron.

So, it turned out we apparently had a PCB holder for soldering in our garage all along. Took it in and cleaned it up, still a bit rusty, but all the moving parts works flawlessly now. Looked it up, and it's just around $600. Not bad. Also; bye shitty 'helping' hands. I hate you. I'll grab a picture a little later.

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/XRsqZza.jpg[/IMG] Oh my, what could have done this?

Lack of lubrication or the bit binding in a clamped piece of metal.

[QUOTE=MIPS;41463762]Lack of lubrication or the bit binding in a clamped piece of metal.[/QUOTE] nope :v: This did it: [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/bPPeL0x.jpg?1[/IMG]

[QUOTE=chipset;41465808]nope :v: This did it:[/QUOTE] I want moar ! [img]http://www.silverbearcafe.com/private/11.11/images/battery.jpg[/img]

I love watching that guy's videos. I always feel scared and somewhat aroused.

The parts for my plan are coming together, i have changed the plan slightly.... who can guess what im planning to make? [URL=http://imgur.com/iEbe7tb][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/iEbe7tbl.jpg[/IMG][/URL] 2x12000uf 450v new Electrolytic CDE Caps 60x 0.1uf 2000v new Film/Pulse CDE Caps 4x 1MBI600U4B-120 1200v 600A IGBTs 4x Gate-Drive-Transformers

Something that i really don't wan't to touch.

[QUOTE=nuttyboffin;41467196]The parts for my plan are coming together, i have changed the plan slightly.... who can guess what im planning to make? [URL=http://imgur.com/iEbe7tb][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/iEbe7tbl.jpg[/IMG][/URL] 2x12000uf 450v new Electrolytic CDE Caps 60x 0.1uf 2000v new Film/Pulse CDE Caps 4x 1MBI600U4B-120 1200v 600A IGBTs 4x Gate-Drive-Transformers[/QUOTE] Railgun/coilgun?

[QUOTE=0lenny0;41467410]Something that i really don't wan't to touch.[/QUOTE] Very close id say! [QUOTE=chipset;41467518]Railgun/coilgun?[/QUOTE] Afraid not, however im working on that!

Can crusher, melon exploder, cable fault finder, cow killer, induction heater, tesla coil, crazy ass power controller, bomb detonator ?

[QUOTE=Chryseus;41468282]tesla coil[/QUOTE] EYUP im building a HUGE drsstc (if those igbts are fast enough, if not... mabye the induction heater)

DrLuke is having [b]fun[/b] with his new power supply: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZzOUdMhICA[/media]

I didn't expect that!

Had a chat with a expert on DRSSTCs (Steve Connor) he said i should be looking at 10Kw with 12ft streamers or so. :D

So, I have an electrical engineering project that I've been meaning to build, and I'd really like to do it this summer. I glove, (for those that don't know what that is [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NDNEwLViRA[/url] this should basically explain it). And while the gloves I have are awesome as shit, customizing the lights, replacing the batteries, etc, are all a giant pain in the ass. Mostly cause like, you have 10 chips, one for each finger. On the other hand (lol) cheaper glove sets have a central thing, with wires that run out to each finger with LEDs on the end. Unfortunately, these almost always break after one use, and there's no customisation to be done with the colors. So I'm wondering, would it be possible to use a tiny microcontroller, like this one ([url]https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11781[/url]) to run 4 or 5 RGB LEDs. But I'm not sure how to make it durable, or if you can put enough current through that microcontroller to power 5 RGB LEDs. And finally, since it would be 5 RGB LEDs, that would be 5 sets of RGB pins and a grounding pin. Would I be able to connect all of those to the controller and run them at the same time without it dying or is there other problems that I'm not thinking of? What kind of power source would I need for something like this?

Your correct you can't drive 5 RGB LEDs with a MCU directly (well it would depend on which one but it's not a good idea in general), instead you use transistors as a current controlled switch, I'll let chipset explain: [t]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/59112523/how2ardweeno.png[/t] [del]Another problem is the amount of I/O pins needed ,it would be possible to do it directly with 24 I/O pins but rather inefficient, there are various techniques you can use to reduce the number of pins by multiplexing.[/del] (my bad you only need 8) Also in addition if you want colors between full red, full green and full blue you will need to use the MCU counter / timer module which can provide a pulse width modulated output allowing you to vary the intensity between zero and full, although I'm not exactly sure if you can do this with 3 channels as once. I'll let someone else fill in the details since digital is not my thing.

Spent a few days repairing an old Telefunken Jubilate 1061 W radio. Replaced all the old paper capacitors, electrolytic capacitors, selenium bridge rectifier and a few resistors. [url=http://i.imgur.com/6fxRKbz.jpg][img]http://i.imgur.com/6fxRKbzl.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://i.imgur.com/DNVkM3r.jpg][img]http://i.imgur.com/DNVkM3rl.jpg[/img][/url] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVibiq4p6I0[/media]

[QUOTE=Chryseus;41492484]Your correct you can't drive 5 RGB LEDs with a MCU directly (well it would depend on which one but it's not a good idea in general), instead you use transistors as a current controlled switch, I'll let chipset explain: [t]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/59112523/how2ardweeno.png[/t] [del]Another problem is the amount of I/O pins needed ,it would be possible to do it directly with 24 I/O pins but rather inefficient, there are various techniques you can use to reduce the number of pins by multiplexing.[/del] (my bad you only need 8) Also in addition if you want colors between full red, full green and full blue you will need to use the [b]MCU counter / timer module which can provide a pulse width modulated output allowing you to vary the intensity between zero and full, although I'm not exactly sure if you can do this with 3 channels as once.[/b] I'll let someone else fill in the details since digital is not my thing.[/QUOTE] Awesome. That's really helpful actually. Can you or someone explain the bold part a little more? [editline]17th July 2013[/editline] Oh, duh. Digital pins only output a high or a low current, but transistors are analog and to get it to scale the output in an analog manner you'd need to an analog output pin or a way to simulate it? [editline]17th July 2013[/editline] Also what did you mean by "you only need 8"? How would I be able to do that with only 8 pins without multiplexers? Would PWM pins be an adequate way to simulate an analog output? The teensy 3.0 has 10 of them apparently.

[QUOTE=Kybalt;41493475]Awesome. That's really helpful actually. Can you or someone explain the bold part a little more? [editline]17th July 2013[/editline] Oh, duh. Digital pins only output a high or a low current, but transistors are analog and to get it to scale the output in an analog manner you'd need to an analog output pin or a way to simulate it?[/QUOTE] Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) is the easiest way to control the amount of power getting to a device, simply put the the shorter each pulse is the lower the average power ,in the case of a single color LED this allows you to control the intensity from maximum to zero, with an RGB LED you need to do this for each color, this effectively allows you to select the amount of each R, G and B color. PWM is often done with a counter / timer module that most microcontrollers have these days built in, an alternative solution that takes a little more code but works just as good is to manually generate your own PWM which is quite straightforward you just need to adjust the delay between each high pulse. Since you cannot manipulate several I/O pins at the same time (correct me if I'm wrong) you do each LED in sequence a fast as possible, since the eye cannot detect very rapid changes you should not see any flicker. Here is an example with 2 RGB LEDs. [img]http://u.cubeupload.com/Chryseus/8iAH8S.png[/img] [i](colored wire is optional)[/i]

[QUOTE=Chryseus;41492484]Your correct you can't drive 5 RGB LEDs with a MCU directly (well it would depend on which one but it's not a good idea in general), instead you use transistors as a current controlled switch, I'll let chipset explain: [t]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/59112523/how2ardweeno.png[/t] [del]Another problem is the amount of I/O pins needed ,it would be possible to do it directly with 24 I/O pins but rather inefficient, there are various techniques you can use to reduce the number of pins by multiplexing.[/del] (my bad you only need 8) Also in addition if you want colors between full red, full green and full blue you will need to use the MCU counter / timer module which can provide a pulse width modulated output allowing you to vary the intensity between zero and full, although I'm not exactly sure if you can do this with 3 channels as once. I'll let someone else fill in the details since digital is not my thing.[/QUOTE] We should write a entire electronics book like that! covering the entire GCSE + A-Level sylibus... that would be just great...

[quote][t]http://u.cubeupload.com/Chryseus/8iAH8S.png[/t][/quote] This doesn't provide individual addressing for all of the LEDs does it? Cause that's definitely a feature that want.

[QUOTE=Kybalt;41494624]This doesn't provide individual addressing for all of the LEDs does it? Cause that's definitely a feature that want.[/QUOTE] The top transistor is used to select the LED so you can do it individually for each one, the general procedure is: # Select LED by turning on top transistor of desired LED # Provide PWM signal on red, green and blue channel for desired color / intensity # Repeat Here is a more [url=http://www.falstad.com/circuit/#%24+1+5.0E-6+10.20027730826997+50+5.0+50%0A162+384+352+384+400+1+2.1024259+1.0+0.0+0.0%0A162+448+352+448+400+1+2.1024259+0.0+1.0+0.0%0A162+512+352+512+400+1+2.1024259+0.0+0.0+1.0%0At+416+464+384+464+0+1+-4.07537356062124+9.99975400542552E-12+100.0%0Aw+384+352+448+352+0%0Aw+448+352+512+352+0%0At+480+464+448+464+0+1+-4.075373560621239+9.99975400542552E-12+100.0%0At+544+464+512+464+0+1+-1.6053457416008987+0.6863524168611517+100.0%0Aw+512+448+512+400+0%0Aw+448+448+448+400+0%0Aw+384+448+384+400+0%0Ag+384+480+384+496+0%0Ag+448+480+448+496+0%0Ag+512+480+512+496+0%0At+480+304+448+304+0+1+-0.0821334269448668+0.6861036585898992+100.0%0Aw+448+320+448+352+0%0AR+448+288+448+240+0+0+40.0+5.0+0.0+0.0+0.5%0AR+672+288+672+240+0+0+40.0+5.0+0.0+0.0+0.5%0Aw+672+320+672+352+0%0At+704+304+672+304+0+1+-4.49708303526005+0.09853954519174235+100.0%0Ag+736+480+736+496+0%0Ag+672+480+672+496+0%0Ag+608+480+608+496+0%0Aw+608+448+608+400+0%0Aw+672+448+672+400+0%0Aw+736+448+736+400+0%0At+768+464+736+464+0+1+0.6861036585883461+0.6863524168611517+100.0%0At+704+464+672+464+0+1+-0.24799098279123588+9.99975400542552E-12+100.0%0Aw+672+352+736+352+0%0Aw+608+352+672+352+0%0At+640+464+608+464+0+1+-0.24799098279123594+9.99975400542552E-12+100.0%0A162+736+352+736+400+1+2.1024259+0.0+0.0+1.0%0A162+672+352+672+400+1+2.1024259+0.0+1.0+0.0%0A162+608+352+608+400+1+2.1024259+1.0+0.0+0.0%0AS+800+208+752+208+0+1+false+0%0Ar+704+304+752+304+0+100.0%0Ar+480+304+528+304+0+100.0%0Aw+752+304+752+224+0%0Aw+528+304+528+192+0%0Aw+528+192+752+192+0%0AR+848+208+848+160+0+0+40.0+5.0+0.0+0.0+0.5%0Aw+848+208+800+208+0%0Ar+880+640+816+640+0+100.0%0Ar+880+608+816+608+0+100.0%0Ar+880+576+816+576+0+100.0%0Aw+880+576+896+576+0%0Aw+896+608+880+608+0%0Aw+896+640+880+640+0%0Aw+768+464+768+576+0%0Aw+768+576+816+576+0%0Aw+704+464+704+608+0%0Aw+704+608+816+608+0%0Aw+640+464+640+640+0%0Aw+640+640+816+640+0%0Aw+416+464+416+640+0%0Aw+416+640+640+640+0%0Aw+704+608+480+608+0%0Aw+480+608+480+464+0%0Aw+768+576+544+576+0%0Aw+544+576+544+464+0%0AR+864+736+832+736+1+2+100.0+2.5+2.5+0.0+0.5%0A163+864+704+928+704+0+10+0.0+0.0+5.0+0.0+0.0+0.0+0.0+0.0+0.0+0.0%0Aw+896+672+896+640+0%0Aw+928+672+928+608+0%0Aw+928+608+896+608+0%0Aw+960+672+960+576+0%0Aw+960+576+896+576+0%0Ar+1216+544+1216+608+0+100000.0%0AR+1216+544+1216+512+0+0+40.0+5.0+0.0+0.0+0.5%0At+1184+624+1216+624+0+1+-4.9999999899950005+4.999999999980198E-12+100.0%0Ar+1184+624+1120+624+0+100.0%0Aw+992+672+992+624+0%0Aw+992+624+1120+624+0%0Ag+1216+640+1216+672+0%0Aw+1216+608+1248+608+0%0Aw+1248+608+1248+768+0%0Aw+1248+768+1184+768+0%0A]visual example[/url].

sorry for the total beginner question, this is my first time actually physically working with a breadboard will someone verify that this [img]http://i.imgur.com/6pxD9T1.png[/img] is [img]http://i.imgur.com/3Cxf4x1.png[/img] before i tidy it up i dont want to kill my pi and I'm pretty bad at this and i've been up all night (not going to test it now, just want to do the breadboard) green will go to GPIO, black to relay

Another recommendation is to put a reverse diode and a small (~0.1uF) cap across the relay. Unless you are using a sort of premade relay shield. I would recommend a mosfet (Most of the IRF series are great) instead due to the isolated gate, but a 2n2222 should work (Assuming the relay uses less than 800mA)