Electrical Engineering V3 - Developers

[QUOTE=Gulen;47651842]Guns. Or lasers. Or [B][I]laser guns[/I][/B][/QUOTE] Don't be absurd. A gun is useless without duct tape.

[QUOTE=proboardslol;47651828]So I'm looking to get into some robotics projects with my arduino, but need parts. I'm making a wishlist on aliexpress (because holy fucking christ is aliexpress cheap as fuck), and so far I've got gears, resistors, servos, motors, some shields for the arduino. What are some things that are pretty much essential or otherwise useful? I've got a ton of tools, both large and precision, so that's not something I'm worried about.[/QUOTE] So are they already gear motors or did you buy gears and motors separately? Other than that, sensors! A blind robot is a sad robot!

[QUOTE=Zero-Point;47651873]So are they already gear motors or did you buy gears and motors separately? Other than that, sensors! A blind robot is a sad robot![/QUOTE] I haven't bought anything. I'm making a wishlist

[QUOTE=Leestons;47651437]or... Post in here, so more people can help you.[/QUOTE] I got it sorted, found out i had an old ATTINY45 lying around, now it's only a matter of programming, which i know.

A lot of what you need depends on the robot you want to make. For example: Making a robotic arm? get a [URL="http://www.dx.com/p/dagu-va2-aluminum-alloy-robot-arm-clamp-w-two-metal-gear-motors-for-arduino-silver-white-black-206374"]claw[/URL]. Line follower? Multiple options, one would be some [URL="http://www.dx.com/p/diy-smart-car-line-hunting-sensor-module-black-152089"]reflection sensors[/URL]. Self-stabilizing platform? [URL="http://www.dx.com/p/gy-85-6dof-9dof-imu-sensor-module-for-arduino-148436"]Something like this.[/URL] You seem to have the basic parts for a robot in your list already, now you just need to think of a specific robot and consider what it'll need.

Had to build an adapter to fit a 2364 PROM into the socket for a 2764 EPROM. [img]http://symlink.dk/nostalgia/c64/rom/romdump.png[/img] [IMG]http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Computer%20related/IMG_9035.jpg[/IMG]

I've got a pretty curious issue with some wireless communication modules I've been using. I'm using a fake set of [URL="http://www.dfrobot.com/wiki/index.php?title=APC220_Radio_Data_Module(SKU:TEL0005)"]these [/URL] and got one on my pc and one on an arduino nano that sends "hello" every second. The arduino IDE can connect to the module itself using an USB adapter and display the message send by the arduino that's not connected to the pc. For some reason, only the 1.0 arduino IDE serial monitor receives the messages. The 1.6.3 version and even putty (in which I put the right settings AFAIK) seem to receive nothing at all.

Guys, I got a problem. Remember all that awesome stuff I got last month? I can't fit it all on my bench or my shelves. There's too much awesome stuff to fit it all... ;_; Hmmm, I have an unfinished ceiling. Think it's wise to just hang it all from the rafters?

I had to do some soldering in the middle of what is basically a massive conference today. I didn't have any real tools of my own with me, and all readymade workstations were in use by contestants. But I had 2 vendor stands next to me. I grabbed a professional electronics workstation desk from one, that costs an amount I don't even want to know, it had some random UNI-T DMM integrated into it, and a Weller soldering station, the price of which I don't even want to know. Then I grabbed a Fluke DMM from the other vendor, the price of which I don't even want to know, and the actual soldering pen that attachs to the Weller station integrated into the desk. I guess you could call it a product demo? [editline]6th May 2015[/editline] The bench was the Help3 from this: [url]http://www.teklab.fi/Upload/Teklab_download/Brochures/TEKLAB-Electric_workstations_for_education_and_industry.pdf[/url] Can't remember the model number for the Fluke or the Weller. The guys competing at the event have the Towerline desks, I seriously want one, they're awesome as hell. The models the vendor provided for the event, have a Tektronix 1052Z (educational model of the 1052B I believe) integrated into it. There's also a function generator and a variable power supply integrated into the desk.

[QUOTE=pentium;47671091]Guys, I got a problem. Remember all that awesome stuff I got last month? I can't fit it all on my bench or my shelves. There's too much awesome stuff to fit it all... ;_; Hmmm, I have an unfinished ceiling. Think it's wise to just hang it all from the rafters?[/QUOTE] I will gladly take some test equipment off your hands.

[QUOTE=nikomo;47671780]I had to do some soldering in the middle of what is basically a massive conference today. I didn't have any real tools of my own with me, and all readymade workstations were in use by contestants. But I had 2 vendor stands next to me. I grabbed a professional electronics workstation desk from one, that costs an amount I don't even want to know, it had some random UNI-T DMM integrated into it, and a Weller soldering station, the price of which I don't even want to know. Then I grabbed a Fluke DMM from the other vendor, the price of which I don't even want to know, and the actual soldering pen that attachs to the Weller station integrated into the desk. I guess you could call it a product demo? [editline]6th May 2015[/editline] The bench was the Help3 from this: [url]http://www.teklab.fi/Upload/Teklab_download/Brochures/TEKLAB-Electric_workstations_for_education_and_industry.pdf[/url] Can't remember the model number for the Fluke or the Weller. The guys competing at the event have the Towerline desks, I seriously want one, they're awesome as hell. The models the vendor provided for the event, have a Tektronix 1052Z (educational model of the 1052B I believe) integrated into it. There's also a function generator and a variable power supply integrated into the desk.[/QUOTE] I think I'd prefer to have my gear standing free, not being integrated into a bench. Would be a pain in the ass if you ever had to take the gear somewhere else.

Hmm, I've been thinking of a few product Ideas... does anyone have an interest in a Ethernet/USB linked I/O board with a .Net Library? It wouldn't be internally programmable (maybe a future version) but it would have relays and various sensor / I/O ports to support near anything you can think off that can be controlled though USB/Ethernet by your computer. I could potentially build a whole windows computer into it for an extra £200 or so....

[QUOTE=ddrl46;47671930]I think I'd prefer to have my gear standing free, not being integrated into a bench. Would be a pain in the ass if you ever had to take the gear somewhere else.[/QUOTE] More like pain in the back :v:

Just took apart a printer. It was pretty much made entirely of aluminum and weighed a ton. Got some beefy motors and a bunch of optical end stops along side the power boards. Probably not worth the three hours I put in unscrewing everything.

[QUOTE=Cakebatyr;47671826]I will gladly take some test equipment off your hands.[/QUOTE] That can be arranged you know.

Bit of a random question; I replaced my Nokia Lumia 1520 screen. It works, but only with the case off. when I snap the case back in, it shuts off and wont turn back on. Is there some reason the case might interact with the rest of the components? [editline]7th May 2015[/editline] Accidentally tore the heat spreading tape a little. smells horrible. Question: are these fumes toxic?

My DS1054Z just arrived yesterday :) Already "upgraded" it to a DS1104Z

So yeah, I can't tell if the USB to RS485 adapter I built works. I'm using it as a dmx to usb dongle, and I've got a dmx light plugged in and am sending it commands. The tx light flashes on the ftdi chip, and I'm getting voltages on my output connector, but that's about it. God I wish everything just worked. [editline]8th May 2015[/editline] Also I have a 2KΩ short and a 11kΩ short but I'm ignoring those because they're only using about 5ma of current or so.

[QUOTE=papkee;47687823]So yeah, I can't tell if the USB to RS485 adapter I built works. I'm using it as a dmx to usb dongle, and I've got a dmx light plugged in and am sending it commands. The tx light flashes on the ftdi chip, and I'm getting voltages on my output connector, but that's about it. God I wish everything just worked. [editline]8th May 2015[/editline] Also I have a 2KΩ short and a 11kΩ short but I'm ignoring those because they're only using about 5ma of current or so.[/QUOTE] Schematic? Also quick advice question for AVR users. I'm trying to get more into the habit of putting a ISP header onto my boards especially now that I'm slowly moving away from DIP and going to SMD packages. Is there a good way to isolate VCC supplied from the ISP header from the rest of the circuit thus the AVR is the only one receiving power? Or should I just leave VCC_ISP disconnected and power the board separately with common ground between the board and the ISP?

[QUOTE=LoneWolf_Recon;47690682]Schematic?[/QUOTE] [t]http://i.gyazo.com/6ae0867ed8d90403b00330f5f228b748.png[/t] It's most likely not the schematic and much more likely my protoboard soldering ability.

[QUOTE=LoneWolf_Recon;47690682]Schematic? Also quick advice question for AVR users. I'm trying to get more into the habit of putting a ISP header onto my boards especially now that I'm slowly moving away from DIP and going to SMD packages. Is there a good way to isolate VCC supplied from the ISP header from the rest of the circuit thus the AVR is the only one receiving power? Or should I just leave VCC_ISP disconnected and power the board separately with common ground between the board and the ISP?[/QUOTE] That second option could work fine. Or you could try a transistor setup so that when the board is running, the transistor is on, supplying power to the rest of the board, but when it's off (programming) it's off so the board remains un-powered. I dunno, probably a more elegant solution.

[QUOTE=LoneWolf_Recon;47690682]Schematic? Also quick advice question for AVR users. I'm trying to get more into the habit of putting a ISP header onto my boards especially now that I'm slowly moving away from DIP and going to SMD packages. Is there a good way to isolate VCC supplied from the ISP header from the rest of the circuit thus the AVR is the only one receiving power? Or should I just leave VCC_ISP disconnected and power the board separately with common ground between the board and the ISP?[/QUOTE] Not with AVRs, but with MSP430s, I always just leave VCC seperate between the programmer and the target, and just connect the grounds. It's simpler and I hope that once it works I don't need to often reprogram.

Can someone please, please explain to me in layman's terms how to change the PWM frequency of atmel MCUs? I've read [URL="http://arduino-info.wikispaces.com/Arduino-PWM-Frequency"]this[/URL], [URL="http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=16612.msg121031#msg121031"]this[/URL], [URL="http://www.re-innovation.co.uk/web12/index.php/en/blog-75/305-fast-pwm-on-attiny85"]this[/URL], and [URL="http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=174349.0"]this[/URL], and I cannot for the life of me decipher what they're saying. I get that they're changing low-level variables to adjust how the PWM timers compare themselves, but I cannot understand the bianary or hex or whatever kind of numbers they are using, nor do I understand the operators they're using to set said variables. I suppose it's my limited understanding of C and avr structure that's killing me, but damn is that confusing. All I want to do is get 25khz pwm for a pc fan. [editline]9th May 2015[/editline] I should also say that I'm using a tiny85 for this. There are libraries that work for the uno and megas but none for this tiny thing. [editline]9th May 2015[/editline] Any AVR experts on this forum?

[QUOTE=papkee;47693918]Can someone please, please explain to me in layman's terms how to change the PWM frequency of atmel MCUs? I've read [URL="http://arduino-info.wikispaces.com/Arduino-PWM-Frequency"]this[/URL], [URL="http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=16612.msg121031#msg121031"]this[/URL], [URL="http://www.re-innovation.co.uk/web12/index.php/en/blog-75/305-fast-pwm-on-attiny85"]this[/URL], and [URL="http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=174349.0"]this[/URL], and I cannot for the life of me decipher what they're saying. I get that they're changing low-level variables to adjust how the PWM timers compare themselves, but I cannot understand the bianary or hex or whatever kind of numbers they are using, nor do I understand the operators they're using to set said variables. I suppose it's my limited understanding of C and avr structure that's killing me, but damn is that confusing. All I want to do is get 25khz pwm for a pc fan. [editline]9th May 2015[/editline] I should also say that I'm using a tiny85 for this. There are libraries that work for the uno and megas but none for this tiny thing. [editline]9th May 2015[/editline] Any AVR experts on this forum?[/QUOTE] Depending on what you want to be the control input for the PWM signal, a 555 timer circuit set-up to generate the PWM signal might be better.

[QUOTE=papkee;47693918]Can someone please, please explain to me in layman's terms how to change the PWM frequency of atmel MCUs? I've read [URL="http://arduino-info.wikispaces.com/Arduino-PWM-Frequency"]this[/URL], [URL="http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=16612.msg121031#msg121031"]this[/URL], [URL="http://www.re-innovation.co.uk/web12/index.php/en/blog-75/305-fast-pwm-on-attiny85"]this[/URL], and [URL="http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=174349.0"]this[/URL], and I cannot for the life of me decipher what they're saying. I get that they're changing low-level variables to adjust how the PWM timers compare themselves, but I cannot understand the bianary or hex or whatever kind of numbers they are using, nor do I understand the operators they're using to set said variables. I suppose it's my limited understanding of C and avr structure that's killing me, but damn is that confusing. All I want to do is get 25khz pwm for a pc fan. [editline]9th May 2015[/editline] I should also say that I'm using a tiny85 for this. There are libraries that work for the uno and megas but none for this tiny thing. [editline]9th May 2015[/editline] Any AVR experts on this forum?[/QUOTE] Here, i found a useful library to do this in a simple manner: [URL="https://code.google.com/p/arduino-pwm-frequency-library/downloads/list"]https://code.google.com/p/arduino-pwm-frequency-library/downloads/list[/URL] [editline]derp[/editline] Documentation here: [URL="http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php/topic,117425.0.html"]http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php/topic,117425.0.html[/URL]

[QUOTE=papkee;47693918]Can someone please, please explain to me in layman's terms how to change the PWM frequency of atmel MCUs? I've read [URL="http://arduino-info.wikispaces.com/Arduino-PWM-Frequency"]this[/URL], [URL="http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=16612.msg121031#msg121031"]this[/URL], [URL="http://www.re-innovation.co.uk/web12/index.php/en/blog-75/305-fast-pwm-on-attiny85"]this[/URL], and [URL="http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=174349.0"]this[/URL], and I cannot for the life of me decipher what they're saying. I get that they're changing low-level variables to adjust how the PWM timers compare themselves, but I cannot understand the bianary or hex or whatever kind of numbers they are using, nor do I understand the operators they're using to set said variables. I suppose it's my limited understanding of C and avr structure that's killing me, but damn is that confusing. All I want to do is get 25khz pwm for a pc fan. [editline]9th May 2015[/editline] I should also say that I'm using a tiny85 for this. There are libraries that work for the uno and megas but none for this tiny thing. [editline]9th May 2015[/editline] Any AVR experts on this forum?[/QUOTE] [URL="http://aquaticus.info/pwm-music"]Here's[/URL] a good tutorial, you can then mess around with OCR to adjust duty.

[QUOTE=TrinityX;47695118]Here, i found a useful library to do this in a simple manner: [URL="https://code.google.com/p/arduino-pwm-frequency-library/downloads/list"]https://code.google.com/p/arduino-pwm-frequency-library/downloads/list[/URL] [editline]derp[/editline] Documentation here: [URL="http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php/topic,117425.0.html"]http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php/topic,117425.0.html[/URL][/QUOTE] Thanks, but I already tried that one and it's not designed for the atTiny series unfortunately. [QUOTE=LoneWolf_Recon;47695959][URL="http://aquaticus.info/pwm-music"]Here's[/URL] a good tutorial, you can then mess around with OCR to adjust duty.[/QUOTE] I'll check this one out, thanks. [editline]10th May 2015[/editline] Okay, so this is what I'm really struggling with. I want mode 7 PWM so that I can set a TOP value for desired frequency. Now again this is my basic understanding of C coming in but I have no clue how this [code] TCCR0A = 2<<COM0A0 | 3<<WGM00; // clear 0c0a at compare match //enable fast pwm TCCR0B = 1 <<WGM02 | 1<<CS00; //enable fast pwm mode // not to use prescaler [/code] is the same thing as doing what it says in the datasheet [quote] TOP is defined as 0xFF when WGM0[2:0] = 3, and OCR0A when WGM0[2:0] = 7[/quote] Can anyone translate this into english? [editline]10th May 2015[/editline] And how are <<'s suddenly operators?

[QUOTE=papkee;47696060]Thanks, but I already tried that one and it's not designed for the atTiny series unfortunately. I'll check this one out, thanks. [editline]10th May 2015[/editline] Okay, so this is what I'm really struggling with. I want mode 7 PWM so that I can set a TOP value for desired frequency. Now again this is my basic understanding of C coming in but I have no clue how this [code] TCCR0A = 2<<COM0A0 | 3<<WGM00; // clear 0c0a at compare match //enable fast pwm TCCR0B = 1 <<WGM02 | 1<<CS00; //enable fast pwm mode // not to use prescaler [/code] is the same thing as doing what it says in the datasheet Can anyone translate this into english? [editline]10th May 2015[/editline] And how are <<'s suddenly operators?[/QUOTE] << Bit shifts for individual bits of a register. [CODE]TCCR0A = 2<<COM0A0 | 3<<WGM00; // clear 0c0a at compare match //enable fast pwm TCCR0B = 1 <<WGM02 | 1<<CS00; //enable fast pwm mode // not to use prescaler[/CODE] The first line states that we want to clear/set-low OC0A (The output pin) when the timer reaches a compare match (When TCNT = TOP or your OCR value, etc this is dependent upon mode) as well as set the timer mode to fast pwm mode which means that a compare match is triggered when TCNT = TOP. There are other modes like Phase/Frequency Correct & Phase Correct modes which are then dependent upon other factors such as your timer prescaler value (Typically it's a divide by a power 2 number from the cpu clock) & OCR value. The second line continues setting the mode to fast pwm and provides no prescaler, thus the timer's clock is running at the cpu clock. I'd use timer 0 on the attiny as it has all of the proper PWM facilities you'll need for this.

just three more finals left friends

I got some used LiPo batteries from my brother, he uses them in RC cars. They're not of any use for him, because he's smoked the crap out of them, but for my low-current usage, they're still pretty much fine.