Electrical Engineering V3 - Developers

It's doubly funny because they paid for it with a summer job back then probably, nowadays in America you have to spend over a decade in poverty to pay it back.

I'm really glad that there's a college in my state that has [URL="https://engineering.purdue.edu/Engr/AboutUs/FactsFigures/Rankings"]a really good engineering program[/URL] and also doesn't cost the same as a mid-sized SUV every year. [QUOTE=Zero-Point;47736568]Even when you have scholarships it's expensive, all the scholarships pay for is tuition and sometimes ([B][I]SOMETIMES[/I][/B]) books. So I got out of high school with what were supposedly impressive SAT/ACT scores so I landed $15,000 in scholarships. Out of that $15K, only about $1200 was used to pay for two semesters worth of tuition and books, and I'm pretty sure that for whatever reason they wouldn't roll over to another semester.[/QUOTE] And good luck getting many scholarships anymore, apparently you have to be some hyper-dimensional being to get any. I got a ACT of 35 and am the top of my class but all the schools I applied to basically said "fuck you, be smarter."

[QUOTE=Chryseus;47735686]That's the first time I've seen one of them. If you have the cash I'd suggest this [URL]http://cpc.farnell.com/duratool/d00672/desoldering-station-uk-eu-plug/dp/SD01384[/URL][/QUOTE] Thanks but I don't really do enough desoldering to justify spending £70 on a station. I have a separate sucker but it gets uncomfortable after a while.

I ripped a 16-leg SSOP package off a board with a soldering iron. The chip is fine, I think, but I don't even want to look at that board again.

[QUOTE=nikomo;47739284]I ripped a 16-leg SSOP package off a board with a soldering iron. The chip is fine, I think, but I don't even want to look at that board again.[/QUOTE] [img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/LccxV.jpg[/img_thumb] The 4chan story of this still makes me cringe.

Its just like peeling a band-aid off.

[QUOTE=Cakebatyr;47740808]Its just like peeling a band-aid off.[/QUOTE] I've never stripped down a GPU that far, how much effort would it be to actually pull it off like that?

[QUOTE=Goz3rr;47741280]I've never stripped down a GPU that far, how much effort would it be to actually pull it off like that?[/QUOTE] None, you just need force lol

Making my wooden boombox: [img]http://puu.sh/hQIux/6985e54c7b.jpg[/img] Speakers in it: [img]http://puu.sh/hQIvL/82a94124b2.jpg[/img] Getting there slowly!

Anyone have any good tools to convert from LogicCircuit to a usable PCB design, if something like that even exists?

[QUOTE=NicDasomeone;47743371]Anyone have any good tools to convert from LogicCircuit to a usable PCB design, if something like that even exists?[/QUOTE] Quite the stretch there, and unfortunately not. LogicCircuit, much like LogiSim & Digital Works 95, are simply logic simulators to test the logic, not to develop physical schematics/PCBs. Coming off of logic simulators, I'd suggest looking into the [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7400_series"]7400 Series Logic[/URL] ([URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_7400_series_integrated_circuits"]Here's[/URL] a list of all the chips and their functions) and specifically using the CMOS version of that family like the 74HC or 74AC families as they're more flexible and user friendly than the original 7400/74LS TTL series. There's a wealth of useful schematic/PCB design programs that have the 7400 series (and subsequently 74HC & 74HC families) pre-installed. Namely DipTrace, Eagle, KCad, etc with tutorials galore on youtube for each of them. Alot of the big name fabs TI, NXP, On Semi, ST Micro, etc have these series of logic as easy DIP packages (Which I'd recommend so you can start off on a breadboard or use DIP sockets) and then the SMD SOIC or SSOP packages. For peripherals like 7-Seg displays (Use the 74HC4511), LEDs (Simply put in resistors), Clock sources (Use a 555 timer chip), buttons (Use a schmitt trigger gate like the 74HC14 to [URL="http://www.all-electric.com/schematic/debounce.htm"]debounce[/URL]), etc look through the library and there are typically some logic chip that you can use. Sorry if this is overwhelming but hope this helps.

[QUOTE=LoneWolf_Recon;47743683]Quite the stretch there, and unfortunately not. LogicCircuit, much like LogiSim & Digital Works 95, are simply logic simulators to test the logic, not to develop physical schematics/PCBs. Coming off of logic simulators, I'd suggest looking into the [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7400_series"]7400 Series Logic[/URL] ([URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_7400_series_integrated_circuits"]Here's[/URL] a list of all the chips and their functions) and specifically using the CMOS version of that family like the 74HC or 74AC families as they're more flexible and user friendly than the original 7400/74LS TTL series. There's a wealth of useful schematic/PCB design programs that have the 7400 series (and subsequently 74HC & 74HC families) pre-installed. Namely DipTrace, Eagle, KCad, etc with tutorials galore on youtube for each of them. Alot of the big name fabs TI, NXP, On Semi, ST Micro, etc have these series of logic as easy DIP packages (Which I'd recommend so you can start off on a breadboard or use DIP sockets) and then the SMD SOIC or SSOP packages. For peripherals like 7-Seg displays (Use the 74HC4511), LEDs (Simply put in resistors), Clock sources (Use a 555 timer chip), buttons (Use a schmitt trigger gate like the 74HC14 to [URL="http://www.all-electric.com/schematic/debounce.htm"]debounce[/URL]), etc look through the library and there are typically some logic chip that you can use. Sorry if this is overwhelming but hope this helps.[/QUOTE] Thank you so much, I'll have a look at it :)

ESP hype [t]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/43645231/photos/electro/2015-05-17%2021.28.46.jpg[/t] made it breadboard ready, I'm too tired to test it atm.

So I'm building this boombox, and I took an amplifier out of an old home cinema set thing, but I want the boombox to be louder, how would I do this? Would I have to switch out the amplifier for another, higher watt one, or is there somekind of trick to do after the amplifier to amplify the sound to the speakers even more?

[QUOTE=Staneh;47744879]So I'm building this boombox, and I took an amplifier out of an old home cinema set thing, but I want the boombox to be louder, how would I do this? Would I have to switch out the amplifier for another, higher watt one, or is there somekind of trick to do after the amplifier to amplify the sound to the speakers even more?[/QUOTE] Unless you can handle working out the schematic, changing the FETs and other specific components out for different ones to pump more power through the circuit... [b]were gonna need a bigger amp..[/b]

Yeah, with something that size though, I imagine you could use a car amplifier.

Would I be able to use my Arduino as ISP to upload a program to my ESP8266?

[QUOTE=scratch (nl);47750683]Would I be able to use my Arduino as ISP to upload a program to my ESP8266?[/QUOTE] I don't see why not, just upload a blank sketch and then hook up the serial pins to Pins 0/1 of your arduino. [URL="http://hackaday.com/2015/03/18/how-to-directly-program-an-inexpensive-esp8266-wifi-module/"]Wonderful guide[/URL] along with some great pics of the chip's internals.

[QUOTE=LoneWolf_Recon;47750828]I don't see why not, just upload a blank sketch and then hook up the serial pins to Pins 0/1 of your arduino. [URL="http://hackaday.com/2015/03/18/how-to-directly-program-an-inexpensive-esp8266-wifi-module/"]Wonderful guide[/URL] along with some great pics of the chip's internals.[/QUOTE] that ain't gonna work on something like a Leonardo.

I did a sketch on the Mega, where it would take input from Serial0, throw it to Serial1, and then take in input from Serial1, and throw it to Serial0. I can't see why you couldn't also do that with SoftwareSerial.

Of course, I bet it's lemon scented as well. [highlight](User was permabanned for this post ("spambot" - postal))[/highlight]

[QUOTE=mbc1;47756977]Of course, I bet it's lemon scented as well.[/QUOTE] What the hell I posted that several pages back, must be a spam bot.

Worst spambot ever. Can't even do its job properly.

got my ESP module to work. Took me a while, but I figured out I had to connect the Arduino's TX pin to the ESP's TX pin and the same with RX. Probably has to do with bypassing the ATmega or something, but hey it works.

You know things are getting good when the bottom half of your schematic is full of op amps. ... Now, if only I was doing something interesting with them. But I'm not.

[QUOTE=nikomo;47766560]You know things are getting good when the bottom half of your schematic is full of op amps. ... Now, if only I was doing something interesting with them. But I'm not.[/QUOTE] As long as you're not taking the Monster Cable approach with them. At least I [I]think[/I] some of us remember that time someone pulled one of their power filter demo units out of a dumpster and found out it had all of 6 passive components actually wired up.

[IMG]http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/IMG_9157.jpg[/IMG] This was a commercial product. Please tell me this was the only unit they did this to and not the hundreds/thousands they sold.

What's that big CerDip chip on the bottom board? An 8051, 6502 or some CPU?

Intel 8751 microcontroller.

So anyone here able to shed any light on this problem: I've got an FT232RL board that's taking serial from DMX Software (for theater lighting control) and it keeps hanging, causing whatever program is using it to freeze. It will send data anywhere from 1-4 minutes fine, and this is confirmed by both the TX light and a response from the lighting equipment (eg doing what it's supposed to). Then, it will seemingly stop communicating at random. It doesn't disconnect from windows (no ding noise) but trying to change any settings in either the controlling program or even device manager causes a freeze. The problem is solved by unplugging the board and plugging it back in, but it just happens again a few minutes later. I speculate that it's A) The data is being transmitted too quickly for the FT232 to handle (packets sent @30hz) and it eventually goes into some sort of overload/overflow state B) There is something across all three of the tested computers and all four different DMX programs that causes it to hang. C) The USB cable is too long (but I don't have any type B's shorter than this one - about 1m) Anyone have any other ideas? [editline]21st May 2015[/editline] Oh, and it's not my circuit, because the problem happens even when the board is disconnected from the rest of the circuit.