A useful weekend

I have moved my PC workstation to it's new home and almost all of the electronics materials as well. Next will be the Raspberry Pi kit and the satellite PVR to their new homes and then I can start the great tidy up. I hope to reach a point where I can empty the big green recliner and move it to it's new position by next weekend. Once I've managed that, it should be downhill to a tidy and very orderly attic.

Finally,

I did some long overdue tidying up in the attic yesterday. I found several items that had mysteriously disappeared, including the FM tuner, and managed to collect half a bag of rubbish. If I keep this up, I should soon be looking at a tidy worktop with all the room I need for my experimenting. This week I took delivery of three soldering iron stations for my three different irons and my new portable multi-meter for a more accurate approach to setting up projects. I am waiting for a delivery from China now to complete my kit of ready made units, tiny stereo amps etc. This weekend would seem the ideal opportunity to get down and really sort it all out. I have, at last, begin to work on the totally integrated micro-controller system I want to build for my own use and have sourced the switches and major components already. The software system I outlined previously is likely to be the basis for what I build but I am progressing with my C. skills and hope to be using function calls to make life simpler. As always, any achievements will be flagged here and documented on the code site. The build will be fairly simple but might involve, I hope anyway, a custom PCB. 

Slowing down slightly,

I have played with the circuits and code today. The code all seems to work but the very basic breadboard circuit is not working for everything. I am fairly certain that the problem lies with having no regulation on the power. Feeding it from a USB source is all very well but there are serious limitations to the current available and I think I am simply overloading the circuit.

O M G !

I have just built, in less than ten minutes, a working Arduino on a breadboard. Now I know that a large number of clever people are doing this all the time but...............................I just did it too. I really will have to document this over the weekend. I also have some code already written for the super-duper deluxe mains switch I postulated yesterday. I may even build the thing! I may even build it on my own circuit board O M G !

The most worrying statement I know.

"I've had an idea..........................."

The switch system I built is intended for my low power mains tools, soldering iron, small drill and chargers. Today, I was looking at a piece of kit - expensive kit - that ran a timer on mains operated equipment and switched it off after a pre-set time. And I thought, "I can do that". So, what about a switch that you hit which immediately switches on your soldering iron, for example, and then counts down for 30 minutes and switches it off unless you switch it off yourself. Then, what about a similar system that flashes the led and beeps at you for 30 seconds before auto switch off and if you push the button in that time period it switches the circuit back on for another 30 minutes. Then what about if you add a dual seven segment LED to that with the countdown in minutes. Then how about a short period after the first push where you can increment the timer, on the display, to whatever time you like up to 99 minutes. This is beginning to sound very sophisticated eh? Might do it one day though.

Now you can understand why I'm worried.

Not only

have I finished the ISP (In system programmer) shield, I have also tested it and....................................it works. This was certainly not the most complicated build I have attempted with the Arduino, but it is very satisfying as I now have a home built tool for further learning and designing. I can recommend the one I bought, from Evil Mad Science. My next project will be the 'Slice of Pi' board and then it will be back to the DIY cloneduino for a bit of knockabout fun. In the meantime, I will be looking at the FM radio board and interfacing that with an Arduino.

Three down,

one to go.

The five volt LED was faulty and the replacement works fine so only the 'working' LED now needs checking. I also assembled the ISP shield from 'Evil Mad Science' yesterday and that's almost ready for testing now.

I hope it's only

a small problem. The new board is working fine apart, it seems, from a couple of minor details. The power leds are supposed to reflect whether all the various voltages are working correctly. The twelve volt one does and the 3.3 volt does. The other two are not, however. This could be for any number of reasons so I will have to investigate thoroughly when I next get the time. Oh bother! (Or words to that effect!)

A new direction?

Sort of.

I have been building the new Arduino 'work alike' from R K Online Store. It's an interesting board, with a lot of thought having gone into it. The build was fairly straightforward although it would have been easier if my eyesight was better. I didn't get around to a proper test when I had finished but I hope to do some quick testing this evening. As you may have gathered, I am now able to use the new bench and I have cleared yet more space in the attic as well. I have been a busy boy and things are beginning to go in my favour at long last. Once I have this board working, I will be hoping to use it for a somewhat larger project than I have so far attempted. The playing and testing will, of course, continue.