/diy/ - Do It Yourself

Here is a picture of the solder job. I don't have much to compare my work to so it may be complete shit.

Anyone into this shit?

>>126971
The shield is where you solder shit for your final project. I'd recommend using a prototyping board for getting things figured out before soldering.

Find yourself an old VCR or other electronic garbage and rip its guts apart if you need free items to play with.

>>126984
Not a bad idea. I know most of the LEDs and resistors used in these projects are fairly common.

Any ideas on a project? Yes I know there are a ton of forums, but I kind of want a random direction to go without any sort of instructions. I learn better when I have to figure it out on my own.

>>126987
What are your other hobbies?

>>126987
Getting an LED to blink is the Hello World of microcontrollers. Maybe next connect a potentiometer to the ADC to control the frequency.

>>126988
None, working 2 jobs trying to pay for everything.

I saved up enough for this over 5 months, no kidding. I dumpster dive a lot though, so I bet I can find something in the nicer areas where people throw out shit that mostly works.

>>126993
All I was able to do was the test "Blinky", don't have anything else really currently to do. And it's late enough that if I dumpster dive in the wrong areas, I'll get shot. Tomorrow I will look for a couple though.

>>127000
Well.

I dunno.

Make an active MPG calculator for your car?

>what IS it for?

It's basically a prototyping board with some jumper-controlled inputs that's designed to mate with the Arduino board. That way you can essentially build a plug-in module.

>>126978

You have a bunch of cold solder joints and some that are hardly soldered at all. You'll need to work on that.

The joints that are basically a ball of solder are cold joints, while the ones where you can still see the solder pad are insufficiently soldered.

You should have concave fillets that flow though to both sides of the joint and appear to "cling" to the pin and pad rather than blob around them.

>>127008
I don't own a car, maybe I can do something with my bike?

What would i need to measure wheel revolutions that won't break every week?

>>127013
There are many ways you could achieve this.

I think a hall effect sensor would be easiest.

>>127013
Get yourself a magnet and a Hall sensor. A Hall sensor can be bought for under $2, or you can salvage them from hard drives.

>>127010
Here is a better side shot. I don't cover the whole pad primarily because I try to jew it on the solder.

I circled a couple where I can see what you are talking about. The rest look "sunk in"? Or is this wrong?

>>127024
What kind of solder are you using?

I advise against lead-free for beginners, it requires a shitload of heat and does funny things.

>>127022
Hard drives, bingo. I usually hit those up for the magnets, I'll have to look for this mythical beast.

>>127026
Some stuff I found doing an odd job cleaning out an old ladies garage. It is lead-based.

I have a second hand iron I got on Craigslist that had a busted power supply. I run it at about 300C (no idea if it is accurate). Is this bad news bears?

>>127029
Its not plumbing solder is it?

>>127031
To be honest, I have no clue. Here's the best picture I could get of the label, it is weathered all to shit.

And yes my finger nails are dirty as shit. Haven't bathed yet.

>>127032
Not plumbing solder.

>>127024

Solder is cheap, yet too important to use improperly.

Most of those other joints look okay, though it's more difficult to check connectors like that for proper flow-through on the other side since the plastic blocks your view.

>>127029

300C is OK for leaded solder as long as the iron has decent heat capacity and recovery. It should have enough head room to counteract dissipation and wet the solder. You'd definitely want higher temperatures for non-lead, though.

>>127032

That looks like electronics solder. I can't read the diameter, though. If it's too thick (ie: 1mm+) it'll be difficult to use properly on microelectronics.

>>127034
I guess that is good.

Well, any other recommendations for a poor fag trying DIY? Maybe good places to find shit for extremely cheap/free? I'd like to make this into a profitable hobby so it can kind of pay for itself, but I have no idea how to do that.

>>127035
It shows either .036" diameter very faintly.

Even if slightly off the electric solder gun has got to be better than the shitty butane one I was using before.

Fuck those things.

>>127041

.036" is fine for through-hole work, though it could get frustrating if you try to use it for any SMT components. Yours is a through-hole kit so that's more of a future concern, in which case you'll probably have gotten new spools of solder by then.

>>127036
With the internets you can teach yourself ohm's law, Kirchhoff 's law, nodal analysis, digital logic, programming, and several other things you'll need to know to be any kind of electronics pro.

When I was young I entered my hobby electronic projects in science fairs. It was a good source of motivation and I'd always win enough prize money to cover the cost of building the things; also free trips to national finals twice.

>>127043
I believe I am going to be a very, very poor person until someone I love very dearly is dead. Until then I make do with other peoples shit. It's a pretty demeaning life but it works I suppose.

Now if I can only profit. I would love the monies.

>>127046
Travel I can't do. Is this only in major metro areas they do these science fairs? I only remember in grade school having those. Didn't know about these.

Unfortunately my work is more of necessity, not anything a science fair would appreciate. Just because I have a salvaged toaster I made work, I don't think anyone would give two shits.

>>127051
I did science fairs up until grade12. They were held in a city about 40 miles away. I had to handle all the registration myself since my school didn't participate in anything like that.

I got my first real job doing electronic work at eighteen. This was after I had gone through a year of computer engineering. A few places I've worked at have hired hischoolers to solder and sort parts during the summer.

I have a younger brother I taught to solder. He got involved in Skills Canada and won himself a scholarship.

>>127061
Unfortunately I am in no such position.

Amerifag, and I have a blood-relation relative that is in the process of dying, slowly. I have to work two jobs to keep up with the dialysis, meds, and doctors visits. I qualify for dick from the government and what she does qualify for covers next to nothing. So I've got on average 1-2 hours a day personal time if I only clock in 6 in sleep. In these hours I usually dumpster dive or coupon hunt like a crazy bitch. Everything in this apartment minus her medical equipment is salvaged and required some sort of repair. I've just had to figure it out on my own. I've been doing this for about 4 years now.

Recently I had a neighbor give me the password to his internuts so I can get online. This has been the happiest I've been in half a decade.

dude, jesus christ, give me an adress, and I'll give you hundreds of TTL and spare chips to keep yourself occupied. unless that 1-2 hours of coupon hunting turns into extended survivability

>>127065
I appreciate that offer, but I always feel I have to work for what I get. Hopefully knowing my situation will net me some more useful information though. That's what I really could use.

You know the whole give a man a fish/teach a man to fish thing.

Yo.

http://s.dealextreme.com/search/arduino

Check this out for cheap arduino-related stuffs, also free worldwide shipping.

Also:
http://www.goodluckbuy.com/
http://iteadstudio.com/store/
http://www.focalprice.com/

All of these are china-based, so shipping is free but takes about three weeks.

>>127065
Oh, and I need the hobby. Without it I'd have taken a .45 caliber tylenol already.

>>127069
Looking at these now. The Chinese are the new jews, so there's gotta be something useful here.

>>127063
Damn that's a sad story. Give me your address and I'll send you my old multimeter and a box of components, boards, and other things.

russell@urbanvisuals.com

>>127074
Thank you but I honest to goodness could not accept it.

Where I am located, once a week Harbor Freight runs a coupon where you can get a free whatever-the-fuck with purchase of at least $5.00 I think. The clerks have been nice enough to take my coupon, wait for someone not to use one on their transaction, and add it to theirs and give me the product. I got a free $3.99 Cenex about a month ago. Not exactly (even remotely close to) the best, but for what I use it's alright.

I'm considering writing a blog or something on how to be a low cost household and things that pay the most at salvage. All the ones on the internet provide no real solutions. Just "cut down on blah", which really doesn't help.

Another question for you guys.

One of the reasons I am doing this is so I can try to automate my apartment for my mom. I have two android phones that I repaired that I use VOIP and Google Voice on for phone calls and texts so I can keep in touch with her. I know there are ways to setup wireless controls on shit, so if she hit a button she could activate the a/c and possibly some other things that wouldn't pose a threat. My best guess so far is using a mounted servo on the controls?

I'm no electrician, so trying to solder onto the existing boards seems risky and I'm working with second rate tools at best. Ideas?

>>127091
I built a wifi device recently using a MRF24WB0MA and PIC18F66J60; but it cost $50 in components and was rather challenging despite my high level of expertise.

You could write some software for your computer that accepts commands through the wifi network then control hardware through a parallel port, serial port, or that arduino. It would require you to learn to use the tcp/ip protocol stack.

>>127091 a mounted servo on the controls?
Like having a motor physically hit a button. That's rather clumsy.

What you want to get is a relay and connect it across whatever switch already exists. A relay is a switch that is opened and closed when a little electromagnet is powered up. The other option is to use transistors, but you need to get the right ones for the application; it depends on the current/voltage/ac/dc of what you are switching.

Cars have a few automotive relays in them. You can go to a junkyard or car parts store.

>>127103
That post translates into "Fuck" for me.

There may be other ways to do it. My computer is a shitty-assed old Acer EEE that can barely run Windows XP. I'm fairly certain anything of that level will murder its face off like in Face Off.

>>127106
Sounds more likely than my idea but still way out of my bounds. This is going to be a "down the road" project anyways. My current fix is Broom Handle v2.0. It involves a broom handle, tape, and a coat hanger and seems to be adequate when she maintains her dexterity.

>>127107
If your computer can post on 4chan it can handle it, but I understand if you have no programming experience and are intimidated by a project like that. You could use the arduino ethernet shield; but using the computer you've already got will be less expensive.

>>127114
It is pretty intimidating. I am little more than a day laborer on a good day.

In the mean time I guess I need to find some other random shit to make work with this.

Thanks for all the help guys! I'll come back occasionally and post my improvements, not that any of you give a shit but it's the most entertainment I get in a week. :-)

>>127116
Here's how you get an arduino to control a relay by the way. You can use almost any diode (that's not a zener diode), and any common NPN transistor like a 2N2222 , 2N3904, 2N2907, BC549, etc.

I didn't read the thread cos i'm mostly drunk, but i've been thinking of controlling my sprinkler system with arduino. I had a standard controller which opened some 24v solenoids at the pre-determined time, for a set period, but it died. Now i want to make a project where it will:
1) check if it is going to rain via the net, and then not water the lawn if it is.
2) Check my water tank level, and if it is above X level, use that for the watering
3) If it's not going to rain, and the tank is low, use the mains water.

If i can pull it off, (having never used arduino, but have used a few PLCs at work) my wife will think i'm a damn genius. That's all.

>>126971
>1) check if it is going to rain via the net, and then not water the lawn if it is.
Do this via the computer and send commands via usb to arduino.
>2) Check my water tank level, and if it is above X level, use that for the watering
There are linear magnetic sensors that you can plaster on the outside of tanks, a magnet float on the inside would give the water level to the outside sensor
>3) If it's not going to rain, and the tank is low, use the mains water.
Solenoid valve 1 to tank, solenoid valve 2 to mains.

>>127186
I've worked with linear Hall sensors. The term "linear" means the voltage they let through is linear with respect to the strength of the magnetic field over a certain range. A permanent magnet's field strength falls off inversely with the cube of the distance away. This means the range where you can get a value from a Hall sensor and magnet other than "at or above maximum" or "at or below minimum" is never better than a couple centimeters even with a 24bit ADC. Those types of sensors are almost always used for some binary detection, not an analog distance measurement.

Take a potentiometer. Attach a rod to its knob and some object that floats to the other end of the rod. As the floating object rises and falls with the water level it will turn the potentiometer. Take the sine of the angle (linear with potentiometer output) to get the water level.

>>127107
>>127107
>>127107


Buy this http://www.dealextreme.com/p/wireless-bluetooth-rs232-ttl-transceiver-module-80711

It's a serial bluetooth slave module, with it you can connect your arduino to your (her) cellphone and, using your own custom application, issue serial commands to your arduino. It's using 3.3 volts, and you arduino probably uses 5, so you'll have to get some level converting shit in between. Otherwise, it just works like a regular old fashioned serial port.

Get this, hook it up to your arduino, then hook your arduino up to whatever buttons you need your mother/sister/whatever it was to push. The hardest part will probably be writing the android app.

If you buy http://www.dealextreme.com/p/super-mini-bluetooth-2-0-adapter-dongle-vista-compatible-11866 you can also communicate wirelessly with your arduino from your computer, you just connect to the bluetooth thing and issue commands using any serial port terminal type program you'd like.

>>127074 urbanvisuals.com
Shit son, is that where you work? You're living the maker dream getting paid to work on projects like that.