A (mostly un-cohosted) podcast where we talk about progress - or lack thereof - of hobby-projects, mostly related to software, electronics or mechanical engineering.
episode 45: glucometer, fuel consumption and vacuum cleaner
(Michai is too lazy to make shownotes now, check again later. :-)
17 Jan 2021
episode 44: DMX512, ground reference and LED decoration stuff
Hi, and an extremely good 2021 to all of you.
We start off this brand new year talking about some totally unrelated and slightly more related new year's resolutions,
a miniscule car fix, and glueing with a 3D printing pen. All in not much more detail than stated here.
Continuing on last episode's VGA generator board, I added a DMX512 interface as suggested by some people - thank you for
the idea. I found Q Light Controller Plus (qlcplus) a nice and so far solid piece of software for controlling DMX devices
from a laptop + USB/RS485 converter cable.
A potential issue (or at least in my head) when making interlinked devices like these, is potentially different ground-potentials
depending on which power outlets you use to power networked your device. (See what I did there?) We talk a bit about how to guesstimate
the possible magnitude of this difference.
Just for fun I made an xmas LED star-shaped decoration using an existing DIY LED driver board. Reuse everything, recycle success.
Also, made a modular transparant acrylic home LED decoration: shine light into the edge of an engraved piece of acrylic. Of course
there was failure, this time in the form of hygroscopic LEDs + laziness + oven = damage.
Finally, I made a small power switch PCB, to be placed in between USB power source and USB device: automatically switch the device off
when the environment goes dark.
And remember: if YOU want to make this podcast suck less, please send comments, rants, complaints, threats and/or praise. :-)
Relevant links:
Generic info on stray garbage and some cleanup initiatives (or Dutch version).
Q Light Controller Plus : software for controlling DMX512 devices.
The USB-to-RS485 cable I happen to use: USB-RS485-WE.
Video of DMX512 VGA generator in action
Tweet (*sigh*...) of star-shaped LED xmas decoration.
Another tweet (*groan*...) of engraved acrylic LED decoration.
Pics of things talked about:
DMX512 VGA generator boards.
Engraved acrylic LED decoration PCB in action.
...in its base, open...
...and closed up.
LDR USB power switch board...
...and schematic.
1 Nov 2020
episode 43: DMM probes, laundry fix and light-hangout
Welcome to a pretty boring episode - just as you're used to by now!
Prepare yourself for epic or less epic talk about a mains test jig that proved very useful, some awesome Probe Master DMM probes well worth the money, and both me and occasional cohost Domen fixing household stuff, and the subtle psychology of starting a repair.
Homebrew-wise, the only thing I made was a smooth green LED under-plant decoration. For fun, I visited an informal light-art hangout and talked about adding DMX512 to my VGA generator board.
Relevant links:
a potato quality animated GIF of the green plant-decoration LED thing (on Twitter)
the Probe Master DMM probes that I got - they are excellent
Wikipedia's entry on DMX512 stage-gear control network
Pics of things discussed:
The test-jig from episode 41.
Clumsily made LED strip using paper, glue and cursewords...
...and a simple PWM/MOSFET driver to control 3 such strips.
Let there be Light, and let there be a Plant!
Domen's epic Fireplace Fix: worn out film cap.
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