#MeetTheMakers: 404 — Boring Not Found
A quirky collection of machines that blink, nod, and sing — built with Arduino, sensors, and a love for play.
Catch it LIVE at #MakerFaireLongIsland on Sept 14!
https://longisland.makerfaire.com
Maker Profile: https://longisland.makerfaire.com/maker/entry/1059/
Apply by Aug 10 for priority consideration: https://longisland.makerfaire.com/call-for-makers/
Ok, so, yes, it only took me an hour to turn a four component schematic into a working breadboard circuit, but what's your point?
With four photodiodes and an 074 (or two 072s or I suppose four 071s) and some different feedback resistor values on each, you could use the outputs to drive the four different seeds on an NLC Cellular Automata so that there'd be constant variation in the patterns.
Good for a sound installation in a public space maybe?
Here are a few more boards, one for 4S and two for 3S. The last one is attached to a triple 18650 battery holder and will be tested with real cells soon. So far all tests look fine.
The 4S and 3S LiIon were soldered using hot air and solder paste (except the MOSFETs, those were already soldered using a normal iron). This was a very pleasant experience and I will use it more often.
#soldering #diyelectronics #BMS #lithiumbattery #18650 #BQ77915 #hotairsoldering #solderpaste
And I finished #soldering the first #BMS board. It's configured for a 5S LiIon #battery with 5A output current limit.
Here the finished board and the test setup.
So far, it works as intended. It cuts discharge at 4.91A, or when battery voltage drops below 14.5V. Charging is disabled when voltage gets too high.
I'll still have to test the temperature behavior, and how balancing works.
When I'm satisfied, I'll try with real cells.
#diyelectronics #BQ77915
Question for the more industrial electronics/electrical peoples here:
I've got a little build on the stocks which requires quite a few wire-to-pcb connections.
The BOM uses TE MTA-156, but those really require a special (absurdly expensive) tool to attach the wires to the female connector.
I'll sodder the wires direct to the PCBs if I have to, but I wondered what other neat, pluggy, inexpensive solutions there might be?
Vacuum tube radio progress: got decent reception of several medium wave AM stations: BBC radio 5, Radio Caroline and a Dutch one. I learned to stay away from switching power supplies, all I tried were so noisy I couldn't hear anything else. With a linear supply the sound is pleasant, but could still be a bit louder. #radio #diyelectronics #vacuumtube
I cultivate a curious garden.
New robotics build video!
I assembled the CYBUG Scarab — no code, no microcontroller, just classic analog electronics and emergent behavior.
Photophobic by design, this little beast actually avoids light 
Full soldering/build walkthrough + a fun "HE LIVES!" moment at the end:
Does somebody know where to get screw terminals with 2.54 mm pin distance from?
Looking for some help finding a manual or other technical information for a Parker Compumotor servo, P/N CM233XE-00146
I've tried my best to search for it myself but I haven't had much luck!
I already have the motor driver package but I need to figure out how the power cable is set up and I'd rather not tear one of the motors apart to find out if I can help it!
I've also reached out to Parker support but given these parts are discontinued and I got th 2nd hand I don't think I'll get much help but we'll see..
I want to do a fun project with my kids: a smash Enter key, the one you can bang as hard as you want. I only need to convince them to start soldering and trying the things together.
Also, I thought about building my own storage enclosure for a 10 inch rack. I'm just not sure how to connect it with its host system then. Using an M.2 adapter for OCuLink in the host and an OCuLink to PCIe adapter in the enclosure? Or something with eSATA? And as I thought about purchasing a backplane like https://www.servershop24.de/hpe-gen9-sff-backplane/a-116777/ I could maybe just use SFF-8087 to SATA cables. I just don't know if such a backplane can be used without a dedicated HBA controller card.
Ok all you electronical gurus.
I've got a diode that looks exactly the same as my known LL4148s but I suspect might actually be a 5v1 Zener.
What can I do (if anything) to check, assuming that my only test equipment is my Middle-of-Lidl multimeter ((which does actually have a diode test setting )?
Rainbow vomit mode for the #eurorack established. That's the starting point I needed.
WS2812B LEDs controlled by FastLED on a Arduino Nano Every, external power supply. Needed a galvanic isolated USB connector to be safe, otherwise I'd have to disconnect the external 3.5A power supply for the LEDs everytime I upload a new sketch. The Nanos should have a diode to protect against this...but better safe than sorry.
Next on the roadmap are multiple lighting modes plus a CV-based colour changing scheme for ambient sets (note values influence colour). Another input for a transistor trigger input (I'm using CV for now). And the menu...will still take some time.
#diyelectronics #eurorackdiy
I do not know if this is a good way to flip USB traces, but now both D+ and D- use one via each, rather than D+ using two vias and the other using none, and both lines are the same length so I don't need any copper rotini to tune the length of one of the legs, so... 
• DIY $30 Automated Blinds Opener
• ESP32-S2 reset pin exploration
• Running JavaScript on bare metal RISC-V
