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| -rwxr-xr-x | content/blog/hardware/004-ws2812b-breakouts.md | 21 | ||||
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diff --git a/content/blog/hardware/001-omnitool-introduction.md b/content/blog/hardware/001-omnitool-introduction.md new file mode 100755 index 0000000..dd7b5e2 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/blog/hardware/001-omnitool-introduction.md @@ -0,0 +1,57 @@ +Title: 01. Omnitool - Introduction +Slug: 01-omnitool-introduction +Category: Blog +Tags: Dev Diary, Hardware +Date: 17-09-2015 15:45 +Status: published +Illustration: omnitool_background2.jpg + +Any good fan of the game, book, comic, stuff series will now jump up and down in excitement. The omnitool is a constant companion, helper and friend for Commander Shepard and a life saver in several situations. Whether it be hacking doors, turning into a plasma blade and cutting peoples faces open or just plain transferring a bribe credit to the slimy Vorcha in front of you. + +But please, settle down, I haven't invented holographic technology. Nor have I invented plasma tubings or even solved the financial crisis by coming up with a perfect currency (of couse generically called 'credits') that everybody wants to use. + +### Then why waste your time +That's a good question :) I would hope that this series doesn't turn into a waste of time for anyone. Because...well, while I haven't done any of those things. I am planning on building an omnitool. Just a bit more low-tech. + +I was actually inspired by something on Adafruit, called the Flora. It's a round gimmick with a ring of RGB LED's, GPS (I think) and an arduino to program it. + + + +I was only really inspired to do this project when a friend of mine showed off his Flora on the CCCamp2015. + +He did some minor modifications to it, including a wristband (IDE cable) and a battery on the underside and programmed a few modes for displaying time (as an analogue clock) and a flashlight by just dialing the LED's up to full power. + + + +And that's kinda what gave me the idea for an omnitool. The idea of circular rings of LED's as display elements are pretty cool. + +### Basic concept + +So the basic conceptis a simple. Create a wrist accessory with one or two LED rings (using shift register RGP LED's to display patterns, colours and different brightness settings), include a generic SOC to program, probably something single core ARM. Give it a bunch of RAM to run applications and a embedded systems linux. + +Include GPS, blutooth, a sensor package such as temperature, preasure, accelerometer, etc. + +Include extention slots where, with a simple click, the tool can be expanded to include speakers, a microphone, a bigger screen, a bigger battery, etc. + +And all this in the form factor of the so beloved omnitool from Mass Effect. + +I know this is a bit of a crazy project. And it will take months, if not years to complete. + +Because this is the thing: I want to do it all as custom cut PCB and maybe some custom cut plastic for casings. + +I've been getting into KiCad recently, with my first project the Christmas Bauble ([Click here for details](/dev-diary/jolly-christmas-decoration/)) and have fallen in love with the tool – Don't worry Ashley, not *that* much :) + +But it is pretty awesome and I urge everybody who wants to get into that sort of electronics stuff to checkout it out! [KiCad](http://www.kicad-pcb.com) + +### What to expect + +So what will this series be? (Hopefully) regular status reports about what I've been doing, writing about my experimences with the project, letting you guys know what I'm learning and generally just let people follow the project. + +All stuff about the project will be in a Github repo. From the KiCad files to the C firmware I'll have to write. Everything you would potentially need to make your own, study it and learn from it is in there. + +**[Omnitool Repository](https://github.com/spacekookie/omnitool)** + + +I hope that you follow along. And I'm looking forwards to comments from all of you. Have a lovely day and read you soon. + +~Kate diff --git a/content/blog/hardware/002-christmas-bauble.md b/content/blog/hardware/002-christmas-bauble.md new file mode 100755 index 0000000..b0cc62c --- /dev/null +++ b/content/blog/hardware/002-christmas-bauble.md @@ -0,0 +1,33 @@ +Title: Jolly Christmas Decoration +Category: Blog +Date: 2015-09-17 15:30 +Tags: Dev Diary, Hardware + +Christmas is getting closer (not really but let's just roll with it) and I wanted to learn [KiCad](www.kicad-pcb.com) a software that let's you create circuits and design PCB for manufacture. + +I found a tutorial series online by a guy named [Ashley Mills](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaBNA-lmg35Wfx2eh2oDkWg) (with quite a legendary beard) who showed off a simple circuit using a 555-timer, a shift register and an XOR gate made from NPN transistors and resistors to display and repeat a pattern on several LED's. + +The series focused on getting to know KiCad and all it's features. And while I did that in the first revision of my board, I've diverged from it since. I can however recommend his videos on KiCad to anyone who wants to dive into PCB design, has no clue about the software and could use a little chuckle while also learning some really awesome software (youtube channel link above). + +### My Christmas Bauble + +So this is what I've got. + + + +As you can see it's a round PCB with simple 5mm LED's around the edges. It no longer uses NPN transistors but rather a single SMD XOR gate. Much easier to wire up, cheaper and less prone to errors as well. + +In general I've switched the entire design over to primarily use SMD components as they're smaller and more elegant. And it theoretically allowed me to get the footprint of the board down to something that isn't too excruciatingly expensive to produce. + +It took me two more revisions to get the board to a state where it's not too complex and actually fit on a single layer (!) with no vias except for the holes for the LED's obviously. + +It uses a round cell battery on the back of the board to hide it away and has a hole at the top to actually hang off a christmas tree. Theoretically the battery should lasta few days, so maybe have a few spare ones around in the christmas season. + +### What now? + +I haven't manufactured this yet. I am still thinking about refining the design slightly. I have the **entire** back to work with and add things. I was thinking about adding a simple bluetooth chip so that patterns could be pushed to the device via an android app. But that's the future. For now it should actually be functional and maybe I'll order some `Revision 3` boards just to see that everything worked. + +Here is a dynamic render from KiCad as well. + + +And be sure to checkout my Github repo for the project if you want the KiCad files. Either to play around with them or to manufacture some baubles yourself. If you do, I'd be interested in pictures of the decorations on your christmas trees so I can add them to this article as a slideshow :) diff --git a/content/blog/hardware/003-christmas-bauble-update.md b/content/blog/hardware/003-christmas-bauble-update.md new file mode 100755 index 0000000..ee4800d --- /dev/null +++ b/content/blog/hardware/003-christmas-bauble-update.md @@ -0,0 +1,38 @@ +Title: [Update] Jolly Christmas Decoration +Category: Blog +Date: 2015-11-27 15:30 +Tags: Dev Diary, Hardware + +You might remember I played around with Kicad a few months ago and made this [tacky little thing](/hardware/jolly-christmas-decoration/). Just about 2 1/2 weeks ago I went onto [DirtyPCB](http://dirtypcbs.com/) to get them actually made. I wanted to have gone through the production process and get something built before I started doing more complicated projects. + +Unfortunately I discovered a little mistake with the design in the layout that ended up at the manufacturer (Rev 3.1). I tried to fix them but Rev 3.2 didn't make it in time, which means my boards will be a bit more complicated to power. However not too complicated as the power-in are just throughholes so I can actually strap anything behind it to power it. + +But without further a due, here is the result from DirtyPCB (which I am actually quite impressed with). + + + +Now, I'm new to all of this so I started doing beep-tests on the pads to make sure things were properly connected and all the boards passed them. The production quality is pretty good. Unfortunately I can't start assembling them yet just because none of the parts I ordered for them have arrived yet. The manufacture and shipping of the boards actually beat the shipping of off-the-shelf parts! + +Anyways, I'm kinda excited. First time making an electronics project. I might post another update on when the parts arive and post a few gifs of the finished products. If I don't I'll probably tweet about it though. + +Now, I have another smaller electronics project in the making where I am, again, waiting for parts to arrive to do some testing. And already designing a modular PCB board. (Limited a bit with the 10x10cm limitations on DirtyPCB I need to design my project in a way that I can take a bunch of smaller panels and stick them together into a large one, which would take hundreds of dollars to make elsewhere). + +[But realistically for the production quality I saw with these, I'd be happy to give them my money again for future projects. Especially at that price, just unbeatable.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d36wUmJGzvA) + +:) + +Anyways, enough ramblings. Read you later. + +### Update...update + +Right...so after tinkering with the bauble a bit I found out a few things. The most important one being that I made some mistakes. Some big ones :) + + - Pin 9 of the shift register was connected to both input A and input B of the XOR gate. Which meant that both inputs were always the same...which also meant that the output was always 0. + - The 555-timer clock ran at several hundred kilohertz. I had to change the capacitor down to ~12µF and the resistors to ~4.7 ohms. + - The coin-cell battery didn't have enough juice to run it. Two had to be put in parallel. Even then, two batteries would not be able to run for very long. + + To make the bauble work I bridget the xor gate completely, so just feeding back the shift register end to the beginning. + + In addition to those things some of the LED's sometimes didn't work. I'm not sure if that is due to broken shift registers, traces or LEDs. All in all I do consider it to have tought me quite a lot about electronics, going through the process of producing a PCB and debugging electronics once it arrived and inevidably goes wrong :) + +I am currently in the process of redesigning the entire circuite from scratch. And making it easier to solder. I want to make it into a beginner soldering kit that people can both learn how to solder with and also have something to hang off their christmas tree in the jolly season. diff --git a/content/blog/hardware/004-ws2812b-breakouts.md b/content/blog/hardware/004-ws2812b-breakouts.md new file mode 100755 index 0000000..190d100 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/blog/hardware/004-ws2812b-breakouts.md @@ -0,0 +1,21 @@ +Title: WS2812b LED breakouts +Category: Blog +Date: 2016-03-16 12:08 +Tags: Dev Diary, Hardware + +You all know I have a fetish for [ws2812b RGB-LEDs](http://rgb-123.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/PinLayout.jpg). I admit that. They're just awesome. And recently I've found myself wanting to do some projects with them (*cough* programmable alarm clock *cough*). But I dislike the strips, although they're pretty cheap they are usually just very messy and horrible. And making a PCB for every project can be weird. Especially if gigantic PCBs would be required. + +So I designed this little doodad. + + + +The idea is the following: Sometimes you just need a few ws2812b (I'm saying that word too often in this post) somewhere. But you don't want to lay a strip. Or make a big PCB for it. +So here is an alternative. Easily make ~800 of these for 25$, screw them to a surface, connect **PRETTY** wires between them, such as [Ribbon cables](http://cdn.usdigital.com/assets/images/galleries/ca-c10-f-c10_0.jpg) and boom. You're done. + +### One to rule many + +Now...I mentioned that programmable alarm clock earlier. And while I'm not quite done designing what will go into it all, I do know that I want to have a ~ 21x9 Pixel display, each individually addressable. And instead of building a way too big PCB that will be insanely expensive to manufacture...why not split them up? Then I have these "tiles" of LEDs that I screw to a backplate, wire everything together and from the outside you can't tell the difference. + +With 21:9 (Aspect ratio and pixels) in mind, this is my prototype: + +<TO BE CONTINUED>
\ No newline at end of file diff --git a/content/blog/hardware/005-open-plantb0t.md b/content/blog/hardware/005-open-plantb0t.md new file mode 100755 index 0000000..647ddf3 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/blog/hardware/005-open-plantb0t.md @@ -0,0 +1,51 @@ +Title: Open Plantb0t - Rev A +Category: Blog +Date: 2016-03-16 12:08 +Tags: Dev Diary, Hardware +Illustration: banners/plantb0t_revA.png + +Howdy everybody, + +Spring is coming in Berlin and thus my thoughts - as every year - are with plants. And growing shit. I live in an appartment with a tiny tiny balcony so I don't have much space but that has never stopped me from wanting to cram as many plants into the space as possible to the point of starting nuclear fusion. + +In addition to that I have a few house-plants and very water-sensitive trees in my appartment. My current approach is to go around with a jug of water every couple of days and water them individually - making sure the soil has a certain moisture and doesn't exceed a certain limit - but I've always had the dream of being able to automate away as much as possible. That's where the idea of `Plantb0t` started. And I want to tell you a little bit about it. + +The basic idea is to have a little controller in each plant-pot that measure the moisture of the soil and reports that back to me via an ESP-12 SOM (System on a Module). The ESP has WiFi capabilities and would log to an MQTT server on my home media server. This way (when I'm at home - none of that IoT shit) I can see how my plans are doing. + +### Current state + +So that's what Revision A of Plantb0t is. I also added a second sensor slot which is meant to be populated by a temperature sensor but could theoretically house a second moisture sensor. In the end the probes are only sticks in the ground that have a resistance between them. + +Here is a dynamic render of the board (that went into prototype production on the 29th of march, 2016). + + + +As you can see it's powered by an ESP-12 and comes with it's own programmer (The lovely CP2102) and micro-USB header. The USB-Port is currently the only way to power the board. + +In the future it is planned to bypass the USB power and only use it for the programmer and otherwise drive everything off an externla powerboard which provides 3.3V for the Plantb0t. + +In the bottom you see two constant current sources that can power two analogue sensors that get multiplexed into the ADC of the ESP-12. + +GPIO pin headers are included for external gismoz such as a pump to act on the moisture data as well as screwholes to mount the whole thing in a 3D printed case. + +In total the board is only 5x5cm big! + +### Future plans + +A few things I want to realise with this project in the next coming weeks: + + - Primarily the Rev A board needs to be tested to make sure that the programmer works + - Figure out a good way to calibrate the sensors. Maybe drive a button via GPIO? + - Design a power board that generates 3.3V for the board (but not the programmer!) from a solar panel and a battery to decouple the entire sensor-board from all power-sockets. + +For the next revision of the board (Rev B) I want to include more sensor slots. Maybe work on the part spacing a bit and increase footprint sizes. It should be easier to solder and someof the parts are ridiculously small. I mean...I have the whole back to work with? + +I also have some crazy ideas for a "Plantb0t+" Version with even MOAR SENSORS (Including a pH-value sensor!). But that's all faaaaar in the future. + +Either way...I'm excited for my boards to get here (hopefully in the next 7-8 days) as well as all the parts I need for the prototypes. + +I leave you with a screenshot from KiCad where you get to see under the hood of the board. Cheers o/ + + + +(The project has a [Github](https://github.com/spacekookie/open_plantb0t) repo where I will try to populate the wiki with as much info as possible)
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