Skip to main content

warming up

I still don't have all the parts I need to do what I need to do, but I started working with what I had around.

I had a 4-digit 7-segment led which I had ordered previously, but for the longest time I had thought I needed additional parts to make it work. It was only today that I realized that that was not the case.

Getting some help from this site, I was able to get the digits fired up:


This method uses way more wires than this guy (which uses a serial communications protocol called I^2C), but it's good to see it work. I still do want to try the less-wire led setup, as I would like to try playing around with I^2C.


In addition, I had recently purchased an Arduino Pro Mini, which contains all the capabilities of the above Arduino Uno but requires pins/connections to be soldered into the board. I had attempted to solder one part of it (the serial/USB connections) a few days ago (note that this was my first attempt ever at soldering), and the USB-to-Serial interface arrived today, making me try it out. Fortunately, it appears my first soldering work is a success.




I purchased a new coil of solder (63% Tin, 37% Lead) as I realized that the solder I'm using (non-lead, 99.3% tin) is not the best kind of solder for electronics. Let's see if the new solder helps me struggle less with soldering.

Anyways, I am hopeful that this will be the main device that will drive this project.


Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

json messaging (2/2)

Took a good 2 hours to change all the messages into JSON format and make it work. But it is done. All is JSON. Using it like a map, currently with three key-value pairs: "id" : for entering a session ID of another session if needed. Currently used for the web client to receive a acknowledge response to confirm that the target received the message (mainly for testing purposes). "type" : probably the most functional data going through all this. Current types are STARTUP_TYPE - for when the target sends its initial message, the server uses this to mark which session is the target. REQUEST_TYPE - for when the web client sends a request to the target. Server uses this to send request to target. ACK_TYPE - for when the target finishes carrying out the requests and sends an acknowledgement of the completion of the request to the server. Server uses this to send confirmation to the web client  MISC_MSG_TYPE - for anything else. DEBUG_TYPE - current...
Post a Comment
Read more

come back

The last couple of weeks have been quite refreshing. The drive for learning and trying out new things has never been higher. Currently fascinated with Node.js; Javascript truly isn't the make-a-website-pretty script I had known anymore.  Playing around with back-end and front-end frameworks. Currently playing around with Sails.js, and once I get used to that, I am looking forward to trying out Angular.JS as a front-end framework. Other than that, currently have couple of other random APIs (non-Node.js) I would like to play around with, but I'm just keeping them up in my browser tabs to that I'll get to them eventually. In addition, I reviewed the Android Developer tutorial again--hoping to try making something in that end as well.
Post a Comment
Read more

adding a servo

Since I don't have any lock that works based on a digital signal, it seemed appropriate to at least have something in place that would emulate the behavior of such a lock, and I thought that a servo would be a good substitute. (note: a servo is a device with which one can control a specific rotational position) Connecting a servo to the current circuit isn't too much of a challenge, as it just requires a single output connection along with the ground/power. Making the servo also just requires an addition of a few lines of code, using the Servo library . A simple video of the servo in action: Now, at least with a locking behavior in place, the one visible functionality that needs to be addressed is the device's ability to distinguish between a "standby" state (no alcohol/no breathing in: should be in "lock" mode) and a "open" state (no alcohol/breathing in: should be in "open" mode).
Post a Comment
Read more