It’s over a year since I started this in late 2019. A work in progress, experimenting with the ESP8266 D1 Mini-pro and the ESP-01S running Tasmota. Connecting to a Orange-Pi attached to the back of a 22″ LCD screen and running InfluxDB and Grafana. This setup has been collecting data […]
NiMh Cells Seem To Be Fading Away We have used NiMh cells for years, but they are now harder to find and a lot more expensive. So we are switching the main batteries from 8-cell NiMh to 3-cell 18650 cells with a BMS. We still need a stable and safer […]
This unit has gone to a new home A piece of our micro development past has moved on as of April-2019. During the late 1990s I developed some home automation controllers based on the 68HC11E20 which was one time programmable in a 52 pin PLCC package and later the 68HC11 […]
According to the Specifications The Power Unit is a dual voltage regulator intended for use in larger scale RC with bigger servos and greater power requirements. The higher current ( 8-Amp ) servo output can be jumper selected between 6.2V and 6.7V. The lower current ( 5-Amp) receiver-controller output is […]
With the hot summer days I decided to have a look at improving my fridge temperature controller. A couple of timing adjustments will probably improve it and reduce icing. Making a mini test fridge Not wanting to experiment on the working fridge, I built a small cold-box from foam PVC […]
Experimenting with Solar PV Prompted by a telemarketing call I talked to the sales rep and updated some notes on home solar power systems. What they were offering seemed reasonable, maybe very slightly higher than you could find by shopping around, but they offered a 40 month payment plan. For […]
Back in 2013 I designed a board to power a Raspberry Pi in a vehicle. It provides 5V regulated for the R-Pi and 12V switched for accessories. The idea is to power up the R-Pi when the ignition was switched on and allow the R-Pi to power down after the […]
The Original Fault The cincinnati milling machine, with milacron sx 850 controller, dating from 1993, was occasionally complaining of a SIBA failure. This is the IO rack that connects to the main controller by a fast serial link. Not much information is available and second-hand replacement parts cost a fortune […]