Alt-BEAM Archive
Message #09409
To: beam@sgiblab.sgi.com
From: Evan Dudzik evandude@yahoo.com
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2000 03:32:04 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [alt-beam] Re: LCD of a Pager ~ question
--- Meabadboy@aol.com wrote:
> I
> still would like tyo
> know if anyone has a source to buy these little
> motors "NEW" ~ useing used is
> often a designers nightmare.
www.solarbotics.com has them... $10 for the normal
ones, $15 or so for some MICRO ones.
=====
+------------------------+
|http://surf.to/photovore|
|Photovores online! |
|Evandude Dudzik |
+------------------------+
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger.
http://im.yahoo.com
9410 Thu, 20 Jan 2000 08:09:59 -0700 [alt-beam] Re: many questions beam@sgiblab.sgi.com Senior iphotope@canada.com wrote:
>
> Hello again!
> I have a few questions that have been
> nagging at me for a while:
> 1. I noticed that on many circuits, there
> is a +whatever input and a ground, but
> no -whatever. Is the ground the
> -whatever, or is this a cruel trick?
That is right, - is usually called ground. Read wilf's last post about
GROUND for more info.
> 2. In the FLED solar engine, does the
> blink rate of the FLED matter?
Doesn't matter
> 3. What would the specs for a perfect
> BEAM robot motor be?
1 volt, infinitely small mA
A good motor will run on 30 mA (Pager motors)
but a REALLY good one will run on 3 mA (Good ones :)
9411 Thu, 20 Jan 2000 11:49:29 -0500 [alt-beam] Re: Grounding??? beam@sgiblab.sgi.com Ed Spike
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COMMON, EARTH, and GROUND.
All can be the COMMON connection as explained below. One can have a COMMON that
is not the GROUND and is not connect to the EARTH (as the HYDRO service EARTH
grounding rod).
GROUND is often part of the SHIELD. While the COMMON connection node is
separated. Separation of the COMMON node and the GROUNDed SHIELD may be used to
increase the electromagnetic shielding.
Often in audio circuits you will find that the COMMON and the GROUNDed SHIELD
are not connected (or only connected at the HYDRO input connection "U" ground
terminal).
Most simple circuits use the arrangement as described by Ben. Grounding and
Shielding concepts text by Mr. ?? Ott may help.
73,33
Ian Bushong wrote:
> THANK YOU!!!! That really clarified it for me. I almost had the concept, but
> your explanation connected it! Thnx again!
> -Ian
>
> Ben Hitchcock wrote:
>
> > ----- Forwarded message from Ian Bushong -----
> > I am beginning in electronics, and I am stuck on the concept of
> > grounding. Exactly what is its purpose and what do the connection
> > indications on schematics connect to? From what I can make of it, it
> > seems to be a part of a circuit with no electrical potential. Is this
> > right? How is that possible? Could you maybe explain it further.
> > Somewhere I read that the ground is sometimes connected to a metal
> > chassis. And why are there sometimes more than one of them and sometimes
> > none at all (like in smaller BEAM circuits). I have also noticed that
> > there are also sometimes resistors or caps in between the circuit and
> > ground (??). As you can see, I am VERY confused and would really
> > appreciate a simple explanation. I can't seem to find anything about it
> > anywhere.
> >
> > -Ian Bushong
> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > Hi,
> >
> > Ground is just a convenient place to attach things to. That's it.
> >
> > As you would know, you need two wires to make current flow (through a
> > light or whatever). Rather
> > than actually use two wires, many devices use the frame of the object
> > itself as the return path for the electricity.
> >
> > In a
> > car, for example, the negative (usually) terminal of the battery is
> > attached to the metal frame of the car. If you want the brake light to
> > go on, for example, you only need one wire to go to the light. The return
> > path for the electricity is the frame of the car itself.
> >
> > In a BEAM schematic, things aren't quite as simple. You can make the
> > chassis of your robot equal to ground, or +V, or not connected at all!
> >
> > But, when you look at the schematic, it doesn't matter. All that matters
> > is that all the grounds get connected together somehow. Whether this is
> > through a wire link (like in my FRED robot) or through the chassis of
> > the robot doesn't matter. So then 'ground' is really the point that you
> > decide shall be equal to ground, and want to attach the black lead of your
> > multimeter to. That's it.
> >
> > I would suggest using the negative lead of your capacitor (if making a
> > solar powered device) as your ground. I did this in Alf. Just solder
> > every ground on the schematic to this lead, and everything should work
> > fine.
> >
> > You might decide to solder this lead to the frame of the robot as well,
> > and then when you need a ground connection you can use the frame itself.
> > Think of the frame then as an extension of the negative terminal of the
> > cap.
> >
> > As for it having no electric potential, that's right - in relation to
> > ground. Voltage is defined as the potential difference between two
> > points. The standard is to define one of the points as ground, then you
> > only have to worry about one lead on your multimeter, instead of two. So
> > another part of the circuit that is grounded will be connected to your
> > first ground, so there will be no voltage on it!
> >
> > By the way, 'ground' in this post means "connected to the point that you
> > define to be ground", it has nothing to do with the stuff that plants grow
> > in. They are related - but that involves discussing three-phase power and
> > fault currents and trust me you really DON'T want to know about that just
> > yet!
> >
> > Hope this hasn't confused you more than you were before!
> > Ben
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9412 Thu, 20 Jan 2000 10:20:24 -0700 [alt-beam] Re: List messages getting unnecessarily HUGE beam@sgiblab.sgi.com Dave Hrynkiw At 04:20 AM 1/20/2000 , Rob wrote:
>And how about deleting the signatures too as long as it's clear what the
>reply is to.
Jee, like I didn't see _that_ one coming. 4 line sigs are acceptable
"netequitte" from the sources I've consulted.
Don't take the suggestion so personal! I'm just looking to make list msgs
more readable.
-Dave
---------------------------------------------------------------
"Um, no - that's H,R,Y,N,K,I,W. No, not K,I,U,U, K,I,_W_. Yes,
that's right. Yes, I know it looks like "HOCKYRINK." Yup, only
2 vowels. Pronounciation? _SMITH_".
http://www.solarbotics.com
9413 Thu, 20 Jan 2000 09:35:16 PST [alt-beam] Re: Pertaining to the Hextile things. You should really make them hextiles and beam@sgiblab.sgi.com "Timothy Flytcher" >From: "David Perry"
>i never had good luck with solder wick - one strand bit was ripped out and
>bridged a solder joint (very difficult to see) and it destroyed my first
>microcore hehe.
Never use the end of the wick ... and never try to scrimp ... I prefer wick
to a pump any day :)
Timothy...
______________________________________________________
9414 Thu, 20 Jan 2000 10:13:55 PST [alt-beam] Re: Grounding??? beam@sgiblab.sgi.com "Timothy Flytcher" > I am beginning in electronics, and I am stuck on the concept of
>grounding. -Ian Bushong
>
Here is three other reasons for grounding .... one is to stop elctrostatic
charges from building and killing your electronics... two corrosion... Rust
is an electric proses... the anode corrodes... this is why a cars grounded
body is used insted of using a two wire system... and last is for stray
oscillations... Noise suppression...
Timothy...
______________________________________________________
9415 Thu, 20 Jan 2000 10:20:19 -0800 [alt-beam] Re: Grounding??? "'beam@sgiblab.sgi.com'" Wilf Rigter I'm not surprised you are confused. It's a matter of history and personal
taste what name is used for the common measurement reference point.
Ideally we should use a standard name but throughout the electronic world
different naming conventions have come and gone or live side by side.
BEAMERS (myself included) have not been very consistent in using terms like
0V, GND, COMMON, Vss, RET and sometimes NEG, -V, -xV (ie -5V), and V- In
BEAM designs the terms GND, 0V , COM all mean more or less the same thing:
a common bus of all connections to the negative terminal of a single
positive powersupply. Unless otherwise indicated this bus is the reference
point for all voltage measurements and voltages shown on the schematic. My
preference is for 0V since it is the shortest and most explicit label.
The other common bus is the positive terminal of the positive powersupply
which is called +V, V+, Vcc, Pos, or xV (ie 5V).
NOTE: The chip power supply connections, the termination of unused inputs
and the typical power supply bypass capacitors are not always shown in
schematics on the assumption that everyone know these are required. Just
the thing to make life interesting for newbies of course.
Shielding and grounding for safety have a number of different meanings and
should be explicitly explained when used.
wilf
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ian Bushong [SMTP:ricky13@home.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, January 19, 2000 6:56 PM
> To: beam@sgiblab.sgi.com
> Subject: Grounding???
>
> I am beginning in electronics, and I am stuck on the concept of
> grounding. Exactly what is its purpose and what do the connection
> indications on schematics connect to? From what I can make of it, it
> seems to be a part of a circuit with no electrical potential. Is this
> right? How is that possible? Could you maybe explain it further.
> Somewhere I read that the ground is sometimes connected to a metal
> chassis. And why are there sometimes more than one of them and sometimes
> none at all (like in smaller BEAM circuits). I have also noticed that
> there are also sometimes resistors or caps in between the circuit and
> ground (??). As you can see, I am VERY confused and would really
> appreciate a simple explanation. I can't seem to find anything about it
> anywhere.
>
> -Ian Bushong
9416 Thu, 20 Jan 2000 10:49:31 PST [alt-beam] Re: Score: BEAM 9- Railroader 4 beam@sgiblab.sgi.com "Jim Cook" >Kelly, check-out Model Railroad at: http://rr-vs.informatik.uni-ulm.de/rr/
> can you do this with robot's?
>douglas
Yes check out any link on my page,http://www.geocities.com/boter_99
under
Telerobotics.
Sincerely,
Jim Cook
beamboter@hotmail.com
http://www.geocities.com/boter_99
______________________________________________________
9417 Thu, 20 Jan 2000 10:54:25 PST [alt-beam] Re: Translation (more or less) quebec beam@sgiblab.sgi.com "Jim Cook" This is what altavista translator came up with, not far off.
Hello
thank you for information, but I conaissait already beam-online and the
other site of geocities and I had noticed the tutorial and the " almost
complete Walker " I had precisely decided to start with one of these two
designs, just time to learn some more and to find the hardware. I am in the
area of montreal, but I did not start yet to seek sources serious of
hardware. For the moment, I connait of it only one, cest Addisson, I did not
have time to visit à.fond but Ca resembles true a gold mine full with parts
recycled not expensive.
anyways, if you learns some more, msg me
stephane
yet still bad.
>Hello,
>Thank you for the information, but I already knew about beam-online and the
>other site on geocities [Chiu's? Ed.] and I had noticed the tutorial and
>the "almost complete Walker ". I'd definitely decided to start with one of
>these two designs, in order to learn more and to find hardware. I am in the
>area of Montreal, but I haven't started to look for serious sources of
>hardware. For the moment, I know of only one which is Addisson, [whoever
>they are. Ed.] I haven't had time to look there very carefully but it
>seems to be a true gold mine full with recycled, inexpensive parts.
>Anyways, if you learn more, msg me
>At 10:53 PM 1/19/00 -0500, Stephane wrote:
>>Salut
>>
>>merci pour l'info, mais je conaissait deja beam-online et l'autre site de
>>geocities
>>et j'avais remarqu‚ le tutorial et le "almost complete walker"
>>
>>j'avais justement d‚cid‚ de commencer avec un de ces deux designs, juste
>>le
>>temps d'en apprendre plus et de trouver le mat‚riel. Je suis dans la
>>region
>>de montreal, mais je n'ai pas encore commenc‚ à chercher des sources
>>s‚rieuse de mat‚riel. Pour l'instant, je n'en connait qu'une, cest
>>Addisson, j'ai pas eu le temps de visiter à fond mais ca ressemble à une
>>vrai mine d'or plein de parties recycl‚e pas chere.
>>
>>anyways, si tu en apprend plus , msg moi
>>
>>stephane
>
>
>p.s. I'll bet that a thousand people could do a better translation than I
>have...
>
______________________________________________________
9418 Thu, 20 Jan 2000 16:51:31 -0600 [alt-beam] Has any one used a 74VHC14? beam@sgiblab.sgi.com dmarshall@ctt-inc.com (Don Marshall) Has any one used a 74VHC14? If so how well did it compare to the HC?
Thanks
Don
9419 Thu, 20 Jan 2000 19:00:33 EST [alt-beam] jameco beam@corp.sgi.com Bumper314@aol.com jameco has 4.5" by 1.5" solar cells that produce 3v at 40ma for $5, part
numper 171192
steve
9420 Thu, 20 Jan 2000 19:12:33 -0500 [alt-beam] Re: List messages getting unnecessarily HUGE "Richard Caudle" Hey Dave!
Is "Hrynkiw" sanskrit for "Jump all over my ass for silly things"?
Just wondering.
Richard
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