Alt-BEAM Archive
Message #12303
To: beam@sgiblab.sgi.com
From: Bumper314@aol.com
Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2000 18:05:57 EST
Subject: [alt-beam] Re: LED blinker thingy
In a message dated 3/21/00 11:14:45 AM Mountain Standard Time,=20
Wilf.Rigter@powertech.bc.ca writes:
> Since LEDs require a minimum of 1.6V to barely turn on, using a single 1.5=
V
> AA cell can be done but is a challenge. I don't want to steal your thunde=
r
> but give you a starting point, I recommend using a circuit like the=20
attached
> LED driver which you can hang from any pair of complementary HC outputs,=20=
as
> shown here from the bicore outputs. Note that the tripler circuit itself
> only requires the 2 caps and 2 resistors. The bicore part of the circuit
> represents any oscillator which has a true and inverted output. The
> components shown generate a brilliant flash about once every 2 seconds. F=
or
> higher frequencies decrease the 10K resistor value until the brightness n=
o
> longer increases. This LED driver effectively triples the available LED
> voltage and works with a supply voltage down to less than 1V. In addition=
,
> it shapes the LED current into a short high current pulse which is highly
> visible and saves power. As our friend Steven Bolt has tirelessly pointed
> out to us in the past, the power required to run a HC oscillator drops
> dramatically at 1.5V and a single AA cell can probably run a bicore for a
> year. Adjusting the size of the caps (10-100uf) changes the brightness an=
d
> total current but even the 100uf caps will probably run a LED blinker=20
thingy
> for a couple of months.
that looks like a nice addition. I can get the circuit I used up but it will=
=20
take some time to draw up. The circuit will blink an LED every second for=20
40ms, it draws an average of less then 100=B5A with a peak of 20mA. I have i=
t=20
blinking one of those Solarbotics red LEDs (the small ones) off of a somewha=
t=20
used (I took it out of my PDA after running them for a few hours) AA=20
rechargeable alkaline battery. Very nice pace and pretty bright. If someone=20
can suggest a good program for drawing up schematics that will help me to ge=
t=20
this circuit up. Thanks
Steve
12304 Tue, 21 Mar 2000 18:24:06 EST [alt-beam] Re: Solar panel solder beam@sgiblab.sgi.com BUDSCOTT@aol.com the panel that i got was bought from radio shack, its a tinnie tiny mega thin
silicon panel with small voltage but great mA action. Unfortunately i almost
cracked the panel just trying to apply solder to one of the sides! i don't
know about that on, i think i'll just move on!
-Spencer
12305 Tue, 21 Mar 2000 18:20:35 EST [alt-beam] Re: Alternative Power beam@sgiblab.sgi.com BUDSCOTT@aol.com hmm...Nikoli Tesla (thats spelt write isn't it?) what a guy. I can't even
fathom the things he thought up. But think of it, if we could find a way to
convert regular radio waves into electricity, think of it, there are so many
radio waves going through the air that there would almost be an infinite
supply of energy that we could 'rob' from radio stations and hams, like me.
Ooo...the possibilities, unfortunately thats an uninveted technology that
probably wont exist for a few year, o well!
-Spencer
12306 Tue, 21 Mar 2000 18:40:44 -0500 [alt-beam] Re: Muscle/Bio wire beam@sgiblab.sgi.com "Sathe Dilip" If you do a search on Amazon for STIQUITO, you will find a couple of
books on this subject by the inventor of Stiquito. These books come
with a kit for making basic Stiquito - no controller. Stiquito is based
on Nitinol or muscle wire.
If you want to do it from scratch & without paying for the book, go
here:
ftp://www.cs.indiana.edu/pub/stiquito/
I think the .ps documents contain enough information to build Stiquito.
Most of the other information there is dated in terms of buying kits
etc.
Dilip
------------------------------------------------------
Bruce Robinson wrote:
>
> Lydia Smith wrote:
> >
> > Does any one know if you can use biowire instead of
> > motors for walking 'bots?
>
> It has been done, but it seems to be a real power hog. The only link I
> have so far is for a kit version that Richard Piotter built ...
>
> http://richfiles.calc.org/BORIS.html
>
> Bruce
--
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
12307 Tue, 21 Mar 2000 16:25:33 -0600 [alt-beam] Re: Schmitt inverters? beam@sgiblab.sgi.com Richard Piotter The regular inverter has a set voltage where it switches whether it is
turned on or off.
A schmitt trigger has two voltages. An on and an off switch voltage. Say
you are at 0 volts, and go up to 5 volts. if the trigger is 4 volts, the
output switches at a 4 volt or higher input. Now, say you turn your
input low. It won't switch till it reaches the falling trigger point,
say, 1 volt. That means when the input goes to 1 volt or lower, then the
output is switched.
A very popular use is for debouncing switches. When you press a switch,
there is a bit of static, sort of scratching. If that static is between
the trigger points, then the inverter or other logic gate will never see
the static.
Justin wrote:
>
> As someone whose understanding of logic gates is derived mostly from
> formal logic rather than electronics, I don't know the difference
> between a schmitt inverter and an inverter. Can someone fill me in or
> point in the direction of this info?
>
> My practical concern is an SMT bicore I'm trying to built. I can only
> find HC14's in SMT (schmitt inverters) and the bicores I build out of
> these all act differently to HC240-based ones. The schmitt thing seems
> the most likely explanation - any suggestions?
--
Richard Piotter The Richfiles Robotics & TI web page:
richfile@rconnect.com http://richfiles.calc.org
-- Make Money by Simply Surfing the Net or responding to E-Mail!!!
-- Click below!!!
http://www.alladvantage.com/go.asp?refid=ATL147
http://www.spedia.net/cgi-bin/dir/tz.cgi?run=show_svc&fl=8&vid=329630
12308 Wed, 22 Mar 2000 00:13:30 GMT [alt-beam] Suggestions Anyone? beam@sgiblab.sgi.com "Mike Kulesza"
So I know beambotix is kind of so-so... because theres hardly any good news
these days, and theres not much else besides that on the site. so I ask you
guys...
>>>What sort of content would you like to see at beambotix??
Examples: Products? > What kind?, Tutorials?, Circuits?, Photos?
etc......
Send in ALL suggestions.
___________________________
Mike Kulesza
www.geocities.com/beambotix
______________________________________________________
12309 Tue, 21 Mar 2000 19:20:44 -0800 [alt-beam] Re: bot collection alt-beam@egroups.com, BEAM David Simmons William,
So far Kyle has been able to run the pager motors, tape player motors,
and the FF-030PN motors with the FRED circuit. If the motor you are
trying to run is right at the point of starting but won't run try a 47
uf polarized cap right across the the motor terminals. This seems to get
them going. For more info on the FF-030PN motors go to Solarbotics
online catalogue.
Later,
Dave
William Cox wrote:
>
> I can't seem to get my FRED circuit to turn anything but the pager
> motors.... What type of motors did you use for his Symet? Not much!! Ha!
> I've only got one BEAM bot. And a half working Stamp bot....
> -William
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