2018-09-07
So I have been playing with the board and I can not find any show-stopper problems. I have tested every feature and there is not a single problem that can’t be software calibrated or hand-waved away. No in no way am I implying that it is perfect. Far from it. But it’s good enough to do what I designed it to do. Could some things have been done differently? Better? More efficient? Sure, of course. Read more…
2018-09-03
I know I’ve said it before, but I will go ahead and say it again: the end is in sight. In the last few days I’ve addressed the last few remaining issues: 1. Persistent offset on analog input #8 (ICD4) Turned out to be an input voltage offset issue. See here for more details. 2. ADC input weirdness on analog inputs 4-8 (ICD inputs) The short version is that the op amp output is at Read more…
2018-08-25
Note: This post a bit of a mess because I kept screwing up and being wrong. I am going to leave it this way because I don’t want to have yet another ‘highlight reel’ of an Internet presence. Learning is a messy endeavor, especially when you’re not some brillient mind that “just gets it”. The impetus behind the last revision of the board was current. Specifically current handling. More specifically issues with current handling. Even Read more…
2018-08-15
Initially I was planning on this being a multi-part bitch session. How I don’t like things A,B, and C in WordPress, how this and how that would be better the following way, and so forth. But then I realized that I am tired of hearing myself complain. So here is the summary of my experience: I think that it is just about magical that: some one like me can have a private server connected to Read more…
Over the last couple of weeks I have been migrating from Google Sites to my “very own” server. Below are a few impressions of the process. Part 1 — The first steps Part 2 — The steps following the first steps
2018-08-14
Rope-a-dope I use (used to use) Google Sites. I did so for no particular reason other than I already had access to it. It filled a need. A worry would come up sometimes: “What will I do if I need to migrate to a different” platform. It was hand-waved away. Why would I ever need to switch from Google Sites; Google Sites is a solid a-ok product. One day I went to shovel some of Read more…
2018-08-06
Instead of doing real work I was messing around with Dia to see what kind of perdy additions to the documentation I could create. Well here is the glory that took me almost an hour to produce. To be fair I haven’t used Dia in close to a decade and my new mouse pad realllly sucks. Lets unpack that image in the most logical way – starting from the bottom left and then meandering around. Read more…
2018-07-28
Low level fault or fault low level NOTE: I feel cheated by this “new Google Sites”. When they rope-a-doped me into converting the site they failed to mention that a) this is a one way journey and b) that this stupid “new Google Sites” lacks basic formatting features like subscript and superscript. I now know how Nancy Kerrigan felt. Seriously, my only extra formatting option is “strike through”. All of the V8, I8, etc below Read more…
2018-07-21
It’s alive! So it’s been a while. Basically when revision D of the PCB came in is when I tore my lab apart for a remodel. Well good news for everyone especially Neal (the dog) – the remodel is done and I’m back to pretending I know what I’m doing with a soldering iron. The major changes between revisions C and D of the board were the following. More details on each item to follow. Read more…
2018-01-02
The Year-end Retrospective It’s been about a year since I started on this project and while the end is in sight, I still do not have a functioning replacement for thermostat I could have bought for $300. That sounds like terribly slow progress to obtain a replacement for a mass-market tchotchke. And in all fairness it is. But wait, there is more. In addition to being terribly slow, it’s also an exceptionally expensive. The only Read more…