#robotics Logs
Mar 22 2013
#robotics Calendar
00:55 theBear i only notice when it's quiet, but that kinda thing bugs me
03:21 dunz0r RifRaf: Oh, I've been contemplating using that setup util. Is it any good?
03:21 dunz0r I mean... I've already got all my code setup etc, but "generating" the initial setup-code might save some time on projects.
14:05 RifRaf dunz0r, more than good, its great for setting up hardware
14:06 theBear i forget who it woulda/might help, but what kinda env you using for C++/duino lib stuff at the moment rif ?
14:06 RifRaf programmers notepad
14:07 RifRaf and avrdude on command line
14:08 theBear so err, that's standard gcc ?
14:08 theBear well, g+=
14:08 theBear g++
14:08 RifRaf ffs yes
14:08 theBear lol, ffs yes eh ?
14:08 RifRaf i use c or c++. mainly c++ now
14:08 theBear yeah, i forget the exact question/problem, i think it was something about weird errors trying to use arduino libs
14:08 RifRaf i wish you guys would stop thinking i live in some arduino ide
14:09 theBear i don't ! i honestly had NO IDEA
14:09 theBear and i aint touched c++ since dos times
14:09 RifRaf i use arduino type boards becase the clones are so cheap and work great
14:09 theBear not from scratch anyway
14:10 RifRaf why bother soldering all the shit, hell i even bought a shield yesterday
14:11 RifRaf why would i bother making this from sctratch http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Best-Price-MEGA-Sensor-Shield-V2-0-Dedicated-Sensor-Expansion-Board-for-Arduino/735372603.html
14:11 RifRaf lets me use the mega2560 with way less wires so i can get a project made, i STILL HAVE TO CODE
14:11 RifRaf theBear, good morning :)
14:12 theBear wow, that does look messy, but relax, i dunno who been bitching you out, but i come cheerful fri night and without preconceptions :)
14:12 theBear morning, you crazy early riser you
14:12 theBear and if you been talking to GuSh this week, that won't help, he's as miserable as i am, but out loud :(
14:13 RifRaf rue_house has been yesterday, he was on some drugs or something
14:14 theBear jeez, old dogs shouldn't try to learn new tricks :) that's why my little bro is such a mess and i'm so awesome... he didn't start till he was 20 or more, i started YOUNG :)
14:16 RifRaf well this old dog is learning new tricks everyday, if i tried to do i manally and get help from rue i'd be using mega8 dip and taking weeks for every project and never being able to get 2 or more bits of hardware working together
14:17 theBear lol, you aint old yet, you can drink 3 jugs in a sitting, i don't even need to ask... for many years that's been my main definition of old/not old
14:17 RifRaf i hated the time it took to make shit years ago, now i get a new thing made each week, completed
14:17 RifRaf nothing ever got completed in the old days
14:18 theBear that's good... i ended up getting quick by having my own semi-generic approaches, like a few inches of veroboard i could turn into an avr with isp header and reg and crystal in about 15 mins, but i sure fell outta the habit....
14:18 RifRaf i used veroboard 2 days ago theBear
14:19 RifRaf for all the sensors dividers opamps etc, and it worked
14:19 theBear "any day now" <grin> seriously tho, i'm closer than i've been for years, got a good functioning bench setup, compilers on a couple different computers incase something breaks, i just gotta DO SOMETHING :)
14:19 theBear hooray !
14:19 theBear veroboard is a weird one... everything i did on them was "shit" until i carefully examined a couple done by experienced old dudes and thought about layout and approach a bit, since then it's all been pretty good
14:19 RifRaf i have a dual cuurent and volatage meter now, with colour. light and distance sensors
14:19 theBear very nice !
14:20 theBear got the final schem for the current/voltage bit handy ? current specifically ? i'd be interested to see what worked
14:20 RifRaf sdcard lcd leds switches and more, so i have no i/o pins free, and it still workds
14:20 RifRaf i will make a schem for you this morning with there gains and stuff
14:21 RifRaf using 5V for vref with all adc inputs now
14:21 theBear i gotta solder an sd socket in a minute, hopefully i took the right approach... all the legs got snapped off, soldered in nice new ones, siliconed with red stuff to secure them, i gotta either solder REAL quick so the other end inside the connector doesn't melt, or get it hot so it reflows under the silicone, not too worried tho :)
14:21 RifRaf the opamp is still basic, 100X gain with 1M and 10K resistor, using a lm358
14:22 theBear how did you end up doing the adc end ?
14:23 RifRaf and a 5k on the input
14:23 RifRaf using the avrs 5V vref
14:23 theBear hmmm, oh, 100x gain, i see :)
14:23 theBear noise/jitter is acceptable ?
14:23 RifRaf 1.1 vref was good, but no good for the 50A current sensor
14:24 RifRaf yes stable results
14:24 theBear coolness
14:24 RifRaf i can compare the opamp simultaiously to the 50A sensor, and they are the same
14:24 theBear did you go silly on short leads from shunt -> opamp or just do whatever fit ?
14:24 theBear hangon, 50a sensor ? you got something different to a shunt ?
14:25 RifRaf theBear, http://imagebin.org/251186
14:25 RifRaf yes a hall effect thing as well, nice little uniy, -50A to +50A
14:25 theBear ooh, last question to slow you down before i actually do SOMETHING useful, you got any idea how to work with ferrite powder stuff, like little torroid cores or radio slugs ? like to make a notch or gap in one ?
14:26 RifRaf small files?
14:26 GargantuaSauce grinder on a rotary tool
14:26 theBear yeah, that's the best i could come up with.. haven't played much, that stuff just loves cracking and flaking tho
14:26 theBear the hall is the one on the white pcb ?
14:26 RifRaf yep
14:27 RifRaf well get a part number
14:27 theBear that's a serious looking hall... experimented a lot with ultra-cheap approaches a few years back at work.... noticed just how awesome halls are
14:27 theBear oooh, you got the display going too... nice
14:27 RifRaf ACS758
14:29 RifRaf yes all works, though the lcd does not initialse properly
14:29 theBear hmm, not dirt cheap, but cheaper than any other all-in-one unit i seen
14:29 theBear what, like it doesn't blank ?
14:29 RifRaf about 1 time in 10 now
14:29 theBear ahh, hmm
14:29 RifRaf , only when i reset avr with my finger over all the lcd connections on the avr board i have found
14:29 RifRaf i hope that is a clue
14:30 theBear i'd try a cap or two at the display, and maybe a delay before init after poweron
14:30 RifRaf it come on with a bit of rubbish, same each time, then blanks when it gets data
14:30 RifRaf tryed delays, maybe i need to change the delay with avr fuse bits i was thinking
14:31 RifRaf the cap idea helped a little but is gone now, was not the fix
14:31 theBear hmm, that's a tricky one... had a whole bunch of a specific (lighting) product a few years back that one by one (few died before i was there, were just put in storage) wouldn't startup ... tickling the crystal would make them go every time.... i got REALLY carried away on a couple of them , couldn't for the life of me workout what caused it, but i did quickly workout that replacing the osc crystal and 74 series buffer with a 4pin all-in-one osc/buffe
14:31 theBear r chip fixed 'em real quick...
14:32 theBear mmm, you do blank it in the code right ? generally lcds don't self-blank at powerup OR init
14:32 RifRaf like cannot get it on now, grr, 20 times so far
14:32 RifRaf nope
14:32 GargantuaSauce add more delays between commands in the initialization
14:32 RifRaf ok will try now
14:32 GargantuaSauce remember the lcd controller is actually an mcu that has to do its own stuff in between
14:32 RifRaf when it turns on properly
14:33 RifRaf ok got it
14:33 theBear hehe, like my 'new pc' ... core2duo with fancy intel management stuff onboard... needs a fancy atx2.3 or whatever with 3a standby and stupid currents everywhere just to get into standby, after the first time it's cool... upgraded my 'best' older atx supply, now it's like your display, usually only doesn't go 1/10 but sometimes :(
14:34 theBear with those kinda currents ANY psu looks horrible at powerup time on a scope, tempted to just do a little pi network (extra inductor and cap stage) on the standby and a couple other high current lines, that should clinch it, then i finally got an 'only' 5 years old machine :)
14:36 RifRaf k delays in my code don;t help, did try that, you mean the lcd.library itself i guess, will take a look there
14:36 GargantuaSauce and yeah decoupling is always good
14:37 GargantuaSauce also i'd really recommend putting those headers right on the perfboard instead of doing point to point wiring from them
14:37 GargantuaSauce you are asking for trouble with that construction
14:37 theBear umm, not sure how your lib works, but basically after powerup there should be some basic 'init lcd' code that sets the mode and maybe character format/set and stuff, then a blank then actual data to display... if the init/blank is too early it could go weird, if you only init but don't blank it'll tend to display random data till you overwrite it
14:38 RifRaf added axtra delays to the lib init
14:38 RifRaf recompiling now
14:39 theBear especially with high currents around, decouple caps on power pins at lcd board are a good idea generally, and if it's REALLY noisy (electrically) even maybe TINY caps on the data lines, just enough to quell any extreme noise
14:39 theBear i suppose scoping the data/non power lines will tell you if that is needed, you need noise right up near the 2.5v/ttl/whatever threshold to screw up digital
14:40 RifRaf theBear, a basic lcd trest had similar issues
14:40 RifRaf no other hardware
14:40 GargantuaSauce using the arduino's vreg to power everything is probably also a bad idea
14:41 theBear anyway, soldering time... i'll be back
14:41 RifRaf yes probly, but not as bad as feeding the regulator 5v and expecting the rest to work, which it still did
14:41 theBear heh i saw that the other day, surprised it didn't cause WAY more problems, specially considering what you were experimenting/measuring at the time
14:42 RifRaf yes heh :)
14:43 RifRaf extra delays are not doing it yet, did seem a bit better but now not coming on again
14:43 RifRaf it does seem to only be this 40x4 line lcd, the 16x2 work ok
14:43 Tom_itx different controller?
14:44 Tom_itx fleury's lib has an option for that
14:44 GargantuaSauce are you certain it's 5v tolerant
14:45 GargantuaSauce some are only 3.3v and you could have fried it after some ue
14:45 GargantuaSauce use
14:45 RifRaf is compatible apparently, and when its starts up ok keeps working, working again now
14:45 RifRaf GargantuaSauce, found a proper datasheet for it, is meant for 5V
14:45 GargantuaSauce k
14:45 GargantuaSauce try improving the construction then
14:46 RifRaf tryied it all 100% soldered, trying different cables
14:46 GargantuaSauce stick a 7805 and those headers on the board
14:47 RifRaf separate power supply for it?
14:47 GargantuaSauce you can use it to power the arduino too
14:48 RifRaf i was using a separate 5V psu till i took it off breadboard yesterday, 2A adjustable voltage
14:49 RifRaf the breadboard even used a different nanoduino, so everything is changed except the lcd
14:49 RifRaf i am drawing 40mA for entire project
14:51 RifRaf and most of that is when the white led is on to determine colour, have about 25mA on it
14:51 RifRaf using a pn2222a to drive it from avr pin, not direct
14:53 RifRaf might go for a quick garage sale, never know what you find, back in a few hours
14:54 GargantuaSauce anyway i am mostly suspicious of the way you wired those headers
14:54 GargantuaSauce i've done that and had issues, it's very easy to move the pins slightly when doing that
14:54 GargantuaSauce if you solder a header into a board the board's holes keep them aligned fairly well
14:55 GargantuaSauce also it's super easy for a stray wire strand to short two adjacent pins
14:56 RifRaf GargantuaSauce, will wire header pins to lad when i return and remove all the hotglue and stuff
14:56 RifRaf lcd*
14:56 GargantuaSauce yeah use headers and put them right on the board
14:56 RifRaf yep ok
14:57 GargantuaSauce i wouldnt call this a shining example of construction but ive had a high level of success with this style http://workman-industries.net/images/hexapod/servoboard_back.jpg http://workman-industries.net/images/hexapod/servoboard_front.jpg
14:57 GargantuaSauce no parallel interfaces involved of course but it runs at a fairly high frequency spi and powers the mcu board
14:58 RifRaf ok i will do it now, i don't realy need more garage sale junk
14:59 GargantuaSauce it's amazing how that stuff accumulates
14:59 RifRaf i really wanted a coffee though :/ , gonna go get some milk
15:01 GargantuaSauce ruggedness is another thing to consider too of course, even for a device that will be enclosed you'll end up tugging on the wires at some point and it's a serious pain to have stuff fall apart or short momentarily
15:37 RifRaf yep for sure
15:38 RifRaf even got to go to a garage sale while getting coffee, got a desk light, some round up and some fresh russian garlic
15:40 GargantuaSauce sweet variety
15:53 RifRaf ok no bridges, nice shiny headerpins http://imagebin.org/251303
15:54 RifRaf now i need to solder to the female header pins, so couldn't the same issue still be there?
16:05 GuShH RifRaf: you should increase the temperature of your iron and use some extra flux
16:06 GuShH (shiny is just one part of the story)
16:06 GuShH also do you use a conical tip?
16:07 RifRaf grr i knew someone would pick on my soldering, tip is not pointy no
16:07 GuShH move to a fine chisel or a hoof
16:07 theBear i don't care what anyone says, i like my pointy tips
16:07 RifRaf it is a small chisel
16:07 GuShH also, remove the iron faster.
16:07 RifRaf don't tell me how to solder
16:07 GuShH I JUST DID
16:07 theBear hehe
16:07 RifRaf i know, grr
16:07 GuShH I can outsolder you any day!, maybe not theBear.
16:08 GuShH that would make for an interesting TV show
16:08 GuShH soldering wars
16:08 RifRaf bullshit, i was not trying
16:08 theBear noone can outsolder me at the moment, i'm super ninja
16:08 ShH g
16:08 GuShH RifRaf: these are all constructive tips
16:08 GuShH for the OCD kind.
16:09 theBear tho every passing day that i don't solder for several hours it feels more and more alien
16:09 GuShH two extremes, temperature too high burns off he flux, won't let the solder flow throughout because the flux doesn't get a chance to clean up the oxides
16:09 theBear but i haven't lost the touch yet, i've had a good run the last 5 years or so
16:09 RifRaf my temp was 380C
16:09 theBear well, soldering wise, the rest of my life has been an unending waking nightmare :)
16:09 GuShH temperature too low, won't flow entirely throughout the pads, will bulge up
16:09 RifRaf grrr
16:10 theBear hehe, i thought it was fine... the joints will last, they all solid
16:10 GuShH good PTH joints are conical, full pad coverage
16:10 RifRaf was hot enough, i was just going fast, i can make it look perfect as well if you want
16:10 GuShH and I'm not thinking wave soldering, it can be done by hand.
16:10 GuShH RifRaf: then do it. why go any less
16:10 theBear as the years go on i'm now running my iron at temps i NEVER would have considered back in the day, apart from anything else it lets me go faster, not waiting for stuff to melt
16:10 GuShH pft.
16:10 RifRaf ok fine
16:11 GuShH RifRaf: I'd invite you to compete on a solder-off but I'm not in the mood
16:11 fRaf puts glasse
16:11 GuShH also that's as nerdy as it gets, I think you could get shot in some countries for being so nerdy
16:11 RifRaf i will take you on any day
16:11 ShH threatens RifRaf with his
16:12 theBear don't do that, rif is tough, he won't respond well
16:12 GuShH ohh these new pickup trucks are so nifty
16:12 GuShH ...but way too expensive
16:13 theBear so, we all know how cramped atx psus are pcb track wise, specially near the output wires... any opinions on minimum gap if i wanna cut a track and add a lowpass (2/3 of a pi) filter ?
16:13 GuShH theBear: think lightsaber fight but with irons
16:13 theBear suppose it can be tiny, it'd take HUGE capacitance to ac-couple at those kinda currents
16:13 GuShH and molten solder flying by instead of sparks
16:13 theBear i was thinking more like a knife fight, either way, i don't wanna see either of you die quite yet, i'm not done with you yet
16:14 GuShH haha that would be a long fight
16:14 GuShH and very nasty
16:14 GuShH since nobody would bleed
16:14 theBear very nasty, dunno about long... good thrust will bury an iron in a person... oh, hot irons... good point... could be interesting actually
16:14 theBear see how many times you could miss REALLY vital organs :)
16:15 GuShH isn't it cute? http://bimg2.mlstatic.com/volkswagen-saveiro-16-nafta-linea-2010-42000-km_MLA-F-4010597156_032013.jpg
16:15 GuShH I think the smell of burning flesh is what would put me off
16:15 ShH shi
16:16 theBear most people haven't smelt burning human flesh... the flesh smells better than the skin, personally i don't mind either, but almost everyone else in the tattoo parlour felt sick and had to leave the room :)
16:16 RifRaf i like that smell, but cannibals run in the family
16:16 theBear one day i still gotta go crazy with my little bbq type-setting style branding iron, on myself that is
16:16 GuShH o.O
16:16 theBear RifRaf, they do ? impressive pedigree !
16:17 RifRaf first think i do when i burn myself is have a big sniff
16:17 GuShH fuck sake
16:17 RifRaf theBear, is a long story
16:17 GuShH So to make sure you don't enjoy the fight, I'll get you in the nose first
16:18 eBear is a long s
16:18 theBear but we're talking about you <grin>
16:18 GuShH speaking of long...
16:18 GuShH I'm scared of this motorcycle club after some of the pictures they uploaded from the last trip
16:19 theBear aww, i thought we were back onto me with that ... :)
16:19 RifRaf http://imagebin.org/251309 can we move past the soldering now?
16:19 theBear i was never even stuck at it :)
16:19 GuShH RifRaf: too much solder
16:19 theBear ooh, much nicer tho, but he's gonna say you need more flux/less hot time on a couple of them, i can tell :)
16:19 GuShH I said conical, not spherical
16:19 GuShH lol
16:19 theBear nah, that's fine, it's not bulging, it covers the whole pad, good for mechanicalness on headers
16:19 GuShH YER FIRED
16:20 RifRaf grrr
16:20 GuShH </donald_trump>
16:20 theBear you using fluxless these days or just cleanup for pics ?
16:20 RifRaf no cleanup!
16:20 theBear hmm, nice
16:20 RifRaf just some duratech 60/40
16:21 RifRaf .7mm, a bit fat
16:21 GuShH speaking of fat....
16:21 theBear i got some nocleanup flux in the fridge... gotta try a 'good' version of a backyard oven reflow on some ball chips one day soon :)
16:21 theBear hehe
16:21 GuShH well the picture isn't loading, so I can't show you what I meant by long
16:22 theBear angon, that's duratech 60/40 ? hmmm, i still think that both pics were fine joints, but if it's that clean you should probably stop soldering a TINY bit sooner, before the smoke stops, that'd explain why gush thinks a couple joints are JUST underfluxed
16:22 theBear :)
16:22 theBear as we all know, when the smoke stops, the flux is gone, it's outta there man !
16:22 GuShH no the pads were not all covered up
16:23 RifRaf yes i sniff up all the smoke as well
16:23 GuShH wth
16:23 theBear lol, just got back to that tiny ute, that's a silly looking card
16:23 theBear big 'rectangle' pads like that don't need to be covered
16:23 theBear but it doesn't hurt for mechanicalness
16:23 GuShH what card!
16:23 theBear err, car
16:23 GuShH it's a small pickup
16:23 RifRaf theBear, i know that and you know that
16:23 GuShH what did you expect
16:23 theBear and your numberplates look weird
16:23 theBear lol, pickup
16:23 GuShH that's how they all look now adays
16:24 GuShH the 4x4s look even worse
16:24 theBear RifRaf, :) be the bigger tech
16:24 GuShH it's all bolt-on plastic shit on top of something designed by a toddler on flux fumes
16:25 RifRaf those pads already had solder on the bottom, the first time i was just making sure that i also melted the bottom layer of solderas well as some new solder on the top
16:25 theBear spose i've 'rested' enough, i should move onto the next job i been putting off while the bench was all in transit... workout why my frankenstein irf630 mobo fans have stopped
16:26 GuShH bad solder joints probably
16:26 ShH
16:26 theBear anyone played with 8 pin tinys ? remember how many pins are available for general purpose stuff before you blow all the fuses and make it just power and io ?
16:26 GuShH how fckng stupid can people be http://www.motorstown.com/images/volkswagen-amarok-2.0-06.jpg
16:26 GuShH those rims on a 4x4
16:26 theBear possibly, it's between the cpu heatsink, a fan header and the psu, and i was too lazy to take the board out when i replaced two smd fets with the irf :)
16:26 GuShH the hell.
16:26 GuShH now THATS silly and pointless..
16:26 theBear and no, i didn't strain relief it beyond creative soldering :)
16:27 theBear nah, you need the light weight so you can pull trailers quicker :)
16:27 GuShH higher surface contact on those actually
16:27 GuShH they're not rated for anything but road
16:27 theBear and so you don't get a dangerous amount of traction on the back end :) but the big cab doesn't help with that
16:28 GuShH it doesn't make sense to have a 4x4 with road rims and tyres
16:28 GuShH only if you are a fat bastard yankee
16:28 GuShH and decide it's the only vehicle that will fit your arse in town
16:28 GuShH but then you'd probably go for chevrolet
16:28 GuShH or ford
16:28 theBear it doesn't make sense to have one with a tray too small for me to nap in, or with a cab half as long as the whole vehicle, or with a net tray load of under half a ton, but ya know, progress
16:29 GuShH those amaroks are too expensive.... way too much
16:29 GuShH and people driving them are dicks
16:29 GuShH I'm not just saying that, I've witnessed it
16:29 theBear hehe, that reminds me of the accountant at old old work.. she's literally jabba the hut with legs, and she drives one of those GIANT merc vans, the ones about the same size as a 4ton truck... and she aint EVER got anything in there
16:29 GuShH but what really annoys me are the SUVs
16:29 theBear but it hasn't collapsed yet... in the 3 or 4 years i was there she went through about 6 office chairs :)
16:30 theBear ok, action time !
16:30 GuShH regular cars they've lifted up and bolted some shitty plastic on the sides.... useless in anything but urban areas
16:30 GuShH theBear: so she changed the chairs 3 times?
16:30 GuShH dual channel
16:31 GuShH that's how big her arse was.
16:32 theBear hehe, like two beetles parked side by side
16:34 GuShH I wonder if RifRaf is still soldering
16:34 GuShH haha
16:35 theBear be nice, at least he's doing something, not like us, and both times WERE acceptable, dammit
16:35 RifRaf no i am trying to connect the lcd back to the project
16:35 GuShH too depressed to do any project
16:35 RifRaf i'll use these reverse breadboard wires
16:36 RifRaf they have female connectors on each end for the headerpins
16:36 GuShH lesbian lcd
16:36 RifRaf and have to read the datasheet because i forgot what side pin 1 is on
16:36 GuShH see if one is square, oh crap they're all square! design fail! kill them al
16:36 GuShH all
16:37 GuShH then eat them
16:37 theBear usually you can find a big plane or a screw-surround and beep it to check
16:38 GuShH spent 4 hours getting regexp to work on sqlite3... not sure why
16:38 GuShH I blame the docs
16:38 theBear you can't blame the medical profession for sqlite3 !
16:38 GuShH Also I don't see why it isn't supported by default, you gotta define your own regex function
16:38 GuShH maybe some license issues'
16:38 GuShH who knows
16:39 theBear i know i'm not supposed to practice medicine because of license issues
16:39 GuShH o.O
16:39 RifRaf pin 1 is to the right hand side of image
16:39 theBear that's what i said !
16:39 ShH f
16:40 GuShH [a-z0-2_-]{3,16}$
16:40 GuShH isn't there a "literal" regex? think BASIC for regular expressions...
16:40 RifRaf thanks theBear
16:40 theBear i meant the look of shock re: not being allowed to practice medicine, not pin 1, unless you beeped it
16:40 theBear in which case, you're welcome :)
16:41 GuShH I beeped your DMM last night
16:41 theBear years of repairs on random stuff make you pretty good at quick reverse engineering simple stuff
16:41 GuShH put her out of range
16:41 GuShH threw her bridge out of calibration
16:41 GuShH wink wink
16:41 theBear pfft ! least you didn't blow her fuses
16:42 theBear the big one AND the small one
16:42 GuShH haha
16:42 GuShH yeah I wasn't in the mood for burnt rubber
16:43 GuShH DMMs are naughty, they do a lot of probing around
16:44 GuShH http://www.kermatdi.com/servlet/the-378/Intake/Detail
16:44 GuShH that can't be worth 46 USD
16:44 GuShH I ended up using a piece of wire... for now
16:45 GuShH Not sure where to get some spring steel from
16:46 GuShH I bet rue would just pull some out of his underwear
16:46 GuShH and the spacers from his left pocket
16:49 RifRaf this contrast pot is about 320R between ground and center, so just harwire a 330R resistor in place to the lcd?
16:49 RifRaf 3 less wires
16:52 RifRaf even better, the 330r measures 323r
16:52 GuShH poop
17:00 RifRaf ok after all perfect connections confirmed, lcd still not initialised correctly
17:00 RifRaf same text
17:01 RifRaf must be in the lib
17:01 RifRaf got it to work again by resetting with thumb covering as many pins as i can
17:03 RifRaf coffee then something new i reckon, can work on this during the week
17:13 RifRaf barometer sensor that appears to be altimeter, or ir led pairs
17:13 RifRaf or a humidity and temp module i could never use because i2c scared me, now it should be easier
17:15 RifRaf but will save that for a weather logger, altimeter sounds ok, could add it with the accelerometer
18:07 RifRaf pressure sensor works
18:07 theBear anyone remember what you call those square 'barcodes' that are so popular with the kids these days ?
18:07 RifRaf um, q code?
18:07 theBear BAM ! awesome
18:08 RifRaf qr
18:09 RifRaf now to get this new accelerometer working, was only $2 or so, no i2c
18:10 theBear even more bam !
18:12 GuShH theBear: these days? they're older than THEM
18:12 GuShH qr is over 20 years old
18:13 GuShH silly the last time I wanted to get the specs they wanted me to buy the docs
18:13 GuShH the only upside to qr is the redundancy
18:14 theBear i said popular with them, it might be old, but i never saw one till a few years back, and i used to be able to read line-based barcodes by eye !
18:14 GuShH because you don't live in japan!
18:14 theBear there's no denying it !
18:15 theBear if i did i woulda had net 5 or 10 times this fast back when i started seeing qr codes everywhere :)
18:15 theBear hmmm... bout a week ago silly google removed a whole bunch of adblocking and similar apps from the market without warning
18:16 theBear that's cool, adblock pro is not to be quenched :)
18:27 theBear "Bytes per Sector : 512 Hz " lol ! go cnet reviewer !
18:56 RifRaf when trying to compile the c++ code example and getting errors like this; pressure.cpp:41: error: request for member 'getPa' in 'pressure', which is of no
18:56 RifRaf n-class type 'int32_t'
18:56 RifRaf any clues?
18:57 RifRaf something declared wronly or that i need to declare first?
19:26 rue_house clues?
19:27 rue_house RifRaf, C uses objects
19:27 rue_house do pressure should be an object, but its a int32_t
19:28 rue_house and so it dosn't have functions and variables in it
19:28 RifRaf disabled a line and got past it,but thanks
19:29 RifRaf rue_house, are you feeling better today?
19:29 rue_house na, gonna try to nap
19:50 GargantuaSauce rif stick your female headers right on the protoboard
19:50 GargantuaSauce then do the point to point wiring from hole to hole
19:56 GargantuaSauce also i think you need to stick with c until that is actually solid
19:56 GargantuaSauce and only then venture into the clusterfuck of c++
19:57 GargantuaSauce i don't think you're doing yourself favours by jumping into the deep end and then blundercoding until it "works"
19:57 Tom_itx why venture at all?
19:57 GargantuaSauce (yes i agree)
19:57 Jak_o_Shadows Jumping into the deep end is fun.
20:00 RifRaf ok it appears that this pressure sensor is more accurate than the elevation reading on gps
20:00 RifRaf GargantuaSauce, all connections are 100% perfect now, same issue
20:00 RifRaf is all good
20:01 GargantuaSauce gps is actually kind of terrible
20:01 GargantuaSauce and some modules make it even more so
20:01 GargantuaSauce so another lcd works fine all the time?
20:01 RifRaf yes, always found that, but the pressure sensor is staying within 1 meter, the gps goes all over the place (better outside)
20:02 GargantuaSauce and that will remain the case as long as there is a short period of time and horizontal distance between the initial reference/ground measurement and the current measurement
20:03 RifRaf other lcds have never had this issue from memory, will be adding a 2x16 lcd to this new project soon as the reading to rs232 are what i want
20:03 GargantuaSauce but the ambient pressure will change with the weather by a factor of up to like 5%
20:03 RifRaf yes, it will be like a barometer
20:03 RifRaf which it actually isi think from reading
20:03 GargantuaSauce yes that is how it functions
20:04 GargantuaSauce ....and it's what you're actually using it for isnt it
20:04 RifRaf the sensor is bmp085, seems fairly standard
20:04 GargantuaSauce there's a pretty accurate thermometer readable in there too i think
20:04 GargantuaSauce i think that's what's on my imu board also
20:04 RifRaf GargantuaSauce, am still getting ideas of wat to make, just trying a new sonsor for the day
20:04 GargantuaSauce ah
20:05 GargantuaSauce go go gadget weather baloon
20:05 RifRaf yes, the temp reading is just over 1 degree over what a decent digital one is telling me, but can adjust that in the code
20:05 RifRaf yes need a flying platform to experiment with
20:05 GargantuaSauce though the gps will crap out at higher altitudes because geopolitics
20:06 RifRaf yep, good to 9000meters
20:06 RifRaf and 'might' go above they say
20:06 RifRaf this sensor i meant, not the gps
20:08 RifRaf getting this info so far, Pressure=(100061 Pa) Altitude=105.77 Temperature=30
20:09 RifRaf and best gps reading was 109m +-6m
20:09 RifRaf altitude
20:09 GargantuaSauce you and your summer
20:10 GargantuaSauce i had a snowstorm today >:|
20:10 RifRaf well its sunny for first full day in weeks i think
20:11 RifRaf rain flood rain rain flood is all we had last few months, and before that was fire fire hot hot
20:11 GargantuaSauce heh
20:11 RifRaf snowstorm would be great right now
20:11 RifRaf is getting a bit warm
20:12 RifRaf lmao, just realised i posted the temp before and thats what you were referring too :/
20:13 RifRaf was thinking too much about the altitude, one track mind
20:28 RifRaf GargantuaSauce, new connections http://imagebin.org/251334 http://imagebin.org/251335
20:29 GargantuaSauce ah yes i was going to recommend those jumpers
20:29 RifRaf when it works it works fine as you see
20:29 RifRaf just hard to get it started
20:34 GargantuaSauce well i dunno...try sticking a .1 or 1uF cap right on the power pads of its board
20:35 RifRaf my probem with that project now is now that i got everything working have just 1 i/o port left for buttons, which sucks
20:35 GargantuaSauce well do let me recommend the stm32f4 again
20:35 RifRaf and with the fat file system for sdcard the code is 34k, and is 32k max for this avr
20:35 GargantuaSauce 1MB of flash, a fuckton of I/O
20:35 RifRaf ok will get one and try it
20:36 RifRaf but for now this mega2560 board will be the new board for it
20:37 RifRaf GargantuaSauce, do people develop libraries for the stm32f4 for people like me
20:38 GargantuaSauce i have heard murmurs of maple or something working on it
20:38 Tom_itx not so much that i've seen yet
20:38 GargantuaSauce the ST libraries are also reasonably simple
20:39 GargantuaSauce but seriously i have a hell of a good time reading the reference manual and poking the registers as required
20:39 GargantuaSauce (but that's me)
20:39 Tom_itx that's the discovery board they were giving away a while back right?
20:39 GargantuaSauce that's the f3
20:39 Tom_itx mine is a f4 iirc
20:39 GargantuaSauce which also would be a good bet
20:39 RifRaf you would, not me though, i don't mind the odd register setting but thats about it
20:40 Tom_itx yup, stm32f4 discovery
20:40 Tom_itx still in the package
20:40 RifRaf they cost double what this mega2560 cost, and its gonna be ages before i use all these new ports
20:41 Tom_itx i got a 2560 for $20
20:41 GargantuaSauce the f4disco is $15 which is cheaper than any arduino megas i've seen
20:41 RifRaf Tom_itx, all your stuff would still be neatly in packages :P
20:41 RifRaf Tom_itx, i think you are a collector of parts and boards
20:41 GargantuaSauce well i am a proponent of this approach not just because i think it's fun
20:41 Tom_itx i have real life things to tend to as well rif
20:42 GargantuaSauce there is no layer of indirection between the hardware and the code you are writing
20:42 RifRaf Tom_itx, mine was less than 15, and is a great arduino clone, so can even use that test code if i need to
20:42 Tom_itx not near the time to spend on it
20:42 GargantuaSauce when you're working with a library, you have to deal with your interface between your code and the library
20:42 GargantuaSauce and assume the library does what you want to the hardware
20:42 GargantuaSauce and....to be quite honest it usually doesn't
20:43 GargantuaSauce the act of writing code is an attempt at leveraging the determinism of the systems you utilize
20:43 GargantuaSauce and any ill-defined aspect of software involved in the process detracts from that determinism
20:43 RifRaf yes, but am getting familiar enough with them and can try work out what they are doing and compare it to datasheet when i have issues
20:44 RifRaf but most of the time they do just work as advertised, i think most issues are that the creator of webbotlibs changed c++ in recent versions
20:44 GargantuaSauce i really thing c++ is bad news on a mcu
20:44 GargantuaSauce think*
20:44 RifRaf and there are still bugs for sure, cause i have found them
20:44 Tom_itx RifRaf, do you have arm boards as well?
20:44 RifRaf yes i don't understand why he would change it
20:44 RifRaf no tom
20:45 RifRaf only avr
20:45 GargantuaSauce also it often really isn't more complicated to poke things directly than to use a library
20:46 GargantuaSauce for instance i was procrastinating on doing my laser projector for ages because i thought using the DACs would be complicated
20:46 GargantuaSauce and ended up doing the whole thing in an evening, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OELxDGtESMI
20:46 RifRaf well i had to make my own for the colour sensor, as there was no lib for it, and got there in the end
20:46 GargantuaSauce you used the i2c lib
20:47 GargantuaSauce i am talking about the mcu, not peripheral libraries though i guess the point holds a bit
20:47 RifRaf still need to tidy that code up so i can share it easier
20:48 GargantuaSauce but yeah that dac example? i had to set the IO pins to analog mode, write to the DAC control register to enable it
20:48 GargantuaSauce and then write values to the dac value register
20:48 GargantuaSauce and that was it
20:48 RifRaf very pretty
20:49 RifRaf how is it spinning?
20:49 GargantuaSauce with a rotation matrix
20:49 GargantuaSauce that mcu has a floating point unit
20:50 GargantuaSauce and is fast enough so that i could use standard 3d graphics techniques
20:50 RifRaf looks like its hanging in some kind of henging ornament
20:50 RifRaf very clever
20:55 GargantuaSauce https://bitbucket.org/Ultrasauce/robots/overview
20:55 GargantuaSauce if you want to glance at my awful code
20:55 RifRaf heh my altitud has gone up 6 meters in the last hour, and i have not moved
20:56 GargantuaSauce yeah, the way you're calculating altitude is making assumptions about its relation to pressure
20:56 GargantuaSauce it would be cool to get your position from the gps and connect to some weather service over the internet to get the ambient pressure at a known altitude
20:56 RifRaf yep, so is good for getting a relative hieght in short periods i guess, like flying a plane or helicopter
20:57 GargantuaSauce yep exactly
20:57 GargantuaSauce it's very precise at short timescales
20:57 GargantuaSauce the key to doing that sort of measurement is to carry out a calculation that uses the advantages of each sensor you've got
20:58 GargantuaSauce so use the gps for a baseline altitude measurement and then fine tune that with the barometer
20:58 RifRaf yep, like the one you have that has 3 of them, i just have separate for now and learning each one
20:59 RifRaf have seen with a whole range of cool sensors onboard inc. gps
21:18 RifRaf Pressure=(99980 Pa) Altitude=112.58 Temperature=34 , pressure dropped, temp up, and up 8 meters in elevation from start
21:44 GuShH RifRaf: are you in a balloon?
21:45 GuShH or do you simply have drifty poorly integrated sensors :p
21:45 RifRaf no sir
21:45 RifRaf just a test device, the air pressure is changing alot
21:45 RifRaf and altitude is being calculated just by the pressure, and maybe temp
21:47 RifRaf at 116m high now, will reset and see what happens
21:48 RifRaf thc in the air might be affecting the highness factor
21:48 RifRaf cause is staying the same
21:50 RifRaf GuShH, my xyz readings though are not near correct, i am falling in all directions at 0.7G it appears
21:50 RifRaf might need to hook up another pin or 2
22:30 wl1 I've one AMOLED Screen of my old Samsung Wave II phone, is that anything I can do with that? a friendly robot or something? :)
22:37 wl1 Anyone? :P