© PROJECTS m THEORY @ APPLICATIONS = CIRCUITS m TECHNOLOGY WOE, VOR ay | stn ea | Svea ay TRONIcs Build Bhs Own | + Me gills A ¢ ats ‘old crutches into a dipole? Antenna artist shows you how. Keep an eye on the weather with a PIC-based Barometer. = Parking Sentinel project protects your bumper and your garage.SN HIS Capture your world in high definition Una ee) OPE ea Ru ees rus teeta een kere cue hoe eI as eee ke cur Iess Teese Meee ee eur ern in) i | le Pa Bercy Bt eZ Me WEL} See ees) + Intelligent Voice Control Be) en ey Protec aN Soa rea) Cee a aes Saeed + IP-68 Housing, Waterproof to 10 Meters MD10 S60 Bo OMe ator UC} Bison or masa) UC} * Recording Time (Max.) * Recording Time (Max.) Ne ene cy Re ad Een ty Lane iri} See PSR + Dimensions: 2.32 x 1,69 x 1.38 in. Biko SC econ Crea | | Ate hel a A CeTur your BeagleBone Black into anything you want with the mikroBUS™ Cape. With four sockets, you can pick and mix from over 130 click” boards to add all sorts of sensors, transceivers, encoders, connectors and many other modules to your projects. New clicks are coming out weekly, so keep returning for more!22 Motion Triggered Plane Aisle Night Lighting Internet Radio Player Build this nightlight on steroids to keep twilight Never be at a lack for music with this incredibly walkers safe and your electric bill down. flexible system that features the Pi MusicBox By Goof Clark software. ee eee By Craig A. Lindley uild a iz Dipole Out of Crutches Here's a fun way to “break” into ham radio! 48 How to Craft a PIC Barometer Use this unique antenna design to find signals — Of al the ingredionts that make up a weather weak or strong, forecast, knowing what the current atmospheric By Bob Fischer pressure is doing is the mast important. 1h aueusiiel By Thomas Henry licroprocessors and Model Trains Meet Head On! 53 7 DIY Indoor Air Quality Let your Arduino ride the rails to make realistic Monitoring System crossing flashers for your model train setup. The air that we breathe indoors ~ whether at home 1 By Bob Fink ‘oF at work — can put us at risk for health problems if there are common pollutants in i Be sure of what 34 The Garage Sentinel You're broathing with this prototype systom that ‘Yep. We've got yet another parking assistant project features many types of sensors. thet will save you from the ol hanging tennis bel 3 By Tom Kibalo By Larry Coyle mn 08 TechKnowledgey 2014 The Design Cycle Events, Advances, and News Advanced Techniques for Road about a method for cancelling shockwaves, Design Engineers Shea et Gevice te inser, SD. Etna cote Giving Our “Board” Wings to Fly Over LANs or the Internet. 12 Os The A-10 Thunderbot I (also known as the Warthog) a fs built around its 30 mm cannon. This month's : ‘ait offering is built around its own 10 MB Ethernet port Answers to questions about furnace data acquisition a , eee Sa eletecolca aroUnd Voilcls fil anil I've got the itch, so let's scratch-build the “board” which is based on the Microchip PIC32MX795F512L. % te Spin Tone 70 Near Space Propeller Programming Approaching the Final Frontier Fun with Charlieplexing. CubeSats — Part 5: Designing a Learn about this method of LED control that takes Model CubeSat for School Use. advantage of a processor's ability to manipulate As CubeSats continue to play a pivotal role in space ihe pin sate. exploration, i's important te introduce more Schools to this taohnology. Hore’ kt tht can Go jst that Departments 76 Practical 3D Printing DEVELOPING = ELECTHO.NET Real World Uses for the O° BERSPECTIES 66 NVWEBSTORE Electronics Experimenter 07 READER FEEDBACK °° CLASSIFIEDS Pegboard Solder Holder. 20 NEW PRODUCTS ee Never lose your roll of solder again with this handy Seema 80 AD INDEX Boneh organizational too TBs RN |S NSCOR Age MOTTO a pid ay GODS pa by TA ers he D Ntcind Can Cama CA HRD PERODCALS Bal Cohen de axa AnonBal natn dics ROSALES oe dels o Ms 8s BO Box HRY, North ayrod CA M113 Son 00 4 MTSEVONS. August 2015TSC AULT 2 De 4 gape Ns rs, TIT geeVintage Repair [in ite of overhauling vintage Singer 2012 [sewing machine, manufactured in the US in 1940. As | expected, the motor brushes need replacing, the ole: fashioned leaf switch controlling the light is — at best — intermittent and needs a good cleaning, and the cotton- insulated wire is begging to be updated to fireproof silicon, insulated wire. Old appliances — void of microcontrollers or even simple semiconductors — are a pleasure to tear down and rebuild. They're fun as a solo weekend project, or, if you have someone you want to teach basic mechanics and electricity to, they make a good two or three weekend project. Even bringing an old toaster back to life can provide a sense of satisfaction. Back to the Singer, there's always more involved in a Vintage repair than meets the eye. These old sewing WORLD'S MOST VERSATILE Eat Se nore] Seer Pheer is MONTHLY CONTEST Visit us on Facebook® to post a photo of your creative Panavise Panavise prize package. PANAVISE Innovative Holding Solutions 7540 Calbre ve Reno + Nevada B75 (8007597535 wwFaavie com © WUTSIVOTS Auoust 2015 machines require regular lubricating and cleaning like any other fine metal equipment. 've tried just about every grease on the market, and have come to rely on Triflo clear grease. I's a synthetic grease that’s fairly odorless, relatively inexpensive, and easy to come by. lust make certain you remove all of the old organic grease before you apply the TriFlo. The combination of old and new grease doesn't perform well ‘One of the unfortunate characteristics of lighted appliances from the middle of the last century is that they relied on inefficient 110V incandescent bulbs. The Singer uses a miniature 15W bulb that gets extremely hot — hot enough to blister the paint on the bulb holder. I've solved that problem by replacing the incandescent with a more efficient, much cooler LED version. An unanticipated The Easiest Way to Design Custom Front Panels & Enclosures You design it We machine it SOETRES CAD satus,” plolarsonaly ines product Front ParelDeegner” ro miimum cuantiy requed * Cost effective prototypes and production runs with ne setup charges. ‘* Powser-coated and anadized finishes in various colors. * Select from aluminum, acrylic or p your own material ‘© Standard lead iA I(T SE9 FrontPanelExpress.comNUTS: VOLTS Published Monthly By T&L Publications, Inc. 1430 Princeland Ct Corona, CA 92879-1800 (951) 371-8497 Fax (951) 371-2052 Webstore orders only 1-800-788-4624 ‘wanw.nutsvolts.com Subscription Orders Tol Free 1-877-525-2538 Outside US 1-818-487-4545 PO, Box 15277 North Hollywood, CA 91615 FOUNDER Jack Lemieux PUBLISHER. Lamy Lamioux [email protected] ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER/ ‘ADVERTISING SALES Robin Lemieux [email protected], EDITOR Bryan Bergeron [email protected] VP OF OPERATIONS ‘Yorn Granor ‘[email protected] CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Fred Eady Tim Brown, Jon NicPhalen Jet! Eckert Paul Verhage ‘Chuck Helebuyck Thomas Henry Tom Kibalo Bob Fischor| Bb Fink Geoff Crk Lary Coyle Craig Lindley CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT [email protected] ‘SHOW COORDINATOR: Audrey Lemieux WEB CONTENT Michael Kaudze [email protected] WEBSTORE MARKETING Brian Kirkpatrick [email protected] WEBSTORE MANAGER ‘Sean Lemieux ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF Debbie Stauffer Fle Gandara Copyright © 2015 by T & L Put ‘All Rights Reserved I adersing issue wo planers eprora. We “rpowapica ors. this 8 vats hogan assures Rp resporsby forthe ealaoky 01 coraiion of Sverige ter of ft the Ponty of the averse ‘he pubisner maces ro. dame fr she eaeky thy tom avers in huis Vols. Tus be 2 Tomorsbliy of the adverse: Rovrisos ara far gens eats ondary and ote: te pels im aa a dee, cian or parse ang Tor bavesang paced in Nuts & vats Peso send tora Garecsondonce UPS. ovrnaht al, ord ‘en to 40 Bnet Cour, Carng, CA 2578, Ponta nth USA on SI & FSC soc advantage of moving to LED lighting is that the light is nearly pure white as opposed to yellow. You can find LED bulbs at Amazon, 100bulbs.com, and, of course, homedepot.com. Replacing frayed power cords can be a challenge — especially when the appliance is designed for a non-polarized two-pronged connection to the mains. Arbitrarily connecting a three-pronged plug can be a hazard — especially on an appliance with a metal chassis. Unless you're familiar with electrical code —as well as how your house is wired — I'd stick with the original wiring diagram. Do replace the brittle plastic cord with modern flexible cord. I've had good luck with non-polarized cords from both Amazon and Walmart Switches — especially power switches — are the most problematic ‘components in a vintage repair. IV's usually easy enough to replace a toggle switch with a garden variety version, but i’s at the cost of destroying the “vintage” feel of the appliance. Take the Singer sewing machine switch. The toggle is a distinctive white Bakelite, and the mechanical aspect of the switch is almost two inches long. | was lucky enough to find a new old stock (NOS) replacement on eBay. Otherwise, | would have been forced to substitute a miniature toggle switch for the classic Bakelite toggle. I've found a great source of old fashioned switches is guitar supply houses and local music stores — ‘especially stores that cater to the tube amp crowd. So, next time you walk past a yard sale, check out the vintage electrical items, There’s always something to learn from a teardown, even if you have no need for the actual item, NW READER FEEDBACK Weather Website In one of Bryan Bergeron’s past editorials, he mentioned purchasing a \weather station, Ive often thought of building oF buying my own weather station, but | never seem to find the time to do it. Living in southern CA, | wanted to add seismic sensors, in addition to the standard array of sensors (wind speed, direction, temp, humidity, barometric pressure, rainfall, etc.). ltd be cool to be able to set up a weather website, so my neighbors could see the conditions. ! wonder what make/model system Bergeron finally settled on. emailed both Davis and ‘AcuRiite, and they have told me — in no uncertain terms — that neither of their systems can be made to work \with *homebrew* sensors. So, maybe the easiest way to go would be to start with a standard model weather station — from either Davis or Acute — and have it upload the weather data to a website Then, | could design my seismic sensors and upload the data to that website as a separate process, using a microcontroller (sort of in parallel to the weather station) Any thoughts on this would certainly be appreciated. It might be doable, but I'm no expert on this. Jeff Kerner J ended up modifying an ancient but workable Heathkit weather station that a friend was about to toss out. It was a fun project. going from analog to digital. You have an ambitious project: really data fusion. ‘ike the idea of parallel treatment of data. You get more than the simple sum of the parts. You could write a simple cata feed from an Arduino to process on your Mac/PC and do some nifty ‘graphics/analyss in real time. Bryan Bergeron School of Hard Shocks When | received my May 2015 Nuts & Volts, | read it cover to cover. Continued on page 23 August 2015 WITSIVONS 7TECHKNOWLEDGEY 2015 BY JEFF ECKERT ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY Micrometer resolution of a penny taken from 1.8 R away. From Smartphone to 3D Printe: { present, if you want to create something using a 3D printer, you first generate a digital model using a software package like Blender, OpenSCAD, or even AutoCAD. However, the process eventually may be as simple as taking a photo of something using your smartphone and sending the data to the printer, thanks to a camera chip developed at the California Institute of Technology (www.caltech.edu) ting camera basically just catches pixels of it without reference to how far away an object is. The CalTech chip — called a nanophotonic coherent imager (NCI) — uses LIDAR, which illuminates the target with a laser and analyzes the reflected light to provide both distance and intensity data "By having an array of tiny LIDARs on our coherent imager, we can simultaneously image different parts of an object or a scene without the need for any mechanical movements within the imager,’ noted developer Prof. Ali Hajimir Using coherent light, it is possible to detect the pphase, frequency, and intensity of the reflected light from different points on the object, which is sufficient information to create a highly accurate 3D image. In the illustration, micrometer-scale resolution was obtained on a penny from a distance of about 1.5 ft (0.5 m) The prototype NCI consists of an array of only 16 coherent pixels, which isnt all that useful. In fact, the image of the penny was created from a seties of 4 x 4 pixel sections. Hajimiri says the current array of 16 pixels could be easily scaled up to hundreds of thousands. With these larger arrays, the imager "could be applied to a broad range of applications from very precise 3D scanning and printing, to helping driverloss ars avoid collisions, to improving motion sensitivity in superfine human machine interfaces." 8 WUTSIONS August 2015 Method for Cancelling Shockwaves Jn today's conditions of asymmetric warfare, explosive devices pose a major hazard to soldiers and equipment. Most of the damage is created by two threats: flying shrapnel and shockwaves. Shrapnel often can be handled using armor and other physical bares, but shockwaves are more dificult, to deal with. By definition, shockwaves are "traveling, discontinuities in pressure, temperature, density, and other physical qualities through a medium, and they can pass through intermediate media. However, it was recently reported that Boeing Co. (wwnw.boeing.com) has been working on a method of creating a shock-attenuating force field and, in fact, recently \was issued a patent on its "Method and system for shockwave attenuation via electromagnetic arc” (One is tempted to think in terms of a force field such as popularized in science fiction, but in reality it is more analogous to the operating principles of a noise-canceling microphone. in the Boeing concept, the system — perhaps mounted on a Humvee ~ visually detects and analyzes an explosion, then before the resulting shockwave can reach the. vehicle, creates an opposing protective shockwave. It does so by sending out laser pulses that ionize the intervening air and forms a plasma channel, The channel — Via deflection, absorption, reflection, and refraction — minimizes damage to the vehicle. There is no indication of when or if such a system will be ready for deployment, but there is no reason why it cantt ako be applied to aircraft, naval ships, and even buildings, IM llustration of shockwave attenuation system from ‘patent application.EVENTS, ADVANCES, AND NEWS COMPUTERS and NETWORKING Chromebooks Down to $149 Ithough initially scoffed at by market analysts, \Chromebook sales were up by 85 percent in 2014 and, in fact, accounted for 14 percent of the laptop market. Contributing factors include widespread adoption in K-12 schools and continuously plunging prices, The expanding market is attracting new players, one of which is Hisense USA (www.hisense-usa.com) — a more traditional vendor of televisions, refrigerators, air conditioners, dehumidifiers, etc. Hisense recently introduced a $149 unit that, according to one prominent reviewer, ‘actually isn't awiul" Low-end machines don't have many features to divell on, but it's worth mentioning that it runs on a 1.8 GHz quadcore Rockchip processor (Cortex A17), incorporates a 16 GB SSD, and features duatband 802.1 ac and Bluetooth networking. As with most et cheapo devices, the display is nothing to write home Give Your Device the Finger je'e all more or less accustomed (or at least resigned) to the standard userid/password security, procedure, Its a very bad idea to use the same login for all of your devices and websites that need to be secure, so you now have dozens of IDs and passwords — all scrawled in a notebook or on the back of an envelope somewhere because there's no way you can remember them all. An obvious solution is biometric authentication, which can be based on recognition of things like irises, ear shapes, olfactory sensing, and (most popularly) fingerprint recognition. Fingerprint scanning can be done using several technologies, with the most common being optical and capacitive (e.8., Apple's Touch ID). Unfortunately, both are subject to alitches. Issues such as temperature and humidity (which both affect the capacitance of your skin), dirt, scan WThe first venture into the Chromebook market by Hisense USA. about, but it does boot up in less than 10 seconds, and it offers two USB 2.0 ports, HDMI, and a headphone jack. Battery life is said to be "up to 8.5 h.' It’s available at a Walmart near you. angle, cuts and scrapes, and other factors can negatively, affect recognition accuracy, and if your fingers get shriveled up in the shower or ocean, they may be temporarily unrecognizable. However, Qualcomm Technologies (www.qualcomm.com) is now offering, manufacturers the 'mobile industry's first comprehensive 3D fingerprint authentication solution based on ultrasonic technology.” The Sapdragon Sense™ID 3D Fingerprint Technology is said to have some advantages over other approaches, including the ability to scan through a smartphone cover made of glass, aluminum, stainless sieel, sapphire, or plastics, and it can scan through such contaminants as sweat and hand lotion to provide more accurate identification. Additionally, the sound waves: directly penetrate the outer layers of skin to detect 3D dletails and unique fingerprint characteristics, including, ridges and sweat pores that capacitive sensors can't pick up. The result is "a highly detailed surface map of the fingerprint which is difficult to imitate or spoot” The Qualcomm system should be appearing in commercial devices later this year. wear ones] oy Qualcomm's new Snapdragon Sense technology picks up 3D details using ultrasonics. ‘August 2015 MTSIVONS 9Post comments on this article at www.nutevolts.com/index.php?/magazine Jarticle/august2015_TechKnow16. CIRCUITS and DEVICES Low(er) Priced Network Audio Player ince the 1970s, the Marantz name has been attached to high quality, equipment prized by audiophiles, and although Saul Marantz shut down the Kew Gardens, NY production facility long, ago, the brand still produces some top- Pe shana ee ie oe The Marantz NAGOO5 network audio player. ‘media are being replaced by networked audio files, one would correctly expect the company to offer some high-end network players such as the NA11S1, which is priced at a hefty $3,499 and is beyond most budgets. However, the good news is the new NA6005, will run you “only” $649. It features both WiFi and Bluetooth technology, as well as proprietary Marantz audio technologies to offer advanced connectivity and sound. performance. Through builtin Wifi or an Ethernet port, the NA6O05 connects to a home network to access Internet radio stations and streaming services like Spotify Connect®. It's also equipped with Apple's Airplay® so users can stream their iTunes® music (from a Mac or PC), as well as directly from an iPhone®, iPad®, or iPod Touch®. Users can also access local file libraries on a network attached storage (NAS) device or a computer media server, and play audio file types including WAV, WMA, MP3, and AAC. Moreover, the NA6005 can play back high resolution audio files including DSD 2.8 MH1z/5.6 MHz, FLAC 192/24, WAV 192/24, AIFF, and ALAC. Of course, youll also need to pick up a PM6005 integrated amplifier ($699) and a CD6005 CD player ($499) to complete the system. Let There Be Light Se ere ere including the widely despised CFLs, various arrangements of LEDs, and {pethaps soon) graphene bulbs. One of the latest introductions is the Hue Go lamp from Royal Philips (www.usa.philips.com). At frst glance, a portable lamp seems pretty mundane, but it won an iF International Forum Design award and features five new patented light effects that ‘enrich special moments." It also offers interaction with more than 200 third-party apps. According to Philips’ Sridhar Kumaraswamy, "We envisage all lights to be connected. Put simply, lighting is now central to the Internet of Things, and ‘we see Philips Hue as the go-to lighting brand for the home." Among its attributes is portability, and the Hue Go can be used throughout the home; when unplugged from the power supply it becomes a portable centerpiece that operates for up to three hours in battery mode. The bowshaped device can be positioned in different ways, so you can use it for an intimate dinner, to light up a wall, or whatever. More interesting is that you can choose from seven different lighting effects ranging from warm white to bright daylight, or one of the five effects Hue Go: Lifestyle enhancement called cozy candle, Sunday coffee, meditation, enchanted forest, and night ‘or justa glowing bowl? adventure. With the Hue app, you can choose from more than 16 million colors. Finally, the Hue Go can provide “light notifications’ if you receive a new email or a weather alert, oF something else of interest occurs, ‘One might wonder: Is this glowing bowl a bona fide contribution to the modern lifestyle or just an overhyped reincarnation of the lava lamp? For $99.95 (US pricing yet to be announced), you can judge for yourself, 10 NUTSHOKS August 2018CIRCUITS and DEVICES continues Useless Serial Bus (Catia patent det eels created dozens of (arguably) clever Flash drives that look like something else, including sushi, guitars, cheeseburgers, and human thumbs. Most of the gadgets run the gamut from 256 MB to 16 GB, so they are functional as well as weird. Now, you can plug up an unused USB port with the USB Squirming Tentacle, which has the distinction of offering no storage at all t basically just sucks power from the port and wiggles, although the folks at Think Geek (www.thinkgeek.com) caution that ~ IH Your choice: Wiggly having been inspired by H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu deity — it ‘may summon the Elder Gods or humpy? from the depths." Maybe it offers $14.99 worth of amusement — especially at work, in airports, or in other public places. On the other hand, you may get more laughs from the USB humping dog, available from Oddity Mall (odditymall.com) for only $10.50. & INDUSTRY and the PROFESSION 3D Printed Cars? For Real? pee ene eee a Eee ee Lee envisioned by the folks at Local Motors (localmotors.com). According to the company, "Gone are the days of mega or even gigafactories that consume tremendous amounts of time and energy to fabricate products. A more sustainable, nimble, and flexible factory is on the horizon. Called microfactories, these diminutive factories drastically change how we produce large consumer goods for unique local needs." The most interesting part of it is that these microfactories are intended to produce cars. Yes, humanssize cars (and motorcycles, tricycles, and other vehicles) that actually can be driven, and are predominantly manufactured using 3D printers Impossible? Apparentiy not. They have already built one called the Strat, and every part that can be integrated into a singlematerial piece has been printed including the chassis/frame, exterior body, and many interior features. Everything else (battery, motors, wiring, etc.) has been lifted from Renault’ electric city car, the Twizy. The Strati takes 44 hours to print, but Local Motors intends to reduce that to 24 hours eventually. The process is referred to as big area additive manufacturing (BAM), which is really just 3D printing on a larger scale. The Siratiis pretty simple, sporting your choice of a 5 or 17 HP motor and an automatic single-speed transmission. ‘Top speed is about 50 mph (80 kph), with a 62 mile (100 km) range from a 3.5 hour charge. Key to the microfactory concept is that Local Motors! cars will not be produced in a large factory in Detroit or Tennessee, but in many small factories scattered across the world (hence, the ‘local part). The company intends to open 100 such facilities over the next 10 years. IF you have a desire to become an automotive tycoon in your own area, give them a call. In the meantime, feel free to interact with the website which is designed to be a "free online and physical workspace where creativity, collaboration, and design drive vehicle innovations.” Local Motors has a simple request: "Help us bring badass vehicles to life.” NW Local Motors! Strati, @ drivable 3D printed car. August 2015 MUTSIVOUS. 11WITHTIM BROWN Furnace Data Acquisition | am looking for a “dongle” that I can hook up to my furnace to collect data about running time. I have a simple running time meter {across the burner motor. This tells me the total time but not how long itis running or what time of day itran. Is there a simple low cost dataacq device with a builtin internal clock and battery? I can put a relay with contacts or a TTL level on the furnace, no problem. What | am thinking of is something that can be installed on the fumace for a month to collect data, then unplug it and insert it in a USB port, download my data from it, then use a spreadsheet to analyze any ideas. — Edward Ganshirt via email You have a great idea, Monitoring gas and oil fired furnaces is a good way to check the health of our vital heating systems and a good way save money while helping to cut pollution and energy usage. | was able to find a couple of websites that may provide the furnace runtime data logger you are looking for, and I am sure there are many more systems. See www.energytools.com/DataWatcher.him (Energy Tools runtime data watcher) or www.onsetcomp.com/ products/data-loggers/ux90-004 (HOBO on/off motor logger) for more information, FIGURE 1 Microcontroller Furnace On Time Monitor ek Diagram 12 MTSWOUS Avoust 2015 Furnace Data Acquisition ¢ Electronics Around Vehicle Fuel Tanks Mailbag Both devices have external current sensors, so you. cdo not have to break a motor wire which could cause problems when you remove the data logger. Both units are battery powered and should be able to track your furnace’ ‘operation for a heating season, and have software which can display the data graphically to make interpretation ‘easier. The down side is the unit with software will cost a couple of hundred dollars If you are into programming, you could rig up a microcontroller (e.g, Arduino, BASIC Stamp, Microchip PIC) and program it to log the on/off times, time of day, etc,, but this would involve program development — especially if you wanted graphics capability. Figure 1 is a block diagram of a microcontroller- based furnace monitor. Being able to monitor furnace runtimes could help determine the effectiveness of energy improvement projects and detect furnace problems before you are left without any heat. There are other systems which monitor temperatures, fuel flow rates, etc, but they are more expensive and require sensors to be inserted into, the furnace. Hopefully, some of our readers have experiences they ‘can share with us on their successes and failures with furnace monitoring. lectronics Around Vehicle Fuel Tanks Please explain the safety concept applied to the electrical circuits in vehicle fuel tanks. Normally, when designing electrical circuits {or application in potentially explosive environments, one of the following two approaches are employed: 1. The circuit is designed to be intrinsically safe, .e., under a ‘worst case fault condition, there can never be enough joules available to cause an explosion; or 2. The potentially hazardous electrical circuit is contained in a UL listed explosion proof box located within the potentially explosive environment. The box is designed in a manner that if potentially explosive material leaked into the box and there was an explosion, it would beQUESTIONS and ANSWERS: Post comments on this article at ‘www.nutsvolts.com/index php?/magazine/article/august2015 OA. MAILBAG Re: Burn Marks on LCD TV Screen Thanks for answering my question in the March issue of Nuts & Volts. | tured down the backlight and the brightness, and that resolved most ofthe problem. | used a snow pattern and a pixel protector, but neither worked. Probably because the image is too persistent. Thanks again. Mark Erickson, El Paso, TX ‘Mark, 1am glad I could help you. Technology today is ‘moving s0 rapidly its sometimes hard to keep up with. So, the questions of our readers are helping me to stay on top of the rapidly changing field of electronics. Re: Op-Amp Accuracy Question Thank you for the answer to my question on op- amp accuracy in the May 2015 issue. It was exactly the answer | was looking for. | will order the Analog Devices paart and test it for future use. In the past, | have found that any trimpots in the circuit are subject to temperature variations that add to the inaccuracy. ‘Also, [need to look for an app that gives me lunar planetary alignment. Thanks. Milton Milton, that is what | love about doing the Q&A — helping readers solve their electronic problems. A couple of websites for astronomy apps for the iPhone are: www. businessinsider.com/1 1-best-astronomy-apps-for- amateurs:2013-10 and www.iphoneness.com/iphone- apps/top-astronomy-applications-for-iphone/. contained and not propagate beyond the box. Obviously, with the joules potentially available in a vehicle fuel tank, the design is not intrinsically safe; nor are the electrical Circuits in the fuel tank housed in an explosion proof box. Please explain the concept employed to prevent explosions in vehicle fuel tanks. = Dennis Quinn via email If you are not a licensed electrician, you are mighty insightful into a deep, dark secret of the electrical trade. The National Fire Protection Association's National Electric Code (NEC) Article 500 classifies areas where gasoline vapors are (Division 1) o may be present (Division 2) as a Class {/Group D hazard location (there are also temperature and zone expensive and exacting: A general-purpose enclosure was made af stamped sheet metal with a simple latch, whereas, an “explosion proof” enclosure was cast aluminum with 20 or 30 bolts to close the gasketed cover, and the threaded hubs were designed for a tight seal to prevent infiltration Make up to $100 an Hour or More! Be an FCC iy LICENSED ELECTRONIC TECHNICIAN! Get your “FCC Commercial License” with our proven Home-Study Course! classifications, but | am trying to keep it simple}. So, fuel tanks would be classified as Class /Group D/ Division 1 locations when specifying the necessary safety precautions for electrical/electronic equipment. [The NEC is written to cover every conceivable situation, and is thus a very complicated volume which is for those who realy like to read and follow various circuitous paths to find a simple answer. Tota in Class Group D/ Division 1 chemical plant and our electrical installations were both + No costly school. No classes to attend. +Learn at home. Low cost! + No previous experience needed! + GUARANTEED PASS! You get your FCC License or money refunded! Your “ticket” to thousands of high paying jobs in Radio-TV, Communications, Avionics, Radar, Maritime and more. Call for FREE info kit: 800-877-8433 % : www.LicenseTraining.com COMMAND PRODUCTIONS « FCC License Training Industrial Center, 480 Gate Five Rd, PO Box 3000, Sausalito, CA 94966-3000 ‘August 2015 MTSIVOUS 13at Cy Gente een sh T corsa ote ~~ mFIGURE2 Fuel Gauge Bagram of flammable vapors which would make the panel a tiny bomb, The conduit had to be the rigid type (not EMT) and had a large number of threads to be engaged. Plus, conduit from boxes and going between walled areas had to be sealed with a material which is like a cross between concrete and grout (pity the electrician that had to pull ‘out the wiring once the sealing compound had set). You are right on target with the methods approved for ensuring, the electrical installation is explosion proof: enclosing the electrical circuits (the enclosure | just described); or be intrinsically safe, meaning the circuit does not produce enough energy during normal operation to ignite a flammable vaporair mixture. NEC Article 504.2 defines intrinsically safe devices as “Simple Apparatus: An electrical component or combination of components of simple construction with welldlefined electrical parameters that does not generate more than 1.5 volts, 100 milliamps, and 25 miliwatts, or a passive component that does not dissipate more than 1.3 Feedback Motion Control The Old Way Kangaroo 1) Bul robet The 2) Guess PID coefficients 1) Build robot 2) Press Autotune 3) Get a snack by Search internet, 5c) Read book, moi PIDcoeficent gaia 5) Decide performance’ good enough 30) Reale Rist Sig pre dapointment wh igrnccaee Kangaroo x2 Mowcets Steen Cquaimmtee _ adds self-tuning ncicaseren tity ameenrocoaniem — f€etdback to SyRen Since uk encrnca"" and Sabertooth motor DITNLTemmniowm drivers. 14 WTSIVOUS August 2005 $24. 99 —. snsionengineering.com/kangaroo watts and is compatible with the intrinsic safety of the circuit in which itis used.” For example, our plant used thermocouples on to measure temperature which produced only up to 100 millivolts. So, these Circuits were “intrinsically safe” (we still enclosed the wiring in rigid conduit for protection). We also used bubble level meters that bubbled nitrogen into storage tanks, but later switched to explosion proof capacitive meters (airliners use them) which were compatible with ‘our computer control system. ‘With me (and OSHA et al), human safety is paramount so I don’t cut corners where life and limb is concerned. | purchase commercial devices that have been repeatedly tested and approved. | know that is not what our DIY readers want to hear, but I stand firm on this issue. You have only one life, so take as many precautions as you ‘A good example of electronic devices in fuel systems are those in modern automobiles: the fuel pump and level sender. The pump is mounted in the tank with an external explosion proof motor and an impeller made of spark proof material (in case you run out of gas andi air is present, with the impeller accidentally contacting the metal in the fuel tank). The sender is mounted inside the fuel neck and uses a float activated potentiometer (variable resistor) ‘which is sealed from the fuel vapors since it operates at 12 volts (ie, not intrinsically safe). Refer to Figure 2 {for a diagram of the automotive fuel sauge system. WARNING: Our readers should NEVER develop a circuit or device for use in fuel tanks because of the inherent dangers to yourself and others (seeing the results of fuel tank fires on TV and the Internet I think of the gasoline tank as a small nuclear ‘weapon). am a licensed engineer (Chemical, Mechanical, and Electrical) with over 40 years of experience and | would not attempt to construct such a device. So, don’t any of you either. 1 don’t want to see you on the evening news as the latest catastrophe. | hope this answers your question and gives you a humongous fear of fuel system explosions. NVTHE SPIN ZONE ADVENTURES IN PROPELLER PROGRAMMING BY JON MCPHALEN Fun with Charlieplexing design and write code for. There are lots of tech conventions around the world, yet not everyone has the budget to design custom hardware. This help out. They'll build the badge — you write cool custom code for your venue. where Parallax intends to -ompletely finalized, though there are a couple LED circuits that won't change. Figure 1 is a 3D model of the preliminary design. In one section, there are six blue LEDs connected to three resistors and three 1/O pit in another section, the six LEDs of two RGB modules are similarly wired, Wait .. how do we control six LEDs with only three I/O pins? Chatlieplexing! Charlieplexing — named after its inventor, Charlie Allen is a method of LED control that takes advantage of the processor's ability to manipulate the pin sate: a pin can float (input mode); be an ‘output and low; or be ‘an output and high (the term tistate refers to the pin's ability to be in one of three states). We don't often think of the input state A: the time of this writing, the badge design is not ] FIGURE 1. Hackable badge. MLFIGURE 2. “Two LEDS. FIGURE 3. Six LEDs. 8 an output control mechanism, but its critical to the operation of Charlieplexing, Okay, then, lets start dirt easy with two LEDs (see Figure 2). Ifwe make PO high and P1 low, current will flow through D1 and light; D2 is reverse biased and will not light. I we reverse the outputs and make PO low and P1 high, D2 will light and D1 will be extinguished. Now, what if we make PO or P1 an input (ie., floating)? When this happens, the pin is disconnected from the output driver whi ‘opening a switch. Both LEDs will be extinguished, regardless of the state of the other pin, Ths is key to Charlieplexing, With this understanding, have a look at Figure 3 and the corresponding logic table in Figure 4. The circuit shows the beauty of the Charlieplex arrangement: With just three 1/O pins, we can control up to six LEDs. Getting down to the nitty-grity, using Charlieplexed connections allows us to control up tom * (n- 1) LEDs with m 1/0 pins This means four pins could control 12 LEDS, five pins could control 20, and so forth. AAs you study the table in Figure 4, youl see that one pair of outputs which is ‘connected across the target LED is set to high (H) and low (U, while the third output is set to the input/floating state (X); ‘August 2015 MISEVOUS. 15,Post comments on this article and find any associated files and/or downloads at wwrw.nutsvolts.com/index.php?/magazine/article/august2016_SpinZone. ITEM DESCRIPTION SOURCE/PART# BOM. Propeller Activity Board Parallax #32910 Circuit Overlay Board Parallax #32999 RIR3 47 Ohm Mouser #299-47-RC D1..06 Green, 5mm Mouser #604-WP7113GD this allows us to control the designated LED. Yes, this means that we can only activate one at atime, and for many applications this is fine. For a 1-ofN project, we dont need any special code, just a method to handle which LED is active: pub sot_cp_ledin} aira[cr2..ceo) := 4000 a outa[CP2..cP0) := $002 dira(cez..cpo) := 8012 1 outa(cr2..ceo) := $010 dira[ce2..cpo) := £012 A outa[ce2..ceo} := $002 dira[cp2..cP0) := $101 a outa[ce2..cpo} := 8100 dira[cp2..cPo) := 8101 outa(Cr2..ce0) := $010 dira[cp2..cpo) := $110 5 outa(ce2..ce0] := $100 @ira(ce2..cP0] := #110 ‘The method counts on having pin constants CPO and, CP2 defined; these are the LSB (Least Significant Bit) and MSB (Most Significant Bit) control pins of the three-pin group. At the start of the method, we set the direction bits for the group to %000 which disables all outputs. This serves two purposes: 1) It clears the LEDS in the event we ppass an invalid LED number; and 2) It prevents ghosting of LEDs when making changes from one to another. Vf you look carefully, youll see that the code in the ‘case structure directly corresponds with the control table. I's a good idea to create such a table when using Charlieplex wiring, and structure the code to follow your table. 16 NUTSHOLTS Avoust 2015 This is pretty cool, right? It is, and yet | know you're thinking, "Okay, Jon, that's great, but what happens when I want to have two LEDs on at the same time?" As my friend John B. frequently quips .. no problem, it's just a small matier of programming (SMOP). So far, we've only used Charlieplex wiring, but the software process of Charlieplexing — like its cousin, multiplexing — is more involved. What we're going to do is loop through a control value that tells us which LEDs are ‘on. For those that are on, we will light them briefly, then move to the next LED. If'we do this fast enough (greater than 50 Hz), the persistence of vision in our retinas will cause the LEDs to appear to be on at the same time. In most processors, this happens in an interrupt, and for very simple Propeller programs we might even be able to use the timer object to refresh the LEDs on a reasonably fixed schedule. To be on the sate side, however, and keep things generalpurpose, | decided to create a stand-alone object. For the object to work, the LEDs must be wired as in Figure 3 and the pin passed to the start() method is the LSB pin of the three-pin group. After that, everything else takes care of itself. Here are the start() and stop() methods for the six LED Charlieplex object: pub start (cp) stop cycleticks := (elkfreq / 300) / 6 cog i= cognew (charlie 6(cp0), @stack) + 1 return cog pub stop if (cog) cogstopicog - 1) cog i= falae ledbits = 4000000 Itis convention for the start() method to call the stop() method to ensure everything is clean before launching a cog (as we do here). The stop() method will kill the presently running cog, mark it as stopped, and clear the control value (ledbits) The start() method sets the timing for LED updates in the global (to the object) variable cycleticks. Remember that al timing in the Propeller is done in system ticks. By dividing elkfreq (system ticks in one second) by 300, we set the update rate to 300 Hz. Why? In a word filed withJon "JonnyMac* McPhalen [email protected] Parallax, Ine. Propeller boards, chips, and programming tools. ‘www.parallax.com video cameras, this minimizes odd visual artifacts when things are moving. Note that we further divide the timing by six (the number of LEDs we're controlling) to ensure that all LEDs are updated at 300 Hz. The cognew call for a Spin cog requires two parameters: 1) the method that will run itn its own cog; and the hub address of an array used for the cog's stack space. As with launching PASM cogs, cognew will return - 1 (cog did not launch) to 7, which gets promoted to 0 (false, did not launch) or 1 to 8 when everything launched normally The Charlieplex process is simple enough that we can run it in a Spin cog without resorting to assembly, so long. as we keep the application clock frequency at 20 MHz or higher (more on this later). Here's the method that runs in its own cog: pri charlie 6(cp0) | cp2, t, cycle cp2 i= cp + 2 re ent repeat jpeat cycle from 0 to 5 dira[cp2..cp0] := 8000 if (edbite ¢ (1 << cycie)) case cycle 0: outalep2..cpo] := 8002 diralcp2..cpo] := 3011 a outalep2..cp0] = $020 diralep2. soit $001 101 outa [ep2. .cp0] dia ep2. .cp0) outalcp2..cp0) := 3100 diralcp2..cp0) := 3102 2010 e110 outa lep2. -cp0] diralcp2..cp0] outa(ep2..cp0] := 2100 diralep2..cpo] := 8110 eee eee This method — as the start() method did earlier — ‘expects to receive the base pin of the three-pin group as a parameter, A local variable ¢p2 is calculated for the MSB pin of the control group. Variable Cis used for timing the synchronized inner loop; this will run at the rate set by ccycleticks that was set up in the start() method. Inside the primary repeat loop, a variable called cycle iterates from 0 to 5; this is used to designate which LED. we're working with at the moment. As we did before, the control pins are defaulted to inputs to disable everything, ‘The next step is to test our control value based on cycle using a temporary mask. If the corresponding bit in fedbits, is 1, we will activate the LED. This goes on while the cog is running at a rate that fools our eyes into thinking multiple LEDs are on at the same time. To control the LEDs, we need to manipulate ledbits. Here are two methods to do that: Pub set_ledin, state) 32 (Un => 0) and (n =< 5)) if (state) ledbits |= 1 << n ledbits s= 1(2 << n) pub set_ali (bits) ledbits bits ¢ $111111 The first method allows control of a single LED. We pass the LED number (0 to 5) and a state value, where any non-zero state value is accepted as on. I the state is not 0, the corresponding bit is set to 1 (on); ifthe state is 0, the corresponding bit is set to 0 (off). For cases where we want to treat all LEDs as a single value, the set_feds() method takes care of that. Inside the demo program, there are two methods that demonstrate single- and multi-LED access. The first is — ‘you guessed it — a six output Larson scanner. It would be heresy to have a strip of LEDs and not program them to do a Larson scan, right? This one can even be configured: pub run_larson(cycles, ms) | n repeat cycles repeat n from 0 to 4 leds.set_led(n, true) ‘time pause (ms) ‘August 2015 MISEVOUS. 17FIGURE 5, Bad path, leds-set_ledin, false) repeat n from 5 to 1 lede.set_led(n, true) ‘time.pause (ms) lede-set_led(n, false) The first parameter of run_Jarson() is the number of back and forth cycles to run; the second is the delay time for each LED. For a one second cycle, the delay timing is set to 100 ms by the caller. ‘The second method is a simple counter that uses all six LEDs: pub run_counter(ms) | a repeat n from $11 all (n) ase (ns) 1 to s000000 Lede. set No, it's not terribly exciting, but it does, in fact, verify that we can have up to six LEDs [appear to] be on at the same time, There you have it: six LEDs for the cost of three pins and three resistors. There are a couple things to note FIGURE 6. Overlay PCB. 18 NUTSHOLTS August 2015 when using Charlieplexed LEDs. When using the simple circuit shown in Figure 3, the LEDs should be of the same type and forward voltage. If you're going to mix LEDs, remove the resistors shown and replace each LED with an appropriate LED/resistor combination Another thing that one must watch for is the resistor values. Have a look at Figure 5; what this lustrates is the possibility of lighting multiple LEDs under the right conditions. When we light D1 (PO high, P1 low, P2 floating), there can be a secondary path through D3 and D6 as shown, This can happen if the combined forward voltage of the LEDS is lower than the output voltage of the controller, and the resistors are so small that enough current can flow to light both LEDs — though they won't be as bright as the target LED. For my circuit, this isnt a problem because the forward voltage of each LED is about two volts; there is no way 10 light two of these LEDs in series with a 3.3V micro. That said, if 1 moved this circuit to a 5V micto, | would have to check the resistor values. Finally, | mentioned earlier that the Spin driver will run down to a clock speed of 20 MHz (PLL = 4x). We ‘can speed things up by converting the Charlieplex ‘operations to PASM; this will allow us to run all the way down to 5 MHz (PLL = 1x). This might be helpful when using the Charlieplex circuit in a battery powered application, Ie included a duplicate of the demo code which uses the PASM version at the article link. Those of you that are starting to make the move from Spin to PASM. wil find the code interesting. The PASM is very simple, and a near direct match of the Spin code. Lock It Down! If you're like me, you have solderless breadboards INFIGURE 7. Overlay on PAB.with parts in them that never come out. In my case, many of these are in the form of Propeller Activity boards (PABs). My friends at Parallax have introduced a new product that lets me keep my circuit and free up my Activity boards. It's called the Circuit Overlay Board (Figure 6}, and it’s compatible with the Activity board and the various "Boards of Education’ from Parallax. Plus, its less than six dollars! You can see the overlay board in action in Figure 7. On the left is an Activity board with the Charliplexing Circuit installed. On the right is another with the same Circuit soldered into an overlay PCB (printed circuit board). Like any shield, I can pop this in and out at my leisure — the PAB breadboard is no longer locked up with a favorite circuit. To make matters even better, Parallax has released the DipTrace design files for the overlay PCB. The release of these files will facilitate — and | hope encourage — the creation of shields for the Propeller Activity board. Ive certainly got plans. Will you join me? Timer Update Every day, | seem to find another use for my timer “object (covered in the June 2015 issue) and find reasons to add features. A note from a Nuts & Volts subscriber reminded me: Let others review your code — especially the code you're really in love with. And, no, tm not ashamed to say that I'm in love with some of my code. Real men admit such things. A gentleman named Dennis Page kindly pointed out that the mark() method was unnecessarily recalculating values; these calculations take time, hence affect the speed of the method, He was absolutely right. | had been so close to the code that | looked right past this inefficiency. Thank you, Dennis, for pointing this out. The Updated object is used by the Charlieplexing demos, so do save it to your Library folder. Until next time, keep spinning and winning with the Propeller! 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For more information, contact: www.servocity.com HIGH SPEED CONDITIONED MEASUREMENTS WITH CHANNEL-to-CHANNEL ISOLATION Dn isteren coming Corporation announces the release of the SC-1608 series of USB and Ethernet data acquisition devices. The SC-1608 series features analog signal conditioning, allowing customers to easily measure voltage, thermocouple, RTD, strain, frequency, and current. Isolated analog output and solidstate relays make it an ideal platform for systems needing flexible conditioning and low cost per channel ‘The SC-1608 series is priced starting from $999. ‘There are four devices in the SC-1608 series with sample rates up t0 500 kS/s. Fach device accommodates up to eight 8B isolated analog signal conditioning modules and eight solid-state 20 WISEVOUS August 2015relay modules. Up to two isolated analog outputs are available on some models. Signal conditioning modules are sold separately Microsoft Windows software options for the SC-1608 include DAQami and TracerDAQ to display and log data, along with comprehensive support for C, C+, #, Visual Basic, and Visual Basic NET. Support is also included for DASYLab and NI LabVIEW. UL for Android provides programming support for Android devices. Open source Linux drivers are also available For more information, contact: Measurement Computing www.meedag.com HIGH SENSITIVITY CURRENT PROBES G vis Company Inc, announces the availability of the CPO30A (50 MHz) and CPO31A (100 MHz) high sensitivity current probes from Teledyne LeCroy. Providing sensitivity down to 1 mA/diy, users can now measure currents from milliamps right up to a peak current of 50 amps, all with the same probe. This represents ten times the sensitivity of previous models, and allows for more precise low current measurements on most Teledyne LeCroy oscilloscopes. When used with Teledyne LeCroy’s 12-bit resolution HOO high definition oscilloscopes, users can obtain highly accurate, low current waveforms for improved debug and analysis capabilities. The CPO30A and CPO31A probes expand the capabilities of Teledyne LeCroy current measurement products to additional applications by providing the ability to measure and analyze very low current waveforms, The probe's small jaws are designed to measure Continued on page 69 NATIONAL. RF, IN TYPE HFDF NOISE LOCATION SYSTEM "XO LOCATE NOISE IN THE HF SPECTRUM Visit www-NationaiRF.com for this ‘and other Radio Products! ‘Office: 858-565-1319, Te ae NV BOOK SPECIALS he aspen P cr re www.boxedkitamps.com Build something you'll enjoy every day. DIY HiFi Audio kits. Crore MDE8051 Trainer by Digilent Dienst A 10H Sr es SDP 8.22 rte One-Stop Shop for Mechatronic Components EXPLORE € DESIGN BUY ONLINE @ www.sdp-si.com) @ = ‘no minimum requirement De August 2015 MUMSEVOUS. 21BUILD IT YOURSELF Motion Triggered Plane Aisle MUG [ U | = By Geoff Clark rv@beamicom Post comments on this article and find any associated files and/or downloads at www.nutsvolts.com Jindex.php2imagazine/article/ ‘august2015 clark. Reading through parts catalogs is a pleasure which being a subscriber to Nuts & Volts, you can probably relate to. As | leafed through the M. P. Jones & Associates (MPJA) offerings recently, a motion sensor caught my eye because it was only $3.95. The cheapest at a major distributor is many times that. It made me think of how to automate some of my home lighting, because | am the stereotypical dad that walks the house at night snapping off lights left on by the non-electric-bill-paying residents and muttering under my breath. A few pages later was a five meter roll of blue LEDs that | noted was down to just over a dollar a foot. LEDs for illumination were unknown a few years ago, and now look. They are affordable, and you just peel off the backing and stick them anywhere. Yes! | could have cool blue strip lighting along the hallways of my home — just like the fancy ones that light up an airplane aisle in case of emergency. Plus, there’s no extra wiring for a wall switch (which everyone but myself would ignore anyway) because just walking by turns it on! 22 NUTBWVOUS. August 2015hat else would 1 MOSFET N-ohon enh Wess: sensor so it didn’t turn on during the day? No, it's built in and adjustable! A microprocessor to add a delay before turning off? No, the delay is built in and adjustable! re Sensitivity? Adjustable. five ee OMNSI5L is SOvDS, 14¥G, 3.0. 254 ROS On max x 15a x 150 = .12W Iat S0degc/W = NI degC rise Power jock depends on power supply. Commen types ore 5.5x2.imm ond §.5x2.5mm. FIGURE |. 12V LED strond Length determines amperage. 5m of thie LEDs 150 volt regulator? No, this $3.95, bargain can run off the same 12 volt supply that powers the LED strip. Speaking of which, a 12 volt, 2.5 amp supply is just $5.95 in the same catalog! Assembly Figure 1 shows how to hook everything up. The only component not available at, mpja.com is the MOSFET that drives the LED string controlled by the 3.3V “test” output of the motion sensor, Go to the supplier of your choice and use these parameters: MOSFET (obvioush), N-channel enhanced, single, through-hole (avoids soldering), continuous drain current at least 2.5A (the capacity of the power supply), drain-source breakdown voltage over 12V (select over 20V for safety), gate threshold voltage under 3V, and resistance (RDS on) less than 0.16 ohms (because we want less than ‘one watt of heating). | found 516 in stock, many under a dollar. Sort by price and start double-checking the datasheets. | used an MTPION1OEL which | don’t recommend because itis obsolete, but I had it on hand. Its RDS on is typically 0.17 ohms, so at 1.5 amps (full blue LED string), | expect 0.38 watts (W = FR) Ut rated 4-24VDC,