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A little project...

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Operant

Member
Joined
Jun 12, 2012
Location
US
This isn't for computers per say but it is a circuitry project nonetheless (it's more for robotics). I figure some might find it interesting and if you have any ideas or suggestions I'll happily take them. I'll update this thread as I progress through the various parts.

First up is a little housing that I whipped up this weekend. This takes in a variable voltage and outputs a clean 5V. For the technical, this uses a L7805CV voltage controller. The output has two 1uF capacitors tied to ground to stabilize any oscillation that the voltage controller could produce. I'm also using 1 electrolytic and 1 polyester capacitor because the chemistry between the two helps to further reduce any "ripple."

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Not my best solder job but I'll chalk it up to wiring a robot at the same time:
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Neater than my designs usually are :D

If you have any, I'd put a ceramic 0.1µF cap from vout to GND as well, for mopping up transients. Transients in the input voltage go right through linear regs, generally without being much changed by the experience. If you're feeling wildly excessive you could always put a Pi filter in there, that's the best thing for transient control but just a touch excessive for the most part :p

I like to use SMD ceramics and just embed them in the solder joints. You can find a ton of useful ceramic SMD caps on your friendly neighborhood dead dead hardware. Getting them off said dead hardware with a single iron can be an entertaining experience, having two irons makes it a snap though.

What's the plan for this enclosure? Looks like an Arduino Pro-Mini chilling in there :D
 
Forgot to post an update yesterday so I guess I'll add more to this one! :p

Neater than my designs usually are :D

If you have any, I'd put a ceramic 0.1µF cap from vout to GND as well, for mopping up transients. Transients in the input voltage go right through linear regs, generally without being much changed by the experience. If you're feeling wildly excessive you could always put a Pi filter in there, that's the best thing for transient control but just a touch excessive for the most part :p

I like to use SMD ceramics and just embed them in the solder joints. You can find a ton of useful ceramic SMD caps on your friendly neighborhood dead dead hardware. Getting them off said dead hardware with a single iron can be an entertaining experience, having two irons makes it a snap though.

What's the plan for this enclosure? Looks like an Arduino Pro-Mini chilling in there :D

Failed a bit in the first post so I'll correct a few things first. I'm in fact using a 0.1uF polyester capacitor along with a 1uF electrolytic capacitor for the transients. Unfortunately, we didn't have any 0.1uF ceramic capacitors which is what I initially was going to use (you would think someone as big as this company would have them...).

I also completely forgot about a Pi filter! Extremely excessive for this, but I guess it would have made things that much cooler. When I make another one of these, I might try to add it in just for fun.

As for the actual purpose...well...I can't really say yet. Soon, but not quite yet. You might be able to get some hints from the pictures below! :D

---------------Now for the update!---------------

So the first thing I needed to add to the initial box was some connectors for various bits. If you are good with google, you can see what functions the connected pins will have before even continuing with this post! :)

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With those connectors added it was time to power it on! Thankfully, it all worked with no real issues at first. However, after about 10 minutes of just looping though code, the voltage regulator began to get REALLY hot (as in almost burning me :mad: ). Not good at all. After a quick glance at the solder joints and wiring, I couldn't locate anything that could contribute to this. So I'll chalk it up to no ventilation. (oh, and this provides a massive hint as to what the purpose of this is. Though the full extent of it is yet to come.)

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--------------End of Day 2/Beginning of Day 3 Update--------------

After taking another look at the voltage regulator, I discovered that hitting it with a bit of air at regular intervals would completely remove any issues. With that in mind, I decided to add a bit more cooling to the box. The first task was to drill out inlet holes on the top cover. I'm happy with how straight they came out for simply eye-balling/free-handing them.

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To help even more with cooling, I tracked down this "awesome" thermal paste to add in (actually this stuff didn't look good at all but it seems to perform just fine). Needless to say, I'm not wasting any of the MX-4 I have. :p

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With the heatsink reattached, I bolted on a small fan we had to the top of the box/above the drilled holes. I know it can look a bit crooked in the picture, but I can assure you it is square.

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Almost finished here... For exit vents, I just used a 1/4" bit to drill 1 hole on each side right where the heatsink for the voltage regulator is.

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FINALLY! I started it up again and allowed it to run for about 15 minutes completely closed up. The heatsink was comfortably warm which is what I was hoping for.

IMG_9314.JPG

As for why I decided to make such an obnoxiously large post, I have no idea. Well, there you go. I'll probably add another update tomorrow night. I'm hoping to add another connector for programming and clean up the cuts around the existing ones. The only other thing I could do is overclock this arduino...or make a liquid cooling loop... :rofl:
 
Awesome! I saw those very strips at CES. The metal stand they were on shocked me pretty nicely when I touched it in the process of inspecting the strips. Then it shocked Dex when he poked it to see if it would shock him, too :p
I love those strips, they're fun.

I like the fan setup, that's cool.
Any size vaguely near 0.1µF ceramic would do it, though polyester is probably just as good. Neither has anything meaningful in the way of ESR, that's the general point of 'em really.

Most Arduinos will do 32MHz at 5V :D That keeps millis and delay working correctly, which is a plus. Have fun swapping the crystal out on that thing though!
 
I always love a good surprise shock. I think getting zapped by a spark plug has to be the worst along with 220v. But ANYWAYS, I just like the clear rubber package they put around the strip. It makes them a lot more robust and prevents other people from shocking themselves.

Swapping the crystal on that might be near impossible for me until I get a better soldering iron with a stabilizing stand. The slight shake in my hands wouldn't help at all with a board this small. I could try overclocking one of my Rev3 UNOs to start though. That and a Raspberry Pi :D
 
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