Pyro System version 4 full video is coming soon!
Pyro System version 4 full video is coming soon!
1: VCC 5.05V2: pulled low if switch is back (off)3: pulled low if switch is forward (ABS mode)4: icsp, not used in circuit5: heater pwm 1khz active high6: 2.5V reference for adc7: rear switch8: fan pwm 200Hz 20% duty9: extruder active low (high = backward)10: red led active low11: green led active low12: blue led active low13: extruder forwards active high 600Hz 50% fast 20% slow14: front switch15: hot end temperature. lower=hotter. pla = 1.51V, abs = 1.24V16: ground
With all those identified I could safely remove the stock microcontroller and install a new one. I chose to use the PIC16F1579 in a QFN package, and mounted it upside-down in the middle of the old uC pads with CA glue:
/*switch on: rise to temperatureonce up at temp, allow extruder movementfront switch is momentary forward extrudeshort retract after forward movementclick rear switch shifts between 3 speedshold rear switch backs out filament until releasedsafety timeout 3 minutesbroken thermistor detection*/
I found this Samsung Galaxy Tab S in an e-waste bin. It didn't have any visible damage, but it had been thrown away because it was dead and wouldn't charge or react at all when plugged in. My USB power meter showed it would only pull about 10mA from the USB cable.
Since this was one of the older designs with the removable back cover, I could easily open it up and directly access the battery connector. By charging the battery from a bench supply, I got it to wake up, and everything seemed to work normally except for charging. The previous owner had installed some kind of aftermarket OS on it that caused it to get stuck in a boot loop as soon as I tried to do a factory reset, so I had to spend a while figuring out how to use Odin to restore the stock OS. After that diversion it was wiped and working normally, but still unable to charge.
I couldn't find any visible signs of damage, and I could confirm that the connections to the USB port were still good - in fact the system could still detect 5V when plugged in and indicate that it was charging, but no current was actually going into the battery. It also was still able to accurately report battery charge because it was based on voltage. This meant that if I could add something to charge the cell, the whole thing could be restored without having to dig further into the real source of the failure.
I bought some nice 21700 cells and an IP5328P power bank board with the intent to build a large (24Ah) power bank. I've done lots of power bank projects in the past where I added voltage and current instrumentation and displays to be able to monitor what was happening while using the power bank, and for this new one I wanted to use a nice RGB graphical display (whereas older projects used black and white OLED displays).
When I received the boards I started doing some reverse engineering with the goal of taking my standard approach of adding in current sense resistors, voltage dividers, and INA219 power monitors to get the data I needed. After taking a look at the IC's datasheet though, I realized that all the information I wanted was available over an I2C connection, so I'd hardly have to implement any hardware at all. The I2C bus is available by connecting to some lines that are otherwise used for the indicator LEDs:
I did a bit more work on the 3d-printed housing, including some manual adjustments with dremel and 3D pen, and got the display and power bank board installed. At this stage of assembly I spent a long time writing all the graphics code to show status and data. After getting that to a point I was happy with, I welded up the cells and installed them:
Here’s version 2 of my Min/Max light – a flashlight built from scratch with the aim of having the minimum size with the maximum functions. I shared version 1 here.
This time around I designed and built this light from the ground up instead of modifying an existing light. I included every feature I could think of for a small EDC light:
and of course this includes all the functions of my previous MELD flashlights – strobes, configuration options, automatic shutdown, etc.
I managed to fit it into a final size of 51×30×17mm.
The structural parts are 3d printed in ABS. a central plastic frame holds all the electronics wrapped around the lithium battery, and there is a heatsink formed from a folded copper sheet that wraps around the right side.
To get this to fit into the smallest package possible, I put all the electronics including the emitters onto a single flexible PCB. This PCB is folded to cover 4 sides so that it can hold emitters on the front, a display on the side, switches, touch panel, laser, and charge jack on top, and a tail switch on the back.
This light does all the same stuff as my other MELD lights, with the addition of the green laser, USB charging, a third switch, and of course the color display. The the display always shows mode, LED temperature, battery charge status, drive current, and a remaining runtime estimate.
Here’s a video with details on the build process and demos of the finished light:
With a combination of 3D print and 3D pen (in ABS) I made a simple magnetic mount to attach it to my rearview mirror.
When the car powers up, it provides power to the camera (via micro USB), and the camera powers up by default. But it still required me to manually start the recording, and then to stop it and turn off the camera after turning the car off. I wanted to make this process completely automatic, so I opened the housing and probed some connections to find what I needed. Fortunately all the signals necessary were available on this one board on the top of the camera where the record button is:
Here is the firmware: https://github.com/tterev3/dash-cam-controller/blob/master/dash%20cam%20controller.c
And here is a short demo video of the whole process: