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76
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Using Arduino / Networking, Protocols, and Devices / Re: Quality of RF transmitters
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on: January 08, 2013, 04:47:02 pm
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Many of the Radio controlled power points use the SC2262 / SC 2272 chips for the encoder and decoder. The protocol is very simple and easy to reverse engineer. You need to pull apart one of the power points to see what the decoder chip inside is. Some clues that help are the number of power points that can be switched from the encoder. If its 4 or less, its likley to be the above chips, but if the encoder supports more than 4 , then its a differant chip. Ive had no success reverse engineering the power points where more than 4 are supported as the manufacturer rubs the numbers off the decoder chip, and the protocol is very complex.
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79
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Using Arduino / Motors, Mechanics, and Power / Re: Dummy load on ATX power supply
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on: January 05, 2013, 04:38:43 pm
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ATX supply needs a minimum load on its output to regulate. If you dont have a load, the output voltages will rise above their nominal values. Depending on what the switcher chip in the supply is , the supply can shut itself down if the output voltage goes high. Depending on the power rating of the supply, you will have to experiment to find out what minimum load is needed.
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80
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Using Arduino / Project Guidance / Re: Long-life Battery Powered Project
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on: January 04, 2013, 02:51:44 am
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The Solar Idea is OK, but just use rechargeable NIMH batteries instead of Lithium Ions. NIMH batteries can withstand overcharging without damage provided that the charge current is C/20 or less. Using 6 AA 2500 mah batteries will provide between 7.2 and 8.4 V which is just enough for the 5V regulator on the Arduino board. If you want plenty of battery reserve for cloudy days , then use C size nimh batteries.
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81
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Using Arduino / Project Guidance / Re: RC Battery voltages with ATTiny and nano
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on: January 02, 2013, 10:44:56 pm
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What exactly are you trying to do? Most LIPO battery chargers for more than one cell need some kind of balancing capability to ensure that each cells voltage remains the same as the battery is charged. This involves not only monitoring the individual cell voltage, but also controlling the current thru each cell. Whilst this may sound easy to do its anything but easy, due to the multiple voltages and currents that have to be individually controlled. As a result , there are dedicated LIPO battery balancing ICs, which do all the hard work for you. Something like this http://www.intersil.com/content/dam/Intersil/documents/fn82/fn8246.pdfTexas Instruments and Maxim also make LIPO battery balancers.
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86
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Using Arduino / Microcontrollers / Re: Connecting Arduino to PIC
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on: December 26, 2012, 11:15:44 pm
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What exactly is the PIC supposed to do. You have set Port A and Port E to inputs. Are you setting all the pins of Port A and Port E to some combination of logic levels. The code seems to need a combination of logic to make something happen. If you set pins to input, then you must connect either a 1 or a 0 to all the pins, or enable pullups ,otherwise they will float and give erratic results.
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88
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Using Arduino / Project Guidance / Re: Arduino Solar MPPT battery charger
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on: December 26, 2012, 07:16:33 pm
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Ive made a number of MPPT solar chargers, and you have the right idea with the various voltages and charge currents. The practical problem that arises is that the input power to the charger varies over the course of the day and may vary rapidly as clouds move over the solar panels so the tracker will be trying to maximise the power into the battery all the time. Its quite possible that there simply wont be enough power available to provide the bulk charging and equalizing currents when you want them, so you have to keep track of how much power was available to provide the required charging when you wanted it. Is the battery that is being charged also being drained by some load, or is the Solar Charger just to keep a battery fully charged by trickle charging it.
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89
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Using Arduino / General Electronics / Re: Blown Caps in 0-30v 0-10a bench supply repair
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on: December 26, 2012, 02:46:03 am
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Id test the 2 output devices, they look like transistors, with a multimeter for collector - emitter for short circuit and if good , replace all the dead electrolytic capacitors, and turn it on with no load. If it works, a cheap fix, if not then its likley that the fault will be hard to find , unless you are really keen.
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90
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Using Arduino / General Electronics / Re: Blown Caps in 0-30v 0-10a bench supply repair
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on: December 25, 2012, 04:52:07 pm
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Unless the PS is a switchmode type , and most arnt , it will simply be a transformer, rectifier bridge, and some kind of linear regulator, using either transistors or Fets, most likley transistors. Easy to fix. The only expensive bit is the transformer , and that wont be damaged by incorrect volts on the output.
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