dremel and some sand paper thats what i normaly use though you have to be careful with the speed to melt the plastic as little as possible and then sand it to even and smooth it all out use a level to make sure its nice a squared out , well that is what i do so i dont know someone else might enlighten you better

Assuming  I have some sort of 3.3v Cmos device which I must use with other 5v devices , lets say via I2C , would i simply, very crudely , just have to drop each connection of the I2C to 3.3v and step up to  5.5v when going the other way. If for some reason i just wanted to make a level converter with separate components instead of an IC designed for that purpose, I am just trying to get an idea of what is going on in there.

I remember that giant split flap board at Penn Station new york, i loved just watching the thing do its thing , i have never come across those for sale but sounds like more work then simple leds/led displays.

that sounds pretty good. I was thinking the same thing plotting some sort of usage chart online but ive never used an Ethernet Shield  i was porbabbly going to go with a Panda board since making small server with those is a breeze. either way sounds like your well into it.

Interesting , it would be nice to be off the grid , i am  just interested in renewable energy and alternative sources , soon i will be starting my EE with a specialty in renewable energy . Just trying to get on that path. I wish i had a cabin somewhere to invest in and take advantage of this technology.

yea after some research one of these probably wont do much and i will be saving pennies compared to the hundreds ill spend but still i might get 2 or so and try it just in case one day the grid is no more then i will have the know how

I agree if you want fritzing to route a PCB from a schematic your looking at awful routing choices and many connections left unrouted  at which you will have to do it by hand having to deal with the programs poor choices . I like Sprint-layout easy to use you can make custom parts aside from the libraries it already has and saves to gerber and many other widely supported file types. also has nice options for printing if you plan to etch at home.

Hey guys i am thinking of getting one of these but i am not sure how i would go about setting it up
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SOLAR-Flexible-Roof-Panel-124-watt-UniSolar-/280722002063?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item415c55d08f#ht_1576wt_1139

It is a rollout solar panel with the following specs

Rated Power (Wp):

124W

Open Circuit Voltage (Voc):

42V

Maximum Power Voltage (Vpm):

30V

Short Circuit Current (Isc):

5.1A

Maximum Power Current (Ipm):

4.1A

I was thinking using these to chage up some large batteries and the using the batteries to power some appliances during the day, some sort of device that checks when power is below a certain point then switching the appliance to my Mains power.
Feasible?
Ive never used a solar panel before not even the little ones from radio shack.
maybe i should start there
well i have some research to do.

yes i have seen that and there is also a variation to that design

yeah i agree thanks.

like so right?

just want to make sure i have the polarity of all the diodes correct...

i think there is something fundamentally wrong
its going to be a Short because of the trace in the middle....


i think i have to move the trace from the bottom input to the middle of the 2 diodes in the middle

if you look here
http://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Standalone

it gives you a list of the basic components that you need
and you can get them at
www.mouser.com
Jameco.com

also there are some cheap clones you can buy...its all up to you.
but fi you do make your own and you do not already own an arduino then uploading a sketch will require other parts, as well as bootloading the chip etc... which can all rack up the price..

alright i get it, thanks

still need to figure out size of my caps though, after some research im still lost
looking at this
http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/powersup.htm  after going to the smoothing section
and according to the formula presented
 c = 5  x Io (output current from supply) <-- output from mains or the transformer??? if its mains then i DO NOT KNOW :?
      ___________________________
           Vs (120vAc)  X F (frequency of AC supply U.S 60hz)

so the only part  i do not know is Current of mains.. or do these value mean AFTER the transformer ,
which would be 24v @ 1.2 amps