Ok, I was hoping to get just +5V to use as a supply to the radio receiver. Is that possible witout doing that whole mod thing? Although it should be fairly easy to do what you just described. Infact on a breadboard it would be really easy (except for the fact that they put the text on the underside, hmm I should make some sort of break out label).

And what is that pin? VCC, from what I can understand "common collector" would be the input pin if I were to draw power from an external source other than the USB-connection.

I picked it up because Tom Igoe uses it (the previous version) extensively in the book "Making things talk" And I've already had some fun talking wirelessly with my arduino. That is until I "let the magic smoke out" of my radio receiver.

I know this is the wrong forum for this question. But since it's quite related and you guys are awesome I hope you folks won't mind.

The question in question:
I recently bought this FTDI breakout board from sparkfun.
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=718
And according to their site you are supposed to get 3.3 V output from the 3V3 pinout. Well that's no problem I do get that. But I want to use 5V. For this there is some sort of solder jumper that I'm supposed to do something with. The problem is I don't have a clue what to do. I can't find any information on their site, atleast that I understand. In their comment section on the product page someone else asked how exactly one was supposed to handle this solder jumper but so far there hasn't been any replies.

Also there is a pin called VCC that I measure +5V. But from the FTDI spec sheet this pin is not an output pin so I dare not use it.

To make this question even more legit I can tell you that my project involves an arduino, a radio transmitter, a radio receiver and a the afformentioned break out board.  8-)

@Ran Talboot
No I haven't seen the movie, but now I'm scared. Luckily I do have a load of old printer/scanner parts and I think what you just described is one of the things I have. 1 plastic strip with black marks and some sort of photo-sensor thats designed to slide along the strip.

Might be fun to finally make use of that. And it would be an achivement on my behalf if I actually figure out how something I don't even know what it is works.

Thanks alot for all the input, all really interesting ideas..
I think I'll work on the mechanical slider part first and decide what electronic solution I could use.

I'm thinking about mounting a knob on two parallell tubes that I've fixed to the wall. If that works out almost all the ideas here could be realised. I'm very fond of the DIY softpot though.

@AWOL
That might work, seems alot easier to do compared to wheels. It might look quite cool aswell if you paint everything except the know in the same colour as the wall.

@mircho
That might also be nice, an encoder I assume rotates easier than a pot.

I'm working on a project where I need to emulate the behavior of sliding potentiometer. I say emulate because I need this baby to be big, preferably with a lenght of 0.40-1 metres. At the same time I want it to be light enough to hang on a wall.

One possible solution I had i mind was using gears connected to a normal potentiometer, but the more I think about it the more complex it seems.

The idea is to shape the "knob" out of styrofoam or some other form of plastic foam.

Any thoughts at all would be appreciated!

Thanks for all the tips. Unfortunatley those really cheap RF modules were out of stock. However I will definitley look further into both RF and Xbee communication but first of all I think I might try out if my phone can reach my desktop via bluetooth. If that works I might aswell buy the sparkfun BlueSmirf module.

REASON:
I'm about to do a mashup of the office coffee maker and an arduino. I want to get the coffee maker to tell me when it's on/off, how long it has been on, how much coffee is in the pot and how hot it is.

BASIC INFO:
All that should be fairly easy to solve but my problem is rather the communication. From my room to the kitchen it's roughly 15 metres but the only open space is a narrow hallway. In other words alot of walls to penetrate. Most our wifi users have a problem with these walls.

QUESTION:
What would be the ideal way to communicate with the arduino in this environment?

REGARDING WIFI ISSUE:
Regarding WIFI, since I do have a valid reason to do something about this, please dont refrain from suggesting it if you think it would be the best solution.

Thank you all...
I think I've learned some new words in english without knowing their swedish counterparts. Hopefully I will use the information someday. I wouldn't have used the ULN2003 for this project if I didn't read about it in a stepper motor tutorial.
 
And for the rotary softpot I think that's exactly what I want. Or the contiuous rotation potentiometer. I did write the code for an ordinary potentiometer yesterday and it works quite well. I think I'll post some pics/video soon.

From what I have read so far. The type of potentiometer macegr suggests seems better. Mainly because I still will get values from 0-1023. With a rotary encoder I can only get 24 pulses per rotation/revolution. And with my limited knowledge on how the rotary encoder works I assume I only get 24 values. More values = more colours = nicer transitions .

Also working with a potentiometer is easier since I already have that knowledge.

Hi,

I'm currently working on a mood light project. At first I thought that mixing colors with 3 potentiometers would be nice (RGB). But trying to slim line the I realized that I could what I wanted with one potentiometer, using the color circle.
However it would be nice to be able to rotate the potentiometer more than a full rotation. Are there potentiometers that can do endless rotation?

Come to think of it, I'm also interested in something similar to the iPod wheel. What kind of device is that?

Thanks, both links were quite useful.

I have no idea as to what an switching power supply is (probably something I will read up on in the future though). But the Canon Laser printer did have a 220V mains directly connected to the printer. And a part of the circuit board is labeled transformer (secondary and primary).

I've recently aquired one laser printer and one ink-jet printer/scanner that I decided to chop up for parts. Disassembling the printers was quite easy and so far I've collected:

1 DC motor
3 different stepper motors
An assortment of springs, screws, cogs and belts.
A couple IR-sensors (i think)
1 scanner head
1 laser + mirror
1 electro magnet
6 tactile pushbuttons

Theres also a couple of circuit boards with a alot of capacitors, resistors, USB-ports, relays and whatnot.

I've already tried to desolder some of the parts (the pushbuttons) but I quickly realized that it was quite hard to desolder. I know I wont be desoldering any resistors since they're to cheap to bother.

But are there any parts in particular that I should bothter trying to desolder? I'm new to electronics and well don't really know whats best for me

Thanks alot...

I realize I have alot to learn about electronics and I want you guys to know that I appreciate the time and effort you put in answering my questions here.. even though this is mainly an arduino forum.