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How have you customized your life -- electronically?
One regular poster here has designed a microcontroller-based, networked (
(remotely accessible), whole-home climate control monitoring system (heating-AC/hot h2o/heat exchangers/the whole works). Others have modified their digital toaster (I'm not mentioning names... (c: ) How has your profession (or hobby) leaked into your everyday life? What customizations or applications have you put electronics to that makes your life easier and/or more fun? -- DaveC This is an invalid return address Please reply in the news group |
How have you customized your life -- electronically?
"DaveC" wrote in message obal.net... One regular poster here has designed a microcontroller-based, networked ( (remotely accessible), whole-home climate control monitoring system (heating-AC/hot h2o/heat exchangers/the whole works). Others have modified their digital toaster (I'm not mentioning names... (c: ) How has your profession (or hobby) leaked into your everyday life? What customizations or applications have you put electronics to that makes your life easier and/or more fun? -- DaveC This is an invalid return address Please reply in the news group About the only thing I've done lately is add a large, (can't remember size) capacitor to the input of my inverter. It enables it to hold the microwave oven I use it for, barely. I recently put a set of digital transceivers in the inlaws barn, about 4 miles from the house, so they could monitor the intrusion alarm. |
How have you customized your life -- electronically?
On Fri, 20 Apr 2007 04:05:24 GMT, DaveC wrote:
One regular poster here has designed a microcontroller-based, networked ( (remotely accessible), whole-home climate control monitoring system (heating-AC/hot h2o/heat exchangers/the whole works). Others have modified their digital toaster (I'm not mentioning names... (c: ) How has your profession (or hobby) leaked into your everyday life? What customizations or applications have you put electronics to that makes your life easier and/or more fun? Working with electronics all day, I want nothing to do with it in my time off. I want all my household appliances to be as simple, dumb, reliable, and analog as possible. I'm comfortable with simple, old-gen PC applications because they work and are predictable. We push technology only in those places where it really pays off. If there's no big benefit, stick the the stuff that's known to work. John |
How have you customized your life -- electronically?
On Apr 19, 10:05 pm, DaveC wrote:
One regular poster here has designed a microcontroller-based, networked ( (remotely accessible), whole-home climate control monitoring system (heating-AC/hot h2o/heat exchangers/the whole works). Others have modified their digital toaster (I'm not mentioning names... (c: ) How has your profession (or hobby) leaked into your everyday life? What customizations or applications have you put electronics to that makes your life easier and/or more fun? Like Long Ranger, I live off-grid, and anything at my place has to be low-wattage. I'm working right now on programming devices to (1) run my 12V beer cooler only when the voltage is above some safe setpoint, say 12.2; pump the water for my indoor garden when the sensor is dry; flash the (homemade LED) rope light to indicate my shebeen is open, stuff like that. I've got a Picstart 2 and Futurlec ATTINY2313 development boards, and an ARM board from Coridium on order, not sure which one will end up being the best choice. They're all way overkill, really, but they offer the possibility of remote access which is nice. |
How have you customized your life -- electronically?
"John Larkin" wrote in message ... On Fri, 20 Apr 2007 04:05:24 GMT, DaveC wrote: One regular poster here has designed a microcontroller-based, networked ( (remotely accessible), whole-home climate control monitoring system (heating-AC/hot h2o/heat exchangers/the whole works). Others have modified their digital toaster (I'm not mentioning names... (c: ) How has your profession (or hobby) leaked into your everyday life? What customizations or applications have you put electronics to that makes your life easier and/or more fun? Working with electronics all day, I want nothing to do with it in my time off. I want all my household appliances to be as simple, dumb, reliable, and analog as possible. I'm comfortable with simple, old-gen PC applications because they work and are predictable. We push technology only in those places where it really pays off. If there's no big benefit, stick the the stuff that's known to work. John I feel the same way. Stuff that needs work at home sits for months. I have very basic stuff that does what we need and don't spend much effort at home on electronics. Leonard |
How have you customized your life -- electronically?
Leonard Caillouet wrote:
"John Larkin" wrote in message ... On Fri, 20 Apr 2007 04:05:24 GMT, DaveC wrote: One regular poster here has designed a microcontroller-based, networked ( (remotely accessible), whole-home climate control monitoring system (heating-AC/hot h2o/heat exchangers/the whole works). Others have modified their digital toaster (I'm not mentioning names... (c: ) How has your profession (or hobby) leaked into your everyday life? What customizations or applications have you put electronics to that makes your life easier and/or more fun? Working with electronics all day, I want nothing to do with it in my time off. I want all my household appliances to be as simple, dumb, reliable, and analog as possible. I'm comfortable with simple, old-gen PC applications because they work and are predictable. We push technology only in those places where it really pays off. If there's no big benefit, stick the the stuff that's known to work. John I feel the same way. Stuff that needs work at home sits for months. I have very basic stuff that does what we need and don't spend much effort at home on electronics. I rather like garage doors that don't have to be manually opened in the rain, a car that is warm to get into- first thing on a Winter's morning, to know what is in my huge freezer and what is reaching its "use by" date, to run a bath without standing over the taps and burning/freezing my hand and gets the temperature right and stays at that temperature, doorlocks that lock themselves at night - so I don't have to go and check in my jim jams, lights that switch on when needed and off when not, etc, etc... I'd much rather spend a little bit of time once than have to put up with some thing as it is, year after year after year... YMMV. -- Sue |
How have you customized your life -- electronically?
"jcomeau_ictx" wrote in message ups.com... On Apr 19, 10:05 pm, DaveC wrote: One regular poster here has designed a microcontroller-based, networked ( (remotely accessible), whole-home climate control monitoring system (heating-AC/hot h2o/heat exchangers/the whole works). Others have modified their digital toaster (I'm not mentioning names... (c: ) How has your profession (or hobby) leaked into your everyday life? What customizations or applications have you put electronics to that makes your life easier and/or more fun? Like Long Ranger, I live off-grid, and anything at my place has to be low-wattage. I'm working right now on programming devices to (1) run my 12V beer cooler only when the voltage is above some safe setpoint, say 12.2; pump the water for my indoor garden when the sensor is dry; flash the (homemade LED) rope light to indicate my shebeen is open, stuff like that. I've got a Picstart 2 and Futurlec ATTINY2313 development boards, and an ARM board from Coridium on order, not sure which one will end up being the best choice. They're all way overkill, really, but they offer the possibility of remote access which is nice. Actually, I don't live "off-grid". I use the inverter in my service van to run the oven that heats my lunch, and dinner, if I'm out late. Van is too small for a decent sized generator, and I can't bring myself to eat fast food..... |
How have you customized your life -- electronically?
On 20 Apr, 05:38, John Larkin
wrote: We push technology only in those places where it really pays off. If there's no big benefit, stick the the stuff that's known to work. John Most often the benefit is reduced manufacturing costs, but once you already own the goods those dont come into it. Marketing depts say otherwise of course. NT |
How have you customized your life -- electronically?
On 20 Apr, 05:05, DaveC wrote:
One regular poster here has designed a microcontroller-based, networked ( (remotely accessible), whole-home climate control monitoring system (heating-AC/hot h2o/heat exchangers/the whole works). Others have modified their digital toaster (I'm not mentioning names... (c: ) How has your profession (or hobby) leaked into your everyday life? What customizations or applications have you put electronics to that makes your life easier and/or more fun? The anaesthetic machine I made certainly made life easier. Not exactly an every day use thing though :) NT |
How have you customized your life -- electronically?
On Thu, 19 Apr 2007 21:38:54 -0700, John Larkin
wrote: On Fri, 20 Apr 2007 04:05:24 GMT, DaveC wrote: One regular poster here has designed a microcontroller-based, networked ( (remotely accessible), whole-home climate control monitoring system (heating-AC/hot h2o/heat exchangers/the whole works). Others have modified their digital toaster (I'm not mentioning names... (c: ) How has your profession (or hobby) leaked into your everyday life? What customizations or applications have you put electronics to that makes your life easier and/or more fun? Working with electronics all day, I want nothing to do with it in my time off. I want all my household appliances to be as simple, dumb, reliable, and analog as possible. I'm comfortable with simple, old-gen PC applications because they work and are predictable. We push technology only in those places where it really pays off. If there's no big benefit, stick the the stuff that's known to work. John I used to design and build (from components, not kits) my own audio amplifiers, but I don't have time for it anymore. The only thing I've done lately is add a "signal combiner" to my whole-house video system. This allows me to insert a different source of Channel 4 (from what comes off the cable) into my distribution amplifier. But it took TWO of the Tru-Spec SC-4's in series to get good signal without cross-mod.... _____ | |----- TO DIGITAL CABLE BOX CABLE ---| | | | |_____|----+ SPLITTER | | _____ +-|IN | _____ _______ | |-----|IN | | |---- | | | |-----| |---- GND-TERM-|4____| | | | |---- SC-4 +-|4____| | |---- | SC-4 | |---- | | |---- | | |---- CH4 FROM DIGITAL CABLE BOX ---+ |_______|---- DISTRIBUTION AMPLIFIER ...Jim Thompson -- | James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens | | Analog Innovations, Inc. | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus | | Phoenix, Arizona Voice:(480)460-2350 | | | E-mail Address at Website Fax:(480)460-2142 | Brass Rat | | http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 | America: Land of the Free, Because of the Brave |
How have you customized your life -- electronically?
DaveC wrote:
One regular poster here has designed a microcontroller-based, networked ( (remotely accessible), whole-home climate control monitoring system (heating-AC/hot h2o/heat exchangers/the whole works). Others have modified their digital toaster (I'm not mentioning names... (c: ) How has your profession (or hobby) leaked into your everyday life? What customizations or applications have you put electronics to that makes your life easier and/or more fun? Three "mandatories": Remote controlled motor driven window opener/closer for a window that is very difficult to reach, remote control for whole house fan, filters for supply to motion sensor light. (The damn thing, once installed, prevented my X-10 system from working, until I made the filter. Same thing happened when I plugged in a rechargeable tooth brush. Go figure. If you have one, drag an AM radio close to it while it's charging - lots of noise.) Why do they call it man-datory when it's the wife that makes it so? :-) Ed |
How have you customized your life -- electronically?
I rather like garage doors that don't have to be manually opened in the rain, a car that is warm to get into- first thing on a Winter's morning, to know what is in my huge freezer and what is reaching its "use by" date, to run a bath without standing over the taps and burning/freezing my hand and gets the temperature right and stays at that temperature, doorlocks that lock themselves at night - so I don't have to go and check in my jim jams, lights that switch on when needed and off when not, etc, etc... I'd much rather spend a little bit of time once than have to put up with some thing as it is, year after year after year... YMMV. I've always been in a bit of a split. On one hand I like things to be simple and elegant, I like older cars, basic appliances, that sort of thing, but on the other hand electronics, mechanics, engineering, etc is what I've always been most passionate about and I love to play with technology, new or old, and have always been attracted to fancy gadgets if only to marvel at the engineering. I can certainly do without things like cell phones, PDAs, and other junk that will be a distraction but I like modern conveniences, particularly if I've built them myself. |
How have you customized your life -- electronically?
James Sweet wrote:
I rather like garage doors that don't have to be manually opened in the rain, a car that is warm to get into- first thing on a Winter's morning, to know what is in my huge freezer and what is reaching its "use by" date, to run a bath without standing over the taps and burning/freezing my hand and gets the temperature right and stays at that temperature, doorlocks that lock themselves at night - so I don't have to go and check in my jim jams, lights that switch on when needed and off when not, etc, etc... I'd much rather spend a little bit of time once than have to put up with some thing as it is, year after year after year... YMMV. I've always been in a bit of a split. On one hand I like things to be simple and elegant, I like older cars, basic appliances, that sort of thing, but on the other hand electronics, mechanics, engineering, etc is what I've always been most passionate about and I love to play with technology, new or old, and have always been attracted to fancy gadgets if only to marvel at the engineering. I can certainly do without things like cell phones, PDAs, and other junk that will be a distraction but I like modern conveniences, particularly if I've built them myself. You need to be very careful with those modern conveniences - I hear some of the latest (Japanese) ones catch fire during the warm air dry phase... -- Sue |
How have you customized your life -- electronically?
On Thu, 19 Apr 2007 21:38:54 -0700, John Larkin
wrote: On Fri, 20 Apr 2007 04:05:24 GMT, DaveC wrote: One regular poster here has designed a microcontroller-based, networked ( (remotely accessible), whole-home climate control monitoring system (heating-AC/hot h2o/heat exchangers/the whole works). Others have modified their digital toaster (I'm not mentioning names... (c: ) How has your profession (or hobby) leaked into your everyday life? What customizations or applications have you put electronics to that makes your life easier and/or more fun? Working with electronics all day, I want nothing to do with it in my time off. I want all my household appliances to be as simple, dumb, reliable, and analog as possible. I'm comfortable with simple, old-gen PC applications because they work and are predictable. We push technology only in those places where it really pays off. If there's no big benefit, stick the the stuff that's known to work. John I'm with John on this. At home, things are very low tech.- easy to use, easy to fix. My Rolodex never needs battery replacement, erasable if entries are written in pencil, easy to add notes, and easy to install more "memory". My slide rule still works after 35 years, doesn't need batteries, and I can spill drinks on it without harming it. Much of my digital photo album stuff is manipulated by command line tools unless I need to touch-up images. Still use old DOS Orcad SDT at work because none of the GUI schematic programs are pleasant to use and SDT doesn't crash. Still use a compass, map, and occasionally an altimeter when going in the outback. Use my eyes to figure out where fish are. Technology is, many times, a PITA! --- Mark |
How have you customized your life -- electronically?
On Apr 20, 12:05 am, DaveC wrote:
One regular poster here has designed a microcontroller-based, networked ( (remotely accessible), whole-home climate control monitoring system (heating-AC/hot h2o/heat exchangers/the whole works). Others have modified their digital toaster (I'm not mentioning names... (c: ) How has your profession (or hobby) leaked into your everyday life? What customizations or applications have you put electronics to that makes your life easier and/or more fun? -- DaveC This is an invalid return address Please reply in the news group Mpffff... other than having a vintage radio and vintage stereo for every room in the house including the larger closets (not quite, but pretty close), not much. Peter Wieck Wyncote, PA |
How have you customized your life -- electronically?
qrk wrote:
Technology is, many times, a PITA! You're not supposed to sit on it! -- Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to prove it. Member of DAV #85. Michael A. Terrell Central Florida |
How have you customized your life -- electronically?
DaveC writes: How has your profession (or hobby) leaked into your everyday life? I designed a microcontroller-based, networked (remotely accessible), whole-home climate control and monitoring system (heating, AC, humidity, the whole works). Oh wait, maybe that's me you're referring to? ;-) |
How have you customized your life -- electronically?
"John Larkin" wrote in message
... On Fri, 20 Apr 2007 04:05:24 GMT, DaveC wrote: One regular poster here has designed a microcontroller-based, networked ( (remotely accessible), whole-home climate control monitoring system (heating-AC/hot h2o/heat exchangers/the whole works). Others have modified their digital toaster (I'm not mentioning names... (c: ) How has your profession (or hobby) leaked into your everyday life? What customizations or applications have you put electronics to that makes your life easier and/or more fun? Working with electronics all day, I want nothing to do with it in my time off. I want all my household appliances to be as simple, dumb, reliable, and analog as possible. I'm comfortable with simple, old-gen PC applications because they work and are predictable. We push technology only in those places where it really pays off. If there's no big benefit, stick the the stuff that's known to work. John Goodness me- no "electronic toaster" for you. I bet that you still don't have a 4 HP. 120V,15A "electronic" lawnmower as well. You, sir, are not meeting the expectations of the modern advertising world. Thanks- it is good to see common sense.-- Don Kelly remove the X to answer ---------------------------- |
How have you customized your life -- electronically?
On Sat, 21 Apr 2007 05:30:59 GMT, "Don Kelly" wrote:
"John Larkin" wrote in message .. . On Fri, 20 Apr 2007 04:05:24 GMT, DaveC wrote: One regular poster here has designed a microcontroller-based, networked ( (remotely accessible), whole-home climate control monitoring system (heating-AC/hot h2o/heat exchangers/the whole works). Others have modified their digital toaster (I'm not mentioning names... (c: ) How has your profession (or hobby) leaked into your everyday life? What customizations or applications have you put electronics to that makes your life easier and/or more fun? Working with electronics all day, I want nothing to do with it in my time off. I want all my household appliances to be as simple, dumb, reliable, and analog as possible. I'm comfortable with simple, old-gen PC applications because they work and are predictable. We push technology only in those places where it really pays off. If there's no big benefit, stick the the stuff that's known to work. John Goodness me- no "electronic toaster" for you. We do have a retro-look electronic toaster, and it often does stupid things, like refusing to stay down when it's in a weird state. The fix is to unplug it for 5 seconds or so to reset whatever bizarre state it's managed to get itself into. Mechanical toasters don't do that, and toast better too. DGMS on the states and menus of the new microwave. A proper appliance has two states: standing up, and lying on its side. I bet that you still don't have a 4 HP. 120V,15A "electronic" lawnmower as well. One of the things I like about San Francisco is the almost universal lack of lawns. And air conditioners. When I lived in New Orleans, if you didn't mow the grass twice a week, it would grow so tall the mower would bounce off. And after mowing the lawn for an hour in the sun, you *needed* the air conditioning. You, sir, are not meeting the expectations of the modern advertising world. It's weird that the prime use for billion-transistor chips and gigaflop processing turns out to be stupid, violent video games and watching NASCAR crashes on giant plasma displays. Thanks- it is good to see common sense.-- Good, simple things endure. Like me! John |
How have you customized your life -- electronically?
On Apr 21, 7:42 am, John Larkin
wrote: On Sat, 21 Apr 2007 05:30:59 GMT, "Don Kelly" wrote: "John Larkin" wrote in message .. . On Fri, 20 Apr 2007 04:05:24 GMT, DaveC wrote: One regular poster here has designed a microcontroller-based, networked ( (remotely accessible), whole-home climate control monitoring system (heating-AC/hot h2o/heat exchangers/the whole works). Others have modified their digital toaster (I'm not mentioning names... (c: ) How has your profession (or hobby) leaked into your everyday life? What customizations or applications have you put electronics to that makes your life easier and/or more fun? Working with electronics all day, I want nothing to do with it in my time off. I want all my household appliances to be as simple, dumb, reliable, and analog as possible. I'm comfortable with simple, old-gen PC applications because they work and are predictable. We push technology only in those places where it really pays off. If there's no big benefit, stick the the stuff that's known to work. John Goodness me- no "electronic toaster" for you. We do have a retro-look electronic toaster, and it often does stupid things, like refusing to stay down when it's in a weird state. The fix is to unplug it for 5 seconds or so to reset whatever bizarre state it's managed to get itself into. Mechanical toasters don't do that, and toast better too. DGMS on the states and menus of the new microwave. A proper appliance has two states: standing up, and lying on its side. I bet that you still don't have a 4 HP. 120V,15A "electronic" lawnmower as well. One of the things I like about San Francisco is the almost universal lack of lawns. And air conditioners. When I lived in New Orleans, if you didn't mow the grass twice a week, it would grow so tall the mower would bounce off. And after mowing the lawn for an hour in the sun, you *needed* the air conditioning. You, sir, are not meeting the expectations of the modern advertising world. It's weird that the prime use for billion-transistor chips and gigaflop processing turns out to be stupid, violent video games and watching NASCAR crashes on giant plasma displays. Thanks- it is good to see common sense.-- Good, simple things endure. Like me! John- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - A couple of years ago I got an electronic coffee maker as a gift. When it works right, it makes really good coffee in small amounts. However, I have had a couple of problems. Soon after I got it, I dropped the water container while filling it (it lifts off so it can be filled at the sink or wherever your best source of water is). I broke off the little check valve at the bottom, so all the water woulr just run out at once. After that was replaced, it became apparent that it is insane. There are two buttons on the device to allow a large cup or a small cup of coffee to be delivered. There is also a cleaning mode that empties the entire water container (to be activated when no coffee cartridge was in place). However, I could not be sure that the machine would do as asked, so I always had to have an extra-large joke coffee cup in the machine when making coffee. The machine sits on a storage shelf now unused, and I buy pre-mixed bottles of Starbucks' Frappacino for my home coffee needs. |
How have you customized your life -- electronically?
On Apr 19, 9:05 pm, DaveC wrote:
One regular poster here has designed a microcontroller-based, networked ( (remotely accessible), whole-home climate control monitoring system (heating-AC/hot h2o/heat exchangers/the whole works). Others have modified their digital toaster (I'm not mentioning names... (c: ) How has your profession (or hobby) leaked into your everyday life? What customizations or applications have you put electronics to that makes your life easier and/or more fun? I have installed two Radio Shack motion detector light systems, one over the garage door and one to replace the front entry light. I have an unfinished project (waiting for my next retirement, layoff, or firing) to build a PIC-based lawn sprinkler controller that will link to a PC by some means (USB, serial port, wireless) and allow me to set watering schedules by a graphical calendar program running in the PC. |
How have you customized your life -- electronically?
On 21 Apr 2007 08:31:39 -0700, Richard Henry
wrote: [snip] A couple of years ago I got an electronic coffee maker as a gift. When it works right, it makes really good coffee in small amounts. However, I have had a couple of problems. Soon after I got it, I dropped the water container while filling it (it lifts off so it can be filled at the sink or wherever your best source of water is). I broke off the little check valve at the bottom, so all the water woulr just run out at once. Klutz ?:-) After that was replaced, it became apparent that it is insane. There are two buttons on the device to allow a large cup or a small cup of coffee to be delivered. There is also a cleaning mode that empties the entire water container (to be activated when no coffee cartridge was in place). However, I could not be sure that the machine would do as asked, so I always had to have an extra-large joke coffee cup in the machine when making coffee. So you admit you're a non-technical person? I manage to use the two buttons to control five different mug sizes. I love my Keurig coffee machine. My wife prefers tea and I prefer near-espresso-strength coffee. It serves us well. The machine sits on a storage shelf now unused, and I buy pre-mixed bottles of Starbucks' Frappacino for my home coffee needs. Yeccch! ...Jim Thompson -- | James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens | | Analog Innovations, Inc. | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus | | Phoenix, Arizona Voice:(480)460-2350 | | | E-mail Address at Website Fax:(480)460-2142 | Brass Rat | | http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 | America: Land of the Free, Because of the Brave |
How have you customized your life -- electronically?
On 21 Apr 2007 08:31:39 -0700, Richard Henry
wrote: Good, simple things endure. Like me! John- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - A couple of years ago I got an electronic coffee maker as a gift. When it works right, it makes really good coffee in small amounts. However, I have had a couple of problems. Soon after I got it, I dropped the water container while filling it (it lifts off so it can be filled at the sink or wherever your best source of water is). I broke off the little check valve at the bottom, so all the water woulr just run out at once. After that was replaced, it became apparent that it is insane. There are two buttons on the device to allow a large cup or a small cup of coffee to be delivered. There is also a cleaning mode that empties the entire water container (to be activated when no coffee cartridge was in place). However, I could not be sure that the machine would do as asked, so I always had to have an extra-large joke coffee cup in the machine when making coffee. The machine sits on a storage shelf now unused, and I buy pre-mixed bottles of Starbucks' Frappacino for my home coffee needs. We have a steel kettle, a cute yellow porcelain coffee pot (I collect coffee pots) and a ceramic drip cone. With a bag of Peet's coffee and the local Hetch Hetchy water, it makes as good a cuppa as you can get anywhere in the world, which is approximately 10 times better than you can get anywhere in Britain. But there's a trick: before you put the Mellita filter into the drip cone, place a toothpick sideways in the bottom of the cone. That keeps the filter from plugging the outlet hole and it drips much faster, and faster dripping makes better coffee. After, we compost the used coffee, the filter, and the toothpick. John |
How have you customized your life -- electronically?
On 21 Apr 2007 08:37:17 -0700, Richard Henry
wrote: On Apr 19, 9:05 pm, DaveC wrote: One regular poster here has designed a microcontroller-based, networked ( (remotely accessible), whole-home climate control monitoring system (heating-AC/hot h2o/heat exchangers/the whole works). Others have modified their digital toaster (I'm not mentioning names... (c: ) How has your profession (or hobby) leaked into your everyday life? What customizations or applications have you put electronics to that makes your life easier and/or more fun? I have installed two Radio Shack motion detector light systems, one over the garage door and one to replace the front entry light. I have an unfinished project (waiting for my next retirement, layoff, or firing) to build a PIC-based lawn sprinkler controller that will link to a PC by some means (USB, serial port, wireless) and allow me to set watering schedules by a graphical calendar program running in the PC. Our garden has a drip system with one 24 volt solenoid valve wired to a hand-twist mechanical timer switch. It takes about 400 milliseconds to give it a twist and get it going; twist harder if you want more water. No programming, and it's been absolutely reliable for about 10 years now. John |
How have you customized your life -- electronically?
On Apr 21, 9:53 am, Jim Thompson To-Email-Use-The-Envelope-I...@My-
Web-Site.com wrote: On 21 Apr 2007 08:31:39 -0700, Richard Henry wrote: [snip] A couple of years ago I got an electronic coffee maker as a gift. When it works right, it makes really good coffee in small amounts. However, I have had a couple of problems. Soon after I got it, I dropped the water container while filling it (it lifts off so it can be filled at the sink or wherever your best source of water is). I broke off the little check valve at the bottom, so all the water woulr just run out at once. Klutz ?:-) After that was replaced, it became apparent that it is insane. There are two buttons on the device to allow a large cup or a small cup of coffee to be delivered. There is also a cleaning mode that empties the entire water container (to be activated when no coffee cartridge was in place). However, I could not be sure that the machine would do as asked, so I always had to have an extra-large joke coffee cup in the machine when making coffee. So you admit you're a non-technical person? I manage to use the two buttons to control five different mug sizes. I love my Keurig coffee machine. My wife prefers tea and I prefer near-espresso-strength coffee. It serves us well. The machine sits on a storage shelf now unused, and I buy pre-mixed bottles of Starbucks' Frappacino for my home coffee needs. Yeccch! Mine is not a Keurig. Maybe I'll look for one. |
How have you customized your life -- electronically?
On Apr 21, 10:09 am, John Larkin
wrote: On 21 Apr 2007 08:37:17 -0700, Richard Henry wrote: On Apr 19, 9:05 pm, DaveC wrote: One regular poster here has designed a microcontroller-based, networked ( (remotely accessible), whole-home climate control monitoring system (heating-AC/hot h2o/heat exchangers/the whole works). Others have modified their digital toaster (I'm not mentioning names... (c: ) How has your profession (or hobby) leaked into your everyday life? What customizations or applications have you put electronics to that makes your life easier and/or more fun? I have installed two Radio Shack motion detector light systems, one over the garage door and one to replace the front entry light. I have an unfinished project (waiting for my next retirement, layoff, or firing) to build a PIC-based lawn sprinkler controller that will link to a PC by some means (USB, serial port, wireless) and allow me to set watering schedules by a graphical calendar program running in the PC. Our garden has a drip system with one 24 volt solenoid valve wired to a hand-twist mechanical timer switch. It takes about 400 milliseconds to give it a twist and get it going; twist harder if you want more water. No programming, and it's been absolutely reliable for about 10 years now. John- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - My "new" (it replaced the 2 80's-vintage 6-station controllers that came with the house and never worked reliably) 12-station controller is now in the "Off" position, where it will be for about a week since we are having a rainy weekend. |
How have you customized your life -- electronically?
On 21 Apr 2007 10:58:40 -0700, Richard Henry
wrote: On Apr 21, 9:53 am, Jim Thompson To-Email-Use-The-Envelope-I...@My- Web-Site.com wrote: On 21 Apr 2007 08:31:39 -0700, Richard Henry wrote: [snip] A couple of years ago I got an electronic coffee maker as a gift. When it works right, it makes really good coffee in small amounts. However, I have had a couple of problems. Soon after I got it, I dropped the water container while filling it (it lifts off so it can be filled at the sink or wherever your best source of water is). I broke off the little check valve at the bottom, so all the water woulr just run out at once. Klutz ?:-) After that was replaced, it became apparent that it is insane. There are two buttons on the device to allow a large cup or a small cup of coffee to be delivered. There is also a cleaning mode that empties the entire water container (to be activated when no coffee cartridge was in place). However, I could not be sure that the machine would do as asked, so I always had to have an extra-large joke coffee cup in the machine when making coffee. So you admit you're a non-technical person? I manage to use the two buttons to control five different mug sizes. I love my Keurig coffee machine. My wife prefers tea and I prefer near-espresso-strength coffee. It serves us well. The machine sits on a storage shelf now unused, and I buy pre-mixed bottles of Starbucks' Frappacino for my home coffee needs. Yeccch! Mine is not a Keurig. Maybe I'll look for one. There's a newer version than mine, with _3_ cup size buttons. Keurig is a "K-cup" cartridge-type of machine. There are other brands that use paper-enclosed coffee inserts. These dry out quickly, losing flavor. ...Jim Thompson -- | James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens | | Analog Innovations, Inc. | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus | | Phoenix, Arizona Voice:(480)460-2350 | | | E-mail Address at Website Fax:(480)460-2142 | Brass Rat | | http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 | America: Land of the Free, Because of the Brave |
How have you customized your life -- electronically?
On Fri, 20 Apr 2007 04:05:24 GMT, DaveC wrote:
One regular poster here has designed a microcontroller-based, networked ( (remotely accessible), whole-home climate control monitoring system (heating-AC/hot h2o/heat exchangers/the whole works). Others have modified their digital toaster (I'm not mentioning names... (c: ) How has your profession (or hobby) leaked into your everyday life? What customizations or applications have you put electronics to that makes your life easier and/or more fun? My wife is blind. Yes, there are kitchen timers which are intended for the blind, but the one we had couldn't announce the time remaining- and you couldn't even check that you'd remembered to start it. So I made one which gives different tone of beep depending on whether you've pressed the minute, ten-minute, or hour setting button, and which speaks the time remaining when you press a button. That's one PIC, one speech-storage chip, and a CMOS D-type.Current when not running is microamps. I also made talking kitchen scales; disembowel cheap electronic scales, find a signal relating to weight, and again use a PIC and a speech storage chip. (Yes, you can get such things off the shelf.) This has been a piece of own-trumpet-blowing by an old git in the east of England. Thank you for your forbearance. -- Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens. |
How have you customized your life -- electronically?
Richard Henry wrote:
On Apr 19, 9:05 pm, DaveC wrote: One regular poster here has designed a microcontroller-based, networked ( (remotely accessible), whole-home climate control monitoring system (heating-AC/hot h2o/heat exchangers/the whole works). Others have modified their digital toaster (I'm not mentioning names... (c: ) How has your profession (or hobby) leaked into your everyday life? What customizations or applications have you put electronics to that makes your life easier and/or more fun? I have installed two Radio Shack motion detector light systems, one over the garage door and one to replace the front entry light. I have a motion sensor controlled light in my driveway, another by the back door and one in the hallway, so I don't fall while looking for a light switch at night. Being half awake while leaning on a cane in the dark, is dangerous. -- Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to prove it. Member of DAV #85. Michael A. Terrell Central Florida |
How have you customized your life -- electronically?
On Sat, 21 Apr 2007 13:22:43 -0700, John Larkin
wrote: On Sat, 21 Apr 2007 18:50:39 GMT, tersono wrote: On Fri, 20 Apr 2007 04:05:24 GMT, DaveC wrote: One regular poster here has designed a microcontroller-based, networked ( (remotely accessible), whole-home climate control monitoring system (heating-AC/hot h2o/heat exchangers/the whole works). Others have modified their digital toaster (I'm not mentioning names... (c: ) How has your profession (or hobby) leaked into your everyday life? What customizations or applications have you put electronics to that makes your life easier and/or more fun? My wife is blind. Yes, there are kitchen timers which are intended for the blind, but the one we had couldn't announce the time remaining- and you couldn't even check that you'd remembered to start it. We have a machanical twist timer. It ticks while it's running and goes DING! when it's done. You can locate it in the dark and easily feel the pointer position and get a good idea of how much time is left. In 15 years, we've never had to replace the batteries. John It's good to remind the electronics nut that there are other ways to solve problems! -- Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens. |
How have you customized your life -- electronically?
On Sat, 21 Apr 2007 18:50:39 GMT, tersono
wrote: On Fri, 20 Apr 2007 04:05:24 GMT, DaveC wrote: One regular poster here has designed a microcontroller-based, networked ( (remotely accessible), whole-home climate control monitoring system (heating-AC/hot h2o/heat exchangers/the whole works). Others have modified their digital toaster (I'm not mentioning names... (c: ) How has your profession (or hobby) leaked into your everyday life? What customizations or applications have you put electronics to that makes your life easier and/or more fun? My wife is blind. Yes, there are kitchen timers which are intended for the blind, but the one we had couldn't announce the time remaining- and you couldn't even check that you'd remembered to start it. We have a machanical twist timer. It ticks while it's running and goes DING! when it's done. You can locate it in the dark and easily feel the pointer position and get a good idea of how much time is left. In 15 years, we've never had to replace the batteries. John |
How have you customized your life -- electronically?
On Thu, 19 Apr 2007 21:38:54 -0700, John Larkin
put finger to keyboard and composed: Working with electronics all day, I want nothing to do with it in my time off. I want all my household appliances to be as simple, dumb, reliable, and analog as possible. I'm comfortable with simple, old-gen PC applications because they work and are predictable. We push technology only in those places where it really pays off. If there's no big benefit, stick the the stuff that's known to work. John I recently went shopping for a washing machine. I only saw one that didn't have a microcontroller. As an engineer I can appreciate the gadgetry, but as a tech I also understand the repair cost. No fancy electronics for me, thanks. - Franc Zabkar -- Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email. |
How have you customized your life -- electronically?
On Fri, 20 Apr 2007 04:05:24 GMT, DaveC put finger to
keyboard and composed: One regular poster here has designed a microcontroller-based, networked ( (remotely accessible), whole-home climate control monitoring system (heating-AC/hot h2o/heat exchangers/the whole works). Others have modified their digital toaster (I'm not mentioning names... (c: ) How has your profession (or hobby) leaked into your everyday life? What customizations or applications have you put electronics to that makes your life easier and/or more fun? Admittedly it's very trivial, but my most recent fun with electronics was to hack a $40 DVD player based on a Sunplus chipset. I added a USB port to it and replaced its "Tevion" banner with a photo of my own. - Franc Zabkar -- Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email. |
How have you customized your life -- electronically?
"Jim Thompson" wrote in
message ... There are other brands that use paper-enclosed coffee inserts. These dry out quickly, losing flavor. Senseo. There's also Tassimo, which is closer to a K-Cup... they're also bar-coded so that the machine "knows" what it's making -- hence the Tassimo machines can make lattes and hot chocolate (with milk) besides the water-based drinks that the Keurig can. |
How have you customized your life -- electronically?
"Franc Zabkar" wrote in message
... I recently went shopping for a washing machine. I only saw one that didn't have a microcontroller. As an engineer I can appreciate the gadgetry, but as a tech I also understand the repair cost. In theory the electronic ones should be more reliable... the traditional washing machine timer, with a bazillion little detents pressing spring-leaf switches *will* fail, it's just a question of when. In practice I wouldn't be surprised if the electronic ones weren't particularly more reliable. The fact that anyone can easily sit down and building a washing machine controller or similar in a matter of weeks now has unfortunately often made reliability something of a secondary concern to manufacturers, it would seem. |
How have you customized your life -- electronically?
On Sun, 22 Apr 2007, Joel Kolstad wrote:
"Franc Zabkar" wrote in message ... I recently went shopping for a washing machine. I only saw one that didn't have a microcontroller. As an engineer I can appreciate the gadgetry, but as a tech I also understand the repair cost. In theory the electronic ones should be more reliable... the traditional washing machine timer, with a bazillion little detents pressing spring-leaf switches *will* fail, it's just a question of when. Pretty much guaranteed that *every* washing machine will fail, given enough time, electronically-controlled or not, the prime cause of failure being vibration in the spin cycle inducing strain in the mechanical components, but electronic circuit boards are as susceptible, if not more so, to mechanical strain. Personally, having kept our vintage (100% mechanical) washing machine going FAR past it's reasonably-expected lifespan by maintenance as-and-when, seems to me that the major causes of failure/stoppage are A) Blockage of the outlet impeller by items that slip between the inner and outer drums, ie. coins from pockets, safety pins, items of jewelery, etc., and B) component fracture, ie. inner drum mounting brackets, rubber glands, and/or fractures/disintegration in the concrete damping blocks. The old cam-driven microswitch program controller has much to recommend it; it stands up to vibration reasonably well, is cheap, and the only thing that is likely to disrupt its program is contact failure (which is easily dealt with by a can of servisol/WD40) or, at an extreme, dismantling and going over the contacts with a nailfile/emeryboard. Any weak solder joint in the "electronic" equivalent, subject to the same mechanical forces, can produce an "intermittent" failure mode that can be an absolute ******* to track down, and result in many hours of fruitless investigation. All-in-all, I'd side with the "appropriate-technology" camp. If it does what you want it to do, with the minimum of fuss, then it's the right product. The more "knobs-and-whistles" there are, the more there is to go wrong. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Cheers, Pete. |
How have you customized your life -- electronically?
Hi Pete,
I think you make a good case that, if you're stuck out in the boonies somewhere, electro-mechanical washers are probably the way to go, since when they do break you'll have a pretty good shot at being able to repair them yourself. :-) Electronically controlled machines... not so much (ok, maybe not at all...). "Pete Wilcox" wrote in message news:Pine.GSO.4.60.0704231458490.4081@squire... Any weak solder joint in the "electronic" equivalent, subject to the same mechanical forces, can produce an "intermittent" failure mode that can be an absolute ******* to track down, and result in many hours of fruitless investigation. It just seems to me that with appropriate quality control and design (including isolation mounting, etc.), you should be able to design a washing machine controller board with an MTBF of, say, 100 years. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Electronically controlled washers are typiclaly a lot more water and electiricity efficient than the old "fixed cycle" designs. This might not rise to the level of "broken," (although Jim's leftist weenie greenies would disagree :-) ) but it's close enough that newer machines can be considered "valid" improvements, IMO. ---Joel |
How have you customized your life -- electronically?
"Joel Kolstad" wrote:
"Pete Wilcox" wrote in message news:Pine.GSO.4.60.0704231458490.4081@squire... Any weak solder joint in the "electronic" equivalent, subject to the same mechanical forces, can produce an "intermittent" failure mode that can be an absolute ******* to track down, and result in many hours of fruitless investigation. It just seems to me that with appropriate quality control and design (including isolation mounting, etc.), you should be able to design a washing machine controller board with an MTBF of, say, 100 years. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Electronically controlled washers are typiclaly a lot more water and electiricity efficient than the old "fixed cycle" designs. This might not rise to the level of "broken," (although Jim's leftist weenie greenies would disagree :-) ) but it's close enough that newer machines can be considered "valid" improvements, IMO. ---Joel I have a Kenmore He3t front loader, which is identical internally to the Whirlpool Neptune that was the subject of numerous class-action suits. Despite having to redesign the drain mechanism to a gravity feed, I would not trade this washer for a top load. It is so superior to a top load, I won't even consider putting my clothes in one any more. The wash job is fantastic. When it detects an unbalanced load during spin, it has a neat algorithm to spin at a low rpm which redistributes the load so it is balanced. When it spins up, you often cannot tell there is anything in the drum, it is so well balanced. When it cannot balance the load, it spins anyway. The resulting vibration shakes the floor and wakes up my neighbours, so I no can longer do laundry at night. I agree an intermittent connection can be a huge waste of time. But in this case, if there were any weakness in the solder joints or connectors, they would have fallen off long ago. So they must have pretty good quality control to ship so many and have so few failures in the controller. The forums are full of people taking about problems they are having with these machines, and I can see how a lot of them can occur. But they seem to have the connection problem solved. Regards, Mike Monett |
How have you customized your life -- electronically?
Michael A. Terrell wrote:
qrk wrote: Technology is, many times, a PITA! You're not supposed to sit on it! Oh yeah? http://www.sandman.com/intimst.html jak |
How have you customized your life -- electronically?
jakdedert wrote:
Michael A. Terrell wrote: qrk wrote: Technology is, many times, a PITA! You're not supposed to sit on it! Oh yeah? When was the last time you sat on a hot soldering iron, or the second anoode lead of a TV that was on? ;-) -- Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to prove it. Member of DAV #85. Michael A. Terrell Central Florida |
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