woensdag, juli 13, 2005

Contoller V0.1

The plans for the first type of controller are made. Since special hardware might become very expensive the idea is to hack into existing sytems.
Instead of using a real time clock and processor I might as well use a digital clock and get my signal from the buzzer. That way I can easely program the system to start dispensing the food at a certain time.
The second problem is that the transport system has to run for a couple of minutes and then turn off. In my enthousiasm I bought a digital kitchen timer that can be configured up to 99 minutes and 59 seconds.
The diagram using a flip-flop was already made on paper when I realised that any small fault in the system would cause the transporter to stop working or even keep on working forever.
In case the battery of the kitchen timer went flat the sytem would start but would never got a signal to turn it off again.

That is why a version V0.2 is already in progress. It will still use a digital clock as initial trigger but more robust timer will control the motor. My first idea was to use this velleman kit but the specs show it consumes 20mA. Unless I find something to reduce that, it might become too much for my solar panels with a maximum production of 100mA (in full sunlight)

posted by Miyagi @ 9:20 p.m.