Blog

  • The Nice Asgard Project Part 8 - Inter IC Communications and Hacks

    cookieglitch
    Progress this week, in order to get the ZigBee devices talking to the WiFi device, a link was needed. This comes with a few options, I2C, SPI or UART. The chosen method? UART, specifically the debugging UART line. It is already setup for use, just ne...

  • Bread & Butter : 07

    HNTE
    May 28th : Home Sweet HomeOK so I did not end up getting the super productive week that I had hoped, I was sent to the middle of the desert in WA for work instead. But I am back in the real world again now so let me try and remember where I was up to...

  • The Nice Asgard Project Part 7 - Stepper Motors Work for the Frost Giants

    cookieglitch
    Another delivery this week, this time from ebay. After finding I had the wrong kind of stepper motors in stock, I acquired a spare from ebay, this time a unipolar one. Excellent, one problem however, what is on the datasheet isn't translating to real...

  • Project "code name" Part 013

    COMPACT
    24th May"Vacation here I come!!"I am just about to commence a two week holiday and unfortunately my motor control development kit and LCD displays have not arrived.This means that I will also have to work without access to my laboratory and travel li...

  • Project "code name" Part 012

    COMPACT
    22nd May"My long lost twin has just shown up on my doorstep."I have just taken delivery on my second Fraunchpad. This allows me to use both CC3000 WiFi modules concurrently thus opens Pandora's box for more possibilities.Including a backup spare if I...

  • The Nice Asgard Project Part 6 - Alternatives and How to Give Couriers De Ja Vu

    cookieglitch
    The whole CCS not finding things has been narrowed down to the machine as a whole. It either needs a holiday or a kick/complete reinstall. Not a fun task either way, so in the meantime there will be a quick switch to mspgcc. This should at least prov...

  • Project "code name" Part 012

    COMPACT
    20th May"Do you have the balls?"Here is the SimpleLink Wi-Fi CC3000 driving a low voltage plasma ball.It looks cool but not much at all is going on under the covers.All I'm doing is controlling a relay that switches the power to it.It just requires +...

  • Project "code name" Part 011

    COMPACT
    20th May"But there are alternatives.."As not to encroach on Nick's work with load cell interfaces, I have interfaced a set of digital scales in a completely different way to retain its original functionality and appearance. My scale has an ASIC ...

  • Project "code name" Part 010

    COMPACT
    19th MayJust an update...The PCB modules have been loaded and are in the process of being tested. So far every test has passed.I'm just working on the code at the moment.I shall keep you all posted. Meanwhile, someone put me on to this Kickstart...

  • The Bread & Butter : 06

    HNTE
    May 16th : Grace Tutorial as PromisedI mentioned a few weeks back how much I loved the grace tool, and I said I would make a video tutorial.. So here you go! This is the first time I have done a spoken tutorial so hope it turned out ok..It the video ...

  • The Bread & Butter : 05

    HNTE
    May 14th : Yar! Time to try and communicate with this ADS1131REF board so I can integrate it into my little group. I was looking forward to this because I could finally give my new bus pirate a go. The designers kindly left some test points avai...

  • The Nice Asgard Project Part 5 - Displays (Again)

    cookieglitch
    So it seems a bad week has gradually got worse. Out of the blue, it seems the toolchain used by CCS has disappeared (but hasn't) meaning that nothing can be compiled. While I can still write the code, there is currently no way of testing it. Rather i...

  • Project "code name" Part 009

    COMPACT
    12th MaySound AdviceHere is the PCB just off the mill.It hosts the DAC, sound buffer and output buffer.The output buffer is just an LM358 OP amp to protect the DAC. It is configured for unity gain.  Here is a dry fitting of the adapter PCBs...

  • The Bread & Butter : 04

    HNTE
    May 11th : Time Flies When You Are Having FunWow I didn't realise I had lost so much time. So this post is a bit of a catchup to show that I have not been doing completely nothing. Part of my project will involve measuring the weight of some bread an...

  • Project "code name" Part 008

    COMPACT
    10th May"Current State of the Union"The DAC has been working perfectly generating the desired waveforms and has been disconnected to make way for FRAM driver development.This is just a progress picture showing the current elements under development s...

  • Project "code name" Part 007

    COMPACT
    8th MayDisaster Strikes!This morning when I went to turn my main PC on, it didn't.Not a blip, not a sigh, not a wimper, nothing.I run full backups all the time so recovering information wasn't my primary concern.It was getting the machine up and onli...

  • Project "code name" Part 006

    COMPACT
    7th MayDAC's extremely possibleA few persons are interested with my use of a DAC so here's a quick explanation.I could have used an inbuilt timer, PWM and filter network but I decided to experiment with a DAC and some additional buffer 2Mbit (256k * ...

  • The Nice Asgard Project Part 4 - Displays

    cookieglitch
    While working on the PCB, I realised one thing. I haven't found a display yet! (Pretty useful!) There is a challenge here, the MSP430FR5739 being used does not have a built in LCD module, so any solution will have to be in software or using a differe...

  • Project "code name" Part 005

    COMPACT
    4th MayDACs the way aha aha I like it aha aha....The MSP430FR5739 does not have an inbuilt DAC so I have connected up a Texas Instruments DAC5311 8 bit SPI DAC.To do this I made an adapter PCB. Apologies for the poor picture.The DAC is so small that ...

  • The Bread & Butter : 03

    HNTE
    May 1st: A Network of MSP430sSo getting my little network was not as easy as I had hoped. Sure it is simple enough but I kept running into problems or just making very silly mistakes. In my last blog post I showed you a picture of how I would lay out...

  • The Nice Asgard Project Part 3 - PCB Adventures

    cookieglitch
    While I wait for some input on the motor control problem, its time to start piecing together the PCB for a prototype. This means breaking out EAGLE.The first challenge for this is to find the right package for the processor. Easier said than done it ...

  • Project "code name" Part 004

    COMPACT
    28th April"Bare Metal"I've laid out and milled out an interface between the appliance and the SWiFT.It's a through hole component design using a single sided PCB.Here's a picture of the copper side. Here's the component side populated all ready ...

  • The Nice Asgard Project Part 2 - The Quest For the Motor Controller

    cookieglitch
    Just a short blog today to get everyone's thoughts. Part of this project means operating a blind, although for this it will not be connected to an actual blind (Although an old drive belt and some careful use of some foamcore could make a reasonable ...

  • The Bread & Butter : 02

    HNTE
    April 25th: Fresh New BlogHere we are again, I have some new toys to play with and a few days off work so hopefully I can make some progress on my clever containers. First things first, here is a picture that will hopefully show you how my system is ...

  • Project "code name" Part 003

    COMPACT
    25th April 2012"A Minor(ity) Report"I have been working on an interface board between the SimpleLink WiFi CC3000/Fraunchpad technology (SWiFT for short) combination and existing appliances to enable them to be remotely controlled.To do this, where po...