Have a question about CadSoft EAGLE?  Ask our Expert, Jorge!

dear mr. garcia well sir i have an awesome idea but i don't have the know how nor the equipment to get it done so i would like to run my idea by you and see if it can even happen and get it written down sort of a digital patent to say it was my idea first i guess anyways here's the idea i want to build a better timer i want it to be about the size of a regular wall plug in multi-outlet and i want about 10 plug in's that can be controlled indipendtantly from the other's by inter facing with a computer i think the way i worded that is right so when the buyer gets his timer home he plugs the timer into his computer and he will enter the time and date he wants the timer to be at and then he will be able to chose from a database like list of time settings for each plug in the device and be able to set the time to come on or go off up to every minute of the day and be able to set it months in advance if they so choose so they can have different plugs come on at different times then the cord they use to interface with the laptop or home computer they plug it into a wall adapter to power the device so there is the beginnings of what i think will be the only timer people that are serious about there times like i am i also want to design my own l.e.d. lights to put on the market they will have built in timers of course and a life meter that tells the person how many hours that device has been used and make them 110 / 220 i also have a few other ideas about this but let's see if you even reply to my pourly written letter but if you do read and think i could get this thing going please let me know where to start and thank you very much and have an awesome life   seanmcevers@yahoo.com

dear mr. garcia well sir i have an awesome idea but i don't have the know how nor the equipment to get it done so i would like to run my idea by you and see if it can even happen and get it written down sort of a digital patent to say it was my idea first i guess anyways here's the idea i want to build a better timer i want it to be about the size of a regular wall plug in multi-outlet and i want about 10 plug in's that can be controlled indipendtantly from the other's by inter facing with a computer i think the way i worded that is right so when the buyer gets his timer home he plugs the timer into his computer and he will enter the time and date he wants the timer to be at and then he will be able to chose from a database like list of time settings for each plug in the device and be able to set the time to come on or go off up to every minute of the day and be able to set it months in advance if they so choose so they can have different plugs come on at different times then the cord they use to interface with the laptop or home computer they plug it into a wall adapter to power the device so there is the beginnings of what i think will be the only timer people that are serious about there times like i am i also want to design my own l.e.d. lights to put on the market they will have built in timers of course and a life meter that tells the person how many hours that device has been used and make them 110 / 220 i also have a few other ideas about this but let's see if you even reply to my pourly written letter but if you do read and think i could get this thing going please let me know where to start and thank you very much and have an awesome life   seanmcevers@yahoo.com

Hi Sean,

I hope you're doing well. You've mentioned that you lack the know how

and the equipment necessary to execute the ideas you've described. I do

think they're feasible and could be produced.

The tradeoff now becomes time vs money. Do you take the time to get the

know how and the equipment, to then spend the time developing the idea,

prototyping, debugging, etc. Or do you spend the money to higher someone

to take the idea to fruition. You're the one that has to make that decision.

If you're going to get the know how yourself, I'd recommend starting

with an Arduino it's probably the shortest path to a finished solution.

Learning about Safety is also important since you'll be dealing with

110V/220V AC. This would be a very basic start, but it's only the first

crumb.

hth,

Jorge Garcia