So, I made the effort to (more or less) thoroughly vacuum the car I drive last week, and only today actually drove it somewhere. And the freaking 12V socket, which my dash cam and Bluetooth transmitter both run off of, suddenly doesn't work.
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@blunaowl replied to your post “I got myself a little toy at the bookstore this afternoon...”:
SHOW ME THE FADING TARDIS
Ask and you shall receive! This video and the photos are new, taken with my Canon Elph 170, rather than the crummy ones I took with my old iPod touch 4 way back in 2013. The text below, describing how I did it, is mostly derived from the Facebook post I wrote. I’ll put that below a read more, since it’s kind of technical electronics babble and may not be for everyone. 😅
Sherman, set the WABAC machine to summer of 2013. It was late July, and my mom and I (at the encouragement of her friend) had started watching the new Doctor Who, and we were over a season into it. On an outing, we just happened to stop at a B&N bookstore, where I saw this cute light up TARDIS, and happily bought it. It’s about 3″ tall, including the light, and 1.5″ on a side:
This is with the white LED, of course; the blue one looked MUCH more out of place.
I was initially disappointed to discover that its illumination was a) with a blue LED, and b) static, either on or off with the switch on the bottom. So I opened it up and, finding a sufficient amount of extra space inside, started planning a hack.
I didn’t actually get around to serious planning until a month later, when I figured out how I might build an LED “fading” circuit with minimal component and power requirements. So I did a Google search for circuit ideas, and what I came up with was this simple 555 timer circuit:
Yes, I drew this. One of the perks of growing up with an EE is learning electronics and schematic drawing.
Besides the ever-useful 555 chip, only a few other components were needed: a capacitor to store charge (which helps create the “fading” effect); a potentiometer (variable resistor), to adjust the frequency (the speed of the fading); a general-purpose transistor; and another resistor for the LED (the blue LED came with one connected near the switch, I think, but I used a different value). Finding all of these parts, except one, didn’t even require leaving the house (yet another perk of living with an EE), but I did have to find a 3 mm white LED. (At Fry's, probably.) This is the finished circuit, which I put together that Labor Day weekend:
The part number is vague, but the chip is definitely a Philips/Signetics NE555. It was a numbering scheme often used by Hewlett-Packard for outsourced parts, so this was probably among the old parts salvaged by my dad from his work.
Assembling and soldering the circuit took me several hours, mostly because I am a perfectionist was being careful to not make mistakes. Then there was the difficulties I had with the battery—or rather, batteries. The toy TARDIS came with a single CR1632 3-volt lithium cell, with a metal contact on the side for the (+) and on the bottom for the (-). To operate the 555 and LED, I needed at least 5 volts; the simplest solution to this was to use two CR1616 3-volt cells in series. The problem was that the tab on the side (for the + terminal) would contact both batteries, making a parallel circuit. So, I had to fabricate a new terminal that goes over the top of the cells, without touching the sides:
It looks crude, but it works. Someone on FB suggested that I add a sound chip, but I wouldn't know what kind, and don't know if there's enough juice in 2 coin cells to run it... 😅
So, my dad's brother recently passed away. And among the things left behind, in storage, was this Commodore PET computer. It looked a lot worse than this, covered in dust and dirt. So I spent 3 hours today cleaning it up, knowing that my dad wouldn't have.
We don't know yet if the computer is functional - it's unlikely - but my dad and I will do our best to try and get it working.
You know, looking at the case fans that I have now... If I got some green LEDs of the right color green, and figured out how to yank the blue LEDs out of these fans, I wouldn't need to buy any new fans at all! 🤔
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It seems absurd that my computer mouse, which is only 6 months old, would have the switch for the left mouse button wearing out. (Especially considering my previous mouse lasted for *7 years*.) So here I am with a packet of new switches, ready to replace it rather than buy a new mouse AGAIN. Geez.
Yes, indeed! It’ll be a lot like this one, except a bit bigger and with built-in sound. (@kalikoke building that was what inspired me to build one, based on this. I’ve been chatting with her about my progress, which is slow because of school-related priorities.)
Whoops... sorry about that. I meant to come back after dinner and answer asks, but got carried away working on my PiGRRL Zero project. By the time I’d had enough of sitting in front of a soldering iron for the night, it was laaaate. So I’ll answer asks tomorrow. 😅