Author Archives: Jim

Cheap USB LiPo charger notes

I got a couple of cheap ($1.29) 1A USB LiPo chargers since I’m doing more and more LiPo/LiIon powered stuff.  I mostly discharged a recycled 18650 cell for a test load and it looks like it does charge at nearly … Continue reading

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Shapeoko 2 cutting tests

Now that the W88 Shapeoko 2 (graciously donated by Inventables) is mostly working, we tried some test cuts in various materials.  All were done with my old Dremel and a 1/8″ upcut end mill (WRONG: downcut; see update at end).  … Continue reading

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Current sink and starter’s gun boost converter test

Background failures I’ve had some problems getting DC power for the audio amp for the starter’s gun project.  I needed maybe 15V to get the output I needed, but didn’t want a battery voltage that high, so looked at boost … Continue reading

Posted in Miscellaneous, Rf starter's gun | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Tiny85 dev/target boards

Just a quickie, but it seems to delight me.  I finally got around to making up a little bunch of generic Tiny85 boards so I can knock out some simple projects.  They’re a lot like the I2C slave boards for … Continue reading

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Quickie 1-cell discharger

Wow – I wasn’t planning to make this.  But as I fantasized about just building a simple discharger while struggling with 1-cell problem on the big 18 cell discharge tester, it sounded too simple to resist.  I could get to … Continue reading

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Battery discharger problem with 1 cell

The big battery discharger works well (or so I thought) except for the case of testing single 1.xV cells.  It just doesn’t work – reporting 0V often.  There’s even a comment in the code dated 2/15/11 (right under the V1.3 … Continue reading

Posted in Discharge tester - PCB build | Tagged | 1 Comment

Working with recycled HDPE

This is just draft stuff – sort of so I might remember things I did.  Needs actual rewrite, pictures, more meat.  But at least I have a place to capture some efforts. It really seems like scrap HDPE – like … Continue reading

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Protected: RF Starter’s gun project status

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Car has music again!

It’s always nice when a little DIY work can save you $30,000. The 6 CD changer in the Prius wouldn’t play the other day.  I noticed a CD partially ejected and when I couldn’t get the unit to eject it, … Continue reading

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