Week 12

April 3rd. Output Devices

Group Assignment

Measure the power consumption of an output device.

Instructions

Locate an electronics lab or at least a power supply, an ammeter and a DC motor
Formulas used:
Measure the energy consumption of anoutput device
Calculate total current and compare with the power source
Verify the measurements with different voltages
We also tested with different resistances burning a few with the tests

Individual Assignment

Add an output device to a microcontroller board you've designed, and program it to do something

Outputs Schematics

Outputs Board

Description.

Soldered Piece (top)

All the components have been soldered.

Soldered (side)

The USB connector had to be soldered face up to avoid a short circuit.

Outputs Check

Before connecting into direct power, I checked with 5 Volts.

Test

The light bulb turns on and off every two seconds.

Instructions

Components needed:
Design your output PCB, I used Eagle software
Engrave, cut and drill the final piece, I used a mini mill
Solder all of the ocmponents in place
Code your test to check if your PCB works
Compile and upload
Test to your heart's content.
The basic idea is to make the base for a lamp, I decided to join it with the final project for more inofrmation go to final project
Update:
- The microntroller data sheet shows you which pin to use to program, which is VCC and which one is ground, to be able to connect it to our programmer device correctly.
- The mini mill was acting up and breaking the engraving and cutting tips, this caused for this particular PCB to take more than five tries to actually get it done.
- When I finally had a final PCB I had to solder, I messed it up a couple of times, this was one of the most frustrating weeks by far.
- The first design when tested I found out (I know, several attempts and never double checked my design) that some pins were connected. So I used cable to connect to the right pin in the microcontroller to be able to program.
- After all of this, it did not work =(, by now I've had enough of this design and was ready to start from scratch. After all of this failed attemps with this design I had no patience to actually power thorugh and correct it.
- I redesigned, recutted, resoldered and finally it worked, both designs are available for you to download, be free to find and fix the problems wih the original one.
- Funny story (or maybe not) when I was testing the light socket to discard any issues with it I actually blew up the testing PCB's capcitor because I connected it wrong. It was a scare but nobody got hurt because all safety measures were covered while testing.

Group Assignment

Instructions

Individual Assignment

Outputs Schematics

Outputs Board

Soldered Piece (top)

Soldered (side)

Outputs Check

Test

Instructions

Documents