With that much soldering done, I decided it was time for a test run, so I hooked up the power supply, and connected it to my PC, and loaded the flash programmer. I was absolutely heartbroken when it didn’t connect, then realised I hadn’t set the PC serial port up in Memtool. After I’d done that, everything worked fine. I could connect to the bootloader on the chip, and erase the flash memory.

Woohoo!!!

~

Over the coming days, I soldered more bits and pieces down, including a couple of LEDs and a few MOSFETS. One of these, a tiny SOT23 device, is to drive a cooling fan. The idea was to use the CAPCOM unit on the XC164 to drive the MOSFET, so the fan is speed controlled. After writing a short test program, I managed to get the fan to spin at varying speeds. I’ve just tarted up the code a bit, and put upper and lower limits on the speed so that you can’t go past maximum or under minimum. The under minimum is important so that the fan doesn’t stall, but the maximum?

Well, the PWM works on two registers and a timer in the CAPCOM unit. The first register is a reload value and the second is a match value. When the timer overflows, it flips an output pin, and reloads from the reload register. This reload value is calculated to give a period of 1 millisecond. The second register is compared against the timer, but a match only flips the output pin, rather than reloading the timer. So it’s important to ensure that the flip register isn’t set past the flip and reset register, or it won’t work. You can use it to generate interrupts as well, but since I’m only bothered about the fan (and therefore the output pin), I switched the interrupts off.

The advantage of this method is that the modulation is all done in hardware. No software whatsoever, except to turn the fan on and off, and change the speed.

More tomorrow, but I have to go into work for an emergency lighting test, and it’s a 1 hour one… what a waste of time that will be. Might leave the car at the valet place.

My first attempt at a multichannel analogue controller was successful, at least from a build point. It did what I wanted it to do. However, it relied on human thought to ensure that you didn’t set up a conflict and a resulting short circuit. After burning out a few transistors, I came to the decision that DCC would be a better bet, so I’ve been busy designing a DCC controller. Retail wise, on existing solutions, I would have to spend about £250 on control hardware, and about £15 per locomotive for the clever bit.

I did some quick checking on site, and found that I could get a 5 amp H bridge for under a £10. I had already anticipated microcontrollers when I was in the USA, and purchased 3 Infineon XC164 devices. With the heart of the design decided, I set about a circuit board. This is a custom designed board, and has everything I need on a 100 x 160 board, which will slot into a standard instrument case. In total, I’ve so far spent around £150, so we’re still way under budget.

I was, originally, going to design a nice handset based around another xc164, with capacitive keys, and a 4 x 40 LCD, however, I’ve decided that to test out the whole theory, I’ll use a computer. The link between the PC and the controller board is RS232, so it would be easy to move to a custom handset in the future. The computer program is written in Visual Basic. Whilst I’m really a c / c++ programmer, its not too difficult to pick up, so I should be able to make it work.

The parts are all here, and the PCB is due next week, so I’ll be building soon

Having completed the first week of NEBOSH, I was on my way home when I saw a signpost for Jodrell Bank. Well, me being me, I had to take a look. Photo attached. Unfortunately, the place was closed, so this was about as close as I could get without breaking and entering.

Good points – A bit more money. Bad Points – A bit more responsibility.

All in all, a good balance. I’ve got several training courses to go on, one of which I had the first stint of last week – NEBOSH. All in all (and its a feeling common to the other 4 folks on the course) I think it’s rather over-intense. It’s spread over 2 one week sessions, but I think 4 one week sessions would be better. Maybe I’m worrying too much, and we’ll be fine, but there’s as much going out the over-flow as there is going into my head.

In other news, I’ve decided that there are four rooms in my house in need of decorating. The bathroom, the master bedroom, the stairwell and the lounge (in that order). I’ve been thinking of ways I can make more space in the bathroom, and the only way that’s going to happen is if I lose the bath, and install a shower. I’m not particularly bothered about losing the bath, and it would generate lots more space. Enough to put in some storage for toiletries, clean towels and so on. All in all, a better idea.

So far I’ve tried the standard browser. Its ok-ish, but seems to struggle with Facebook, which is one site I access quite frequently on the tablet.

Firefox is too slow, and apparently has issues with Flash, reloading libraries each start and won’t find bookmarks in the standard location.

Opera mobile is slightly better, as it’s much faster, and supports Flash. Their zoom function also works better too. Bookmarks are still an issue, but this could be fixed by their speed-dial feature, which I really love on my phone. Sadly, its designed for a phone screen, and therefore is limited to 9 squares about 2 inches square. Total waste of screen space on a tablet. You could easily fit 30+ decent sized buttons on there!

I also tried Dolphin, which looks to be Chrome based, but again, struggles with Facebook.  Bookmarks are not a problem (unsurprising, since Google  makes both Chrome and Android).

So, what would I like? Opera HD. Just like Opera mobile, but with a couple of UI tweaks to make the speed dial work better on a tablet, and use of standard bookmarks.

Is that too much to ask?

Lets wait and see…

Pushed a bit at the start, but kept his cool to do a pitstop overtake on Sebastian Vettel. Cruising home to the line, when it seems that Alonso had a bit more fight in him. Jenson cooly turned the wick up to keep Fernando just outside the DRS activation zone. The race is still on for the constructors championship.

Oh, and Vettel secured the drivers championship title.

Korea next week!!!

In other news, a satellite has crash landed on earth after being in orbit for a decent length of time. The orbit was at 57 degrees, so it could have crashed just about anywhere on populated Earth. Luckily it went for a swim instead.

Also, it turns out that a certain flavour of neutrinos can, in fact, travel faster than the speed of light. Well done to the guys at the LHC for working that out. When exactly are you going to find that hadron that you originally set out to find, and spent millions of pounds on equipment for?

“** SPAM ** Earn 2 SouthWest Tickets” from Ticket  Center (Blatantly American, then…) Sent 11/10/2018 11:24

Presumably as most people sort their mail by date, it ensures that the spam mail is always at the top of the list (in my spam box, which I rarely look at anyway)

Maybe it’s  because there’s no-one here to talk to. Maybe I’m stressed. Well, OK, I AM stressed. Is it work? Could be. Work is just work though. I’m usually quite good at filtering it out.

Money problems? No more than usual.

Perhaps it’s all the little things working together, or something else altogether. I wish I knew.

Someone (Tamsyn, I think) calls me a childless father. I guess I’m also a wifeless husband too, and maybe these are issues. Not easy ones to fix, those…

I’m 30 on Tuesday. I know that’s not it. It doesn’t bother me. It’s just a number. Besides, you’re as young as you feel. And I can feel pretty young if I want to.

I wish I knew what was wrong.

Notes to self…

• Never fly through Atlanta again. They have way to many storms.
• Never fly with Delta again. They hub at Atlanta.

Other than the actual traveling, a really nice week and a bit away. Saw Messrs. Gladstone, Erin, and all the people from the apartments. Hope you get well soon Whitney!