Beginner seeks substantial advice on cool project
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Posts: 46,084
Hey everyone, my name's Brad and I am a complete beginner when it comes to the
Basic Stamp and I'm no whiz at electronics either. I am going to outline a
project that I want to build, and I am going to need a LOT of explanation and
hand-holding. I just wanted to warn you in advance.
However, I'm extremely determined and willing to take the time and effort that
is necessary to finish this project. I want the finished project, and I want to
learn how to build it myself. That, being said, if you're willing to provide
some advice - read on! This will be fairly long, but I want to be clear, so...
here we go.
This is a project for my computer. In the end, it will be a fan control device.
I have 4 fans that I would like to control. Such devices exist, such as this
one:
http://www.so-trickcomputers.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=S&\
Product_Code=MVSB1&Category_Code=FANACC
It's called a Fanbus, but I would like to take the idea further. If you looked
at the example above, you'll see that a typical fanbus controls the voltage
going to each fans by means of an adjustable knob. This is done either with a
rheostat, or a potentiometer using either a voltage regulator (like the one
above) or pulse width modulation. Another method exists, the method I want to
use, and is explained here:
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?threa\
did=365385
Now, I could build 4 of those circuits (1 for each fan I want to control) and
that would be it. I could control the voltage to each fan from 0V to 12V and
effectively control the speed (and with it noise and airflow!) of each fan by
manually turning each knob. Cool - it works.
My idea takes this a bit further. Along with controlling the knobs manually, I
would like to be able to to turn the knobs from my computer - using a motorized
potentiometer such as this one:
http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?category=470010&item=MPOT-10K\
&type=store
This potentiometer uses a simple DC motor, as I understand it. Provide 6vdc
current and the motor turns one direction; reverse the current and the motor
turns the other direction. Simple as pie (I hope!).
So, I think you can see where I am going with this - I would like to use a Basic
Stamp II to control the motor of each of 4 potentiometes through the serial port
of my computer.I would like to use a front-end program that I can code in Visual
Basic to allow me to raise and lower the voltage of each fan by moving the
motors up and down.
Is that all, you ask? No, not really. Upon thinking, I would need additional
features to be able to use the device the way I want to. So, I need to add
three more capabilities:
-Need to continually monitor the voltage going to each fan.
-Each fan has a wire connected to an RPM sensor. Need to continually monitor
this on each fan.
-Would like to be able to use and monitor up to 8 temperature sensors.
Not quite as simple anymore, but from all the reading I've been doing on the
Basic Stamp and its capabilites these past few days, it should be quite doable.
I just need a direction, advice, and hand-holding to get me to the finished
product.
Now comes the part where I humbly ask for any advice and help you could possibly
give me. I've never used a Basic Stamp before - I'm assuming that it is the
best part for the task. I will have more specific questions later, but I'm
looking for a few good men (or women!) to step up to the task of dealing with a
complete beginner and helping him finish (or start, rather!) a project that he
is determined to complete.
Time is not an issue - I can take as long as I need. I just need the knowledge
to get me there. I'm not expecting someone to plan the entire thing for me and
deliever me a finished product - I've been reading every piece of info I can get
my hands on to educate myself. But I do need advice specifically related to my
project, and I hope I can get some good help using this discussion list.
I will be happy and willing to provide answers to any questions you may have.
If you are able to and choose to help - I thank you much in advance! Hope to
hear from some of you soon!
Thanks,
-Brad Wilson
--
_______________________________________________
Get Free Email at Swirve.com, http://www.swirve.com
Basic Stamp and I'm no whiz at electronics either. I am going to outline a
project that I want to build, and I am going to need a LOT of explanation and
hand-holding. I just wanted to warn you in advance.
However, I'm extremely determined and willing to take the time and effort that
is necessary to finish this project. I want the finished project, and I want to
learn how to build it myself. That, being said, if you're willing to provide
some advice - read on! This will be fairly long, but I want to be clear, so...
here we go.
This is a project for my computer. In the end, it will be a fan control device.
I have 4 fans that I would like to control. Such devices exist, such as this
one:
http://www.so-trickcomputers.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=S&\
Product_Code=MVSB1&Category_Code=FANACC
It's called a Fanbus, but I would like to take the idea further. If you looked
at the example above, you'll see that a typical fanbus controls the voltage
going to each fans by means of an adjustable knob. This is done either with a
rheostat, or a potentiometer using either a voltage regulator (like the one
above) or pulse width modulation. Another method exists, the method I want to
use, and is explained here:
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?threa\
did=365385
Now, I could build 4 of those circuits (1 for each fan I want to control) and
that would be it. I could control the voltage to each fan from 0V to 12V and
effectively control the speed (and with it noise and airflow!) of each fan by
manually turning each knob. Cool - it works.
My idea takes this a bit further. Along with controlling the knobs manually, I
would like to be able to to turn the knobs from my computer - using a motorized
potentiometer such as this one:
http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?category=470010&item=MPOT-10K\
&type=store
This potentiometer uses a simple DC motor, as I understand it. Provide 6vdc
current and the motor turns one direction; reverse the current and the motor
turns the other direction. Simple as pie (I hope!).
So, I think you can see where I am going with this - I would like to use a Basic
Stamp II to control the motor of each of 4 potentiometes through the serial port
of my computer.I would like to use a front-end program that I can code in Visual
Basic to allow me to raise and lower the voltage of each fan by moving the
motors up and down.
Is that all, you ask? No, not really. Upon thinking, I would need additional
features to be able to use the device the way I want to. So, I need to add
three more capabilities:
-Need to continually monitor the voltage going to each fan.
-Each fan has a wire connected to an RPM sensor. Need to continually monitor
this on each fan.
-Would like to be able to use and monitor up to 8 temperature sensors.
Not quite as simple anymore, but from all the reading I've been doing on the
Basic Stamp and its capabilites these past few days, it should be quite doable.
I just need a direction, advice, and hand-holding to get me to the finished
product.
Now comes the part where I humbly ask for any advice and help you could possibly
give me. I've never used a Basic Stamp before - I'm assuming that it is the
best part for the task. I will have more specific questions later, but I'm
looking for a few good men (or women!) to step up to the task of dealing with a
complete beginner and helping him finish (or start, rather!) a project that he
is determined to complete.
Time is not an issue - I can take as long as I need. I just need the knowledge
to get me there. I'm not expecting someone to plan the entire thing for me and
deliever me a finished product - I've been reading every piece of info I can get
my hands on to educate myself. But I do need advice specifically related to my
project, and I hope I can get some good help using this discussion list.
I will be happy and willing to provide answers to any questions you may have.
If you are able to and choose to help - I thank you much in advance! Hope to
hear from some of you soon!
Thanks,
-Brad Wilson
--
_______________________________________________
Get Free Email at Swirve.com, http://www.swirve.com
Comments
With 4 fans it sure is a cool project, but is this a steerable
hovercraft? Just wondering about battery power.
Dennis
<deleted>
This is a project for my computer. In the end, it will be a fan control
device. I have 4 fans that I would like to control. Such devices
exist, such as this one:
<deleted>
Your project is a good one, and certainly doable, but perhaps may be best
done a little differently.
I suggest that first you get familiar with the Stamp of your choice, then
research each portion of your project as if it were a smaller project of
it's own. Research methods and supporting circuits as well as how you would
interface them to the stamp. As you do this you will become more familiar
with Stamps and their capabilities, which will almost always out number your
own. You will also find methods or ways of doing things that will not
consume your controller's resources and will be more eficient to control. A
good example of what you will come up with is that you'll probably want to
scrap the idea of using motorized pots, since you can do this more
effectively without moving parts. This means less cost and better control.
Stamps can do this by generating the PWM for you just add a little hardware
and voila. There are fan control chips and even products offered by some of
the regular list contributors to help you control multiple fans. Again,
perhaps first try to control one fan with a Stamp using as many methods that
you can come up with, then decide which will work best with the Stamp you
want to use and with the number of fans required.
What did Bill Murray call it? Baby steps......trying to do this as you
describe will tax the listers intensely while you burn up hours and $$.
Chris
Original Message
From: "Chris Loiacono \(E-mail\)" <chris01@t...>
Date: Thu, 4 Apr 2002 01:07:37 -0500
To: <basicstamps@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: RE: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] Beginner seeks substantial advice on cool project
> Wow!
> Your project is a good one, and certainly doable, but perhaps may be best
> done a little differently.
> I suggest that first you get familiar with the Stamp of your choice, then
> research each portion of your project as if it were a smaller project of
> it's own. Research methods and supporting circuits as well as how you would
> interface them to the stamp. As you do this you will become more familiar
> with Stamps and their capabilities, which will almost always out number your
> own. You will also find methods or ways of doing things that will not
> consume your controller's resources and will be more eficient to control. A
> good example of what you will come up with is that you'll probably want to
> scrap the idea of using motorized pots, since you can do this more
> effectively without moving parts. This means less cost and better control.
> Stamps can do this by generating the PWM for you just add a little hardware
> and voila. There are fan control chips and even products offered by some of
> the regular list contributors to help you control multiple fans. Again,
> perhaps first try to control one fan with a Stamp using as many methods that
> you can come up with, then decide which will work best with the Stamp you
> want to use and with the number of fans required.
> What did Bill Murray call it? Baby steps......trying to do this as you
> describe will tax the listers intensely while you burn up hours and $$.
>
> Chris
>
>
>
> To UNSUBSCRIBE, just send mail to:
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>
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>
>
>
--
_______________________________________________
Get Free Email at Swirve.com, http://www.swirve.com
Thanks for the input so far. To clear a couple things up - these fans are
cooling fans for my computer case that run at full speed at 12v.
As far as PWM control goes, thats a good suggestion and certainly more
efficient. However, this computer is being custom built to have the appearance
of a piece of stereo equipment - going to use it as a mp3 and divx box. The
rotating knobs on the front panel for fan control will go with the decor
perfectly!
As far as driving the motors goes, I really don't know if I can drive them
directly off of the Basic Stamp's output pins or if the pins should be used
instead to switch relays on and off.
Thanks,
-Brad Wilson
--
_______________________________________________
Get Free Email at Swirve.com, http://www.swirve.com
Although it would need an absolute encoder, wich coplicated the project [noparse]:([/noparse]
Ben
wilse <wilse@s...> wrote: Hey all -
Thanks for the input so far. To clear a couple things up - these fans are
cooling fans for my computer case that run at full speed at 12v.
As far as PWM control goes, thats a good suggestion and certainly more
efficient. However, this computer is being custom built to have the appearance
of a piece of stereo equipment - going to use it as a mp3 and divx box. The
rotating knobs on the front panel for fan control will go with the decor
perfectly!
As far as driving the motors goes, I really don't know if I can drive them
directly off of the Basic Stamp's output pins or if the pins should be used
instead to switch relays on and off.
Thanks,
-Brad Wilson
--
_______________________________________________
Get Free Email at Swirve.com, http://www.swirve.com
To UNSUBSCRIBE, just send mail to:
basicstamps-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
from the same email address that you subscribed. Text in the Subject and Body of
the message will be ignored.
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
BEN (TEAM DBR)
http://www.geocities.com/temdbr
Do You Yahoo!?
Get personalised at My Yahoo!.
[noparse][[/noparse]Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
ARE YOU LOOKING TO BUILD A CUSTOM CIRCUIT. SKIP
- In basicstamps@y..., " wilse" <wilse@s...> wrote:
> Hey all -
>
> Thanks for the input so far. To clear a couple things up - these
fans are cooling fans for my computer case that run at full speed at
12v.
>
> As far as PWM control goes, thats a good suggestion and certainly
more efficient. However, this computer is being custom built to have
the appearance of a piece of stereo equipment - going to use it as a
mp3 and divx box. The rotating knobs on the front panel for fan
control will go with the decor perfectly!
>
> As far as driving the motors goes, I really don't know if I can
drive them directly off of the Basic Stamp's output pins or if the
pins should be used instead to switch relays on and off.
>
> Thanks,
> -Brad Wilson
> --
>
> _______________________________________________
> Get Free Email at Swirve.com, http://www.swirve.com
MY ENCLOSURE OF THE CIRCUIT MAY NOT HAVE MADE IT THROUGH THE GROUP E-
MAIL SYSTEM. IF YOU E-MAIL ME DIRECTLY skip.webb@h... AND
ASK FOR THE FAN MOTOR CIRCUIT LAYOUT I WILL E-MAIL IT TO YOU. SKIP
-- In basicstamps@y..., BENS ANTS <bensrobot@y...> wrote:
>
> You can turn the handles to chage the speed too
> Although it would need an absolute encoder, wich coplicated the
project [noparse]:([/noparse]
> Ben
> wilse <wilse@s...> wrote: Hey all -
>
> Thanks for the input so far. To clear a couple things up - these
fans are cooling fans for my computer case that run at full speed at
12v.
>
> As far as PWM control goes, thats a good suggestion and certainly
more efficient. However, this computer is being custom built to have
the appearance of a piece of stereo equipment - going to use it as a
mp3 and divx box. The rotating knobs on the front panel for fan
control will go with the decor perfectly!
>
> As far as driving the motors goes, I really don't know if I can
drive them directly off of the Basic Stamp's output pins or if the
pins should be used instead to switch relays on and off.
>
> Thanks,
> -Brad Wilson
> --
>
> _______________________________________________
> Get Free Email at Swirve.com, http://www.swirve.com
>
>
>
> To UNSUBSCRIBE, just send mail to:
> basicstamps-unsubscribe@y...
> from the same email address that you subscribed. Text in the
Subject and Body of the message will be ignored.
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
>
>
> BEN (TEAM DBR)
> http://www.geocities.com/temdbr
>
>
>
>
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Get personalised at My Yahoo!.
>
> [noparse][[/noparse]Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
LCD model 633
--- In basicstamps@y..., " wilse" <wilse@s...> wrote:
> Hey everyone, my name's Brad and I am a complete beginner when it
comes to the Basic Stamp and I'm no whiz at electronics either. I am
going to outline a project that I want to build, and I am going to
need a LOT of explanation and hand-holding. I just wanted to warn you
in advance.
>
> However, I'm extremely determined and willing to take the time and
effort that is necessary to finish this project. I want the finished
project, and I want to learn how to build it myself. That, being
said, if you're willing to provide some advice - read on! This will
be fairly long, but I want to be clear, so... here we go.
>
> This is a project for my computer. In the end, it will be a fan
control device. I have 4 fans that I would like to control. Such
devices exist, such as this one:
>
> http://www.so-trickcomputers.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?
Screen=PROD&Store_Code=S&Product_Code=MVSB1&Category_Code=FANACC
>
> It's called a Fanbus, but I would like to take the idea further.
If you looked at the example above, you'll see that a typical fanbus
controls the voltage going to each fans by means of an adjustable
knob. This is done either with a rheostat, or a potentiometer using
either a voltage regulator (like the one above) or pulse width
modulation. Another method exists, the method I want to use, and is
explained here:
>
> http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?
threadid=365385
>
> Now, I could build 4 of those circuits (1 for each fan I want to
control) and that would be it. I could control the voltage to each
fan from 0V to 12V and effectively control the speed (and with it
noise and airflow!) of each fan by manually turning each knob. Cool -
it works.
>
> My idea takes this a bit further. Along with controlling the knobs
manually, I would like to be able to to turn the knobs from my
computer - using a motorized potentiometer such as this one:
>
> http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?
category=470010&item=MPOT-10K&type=store
>
> This potentiometer uses a simple DC motor, as I understand it.
Provide 6vdc current and the motor turns one direction; reverse the
current and the motor turns the other direction. Simple as pie (I
hope!).
>
> So, I think you can see where I am going with this - I would like
to use a Basic Stamp II to control the motor of each of 4
potentiometes through the serial port of my computer.I would like to
use a front-end program that I can code in Visual Basic to allow me
to raise and lower the voltage of each fan by moving the motors up
and down.
>
> Is that all, you ask? No, not really. Upon thinking, I would need
additional features to be able to use the device the way I want to.
So, I need to add three more capabilities:
>
> -Need to continually monitor the voltage going to each fan.
> -Each fan has a wire connected to an RPM sensor. Need to
continually monitor this on each fan.
> -Would like to be able to use and monitor up to 8 temperature
sensors.
>
> Not quite as simple anymore, but from all the reading I've been
doing on the Basic Stamp and its capabilites these past few days, it
should be quite doable. I just need a direction, advice, and hand-
holding to get me to the finished product.
>
> Now comes the part where I humbly ask for any advice and help you
could possibly give me. I've never used a Basic Stamp before - I'm
assuming that it is the best part for the task. I will have more
specific questions later, but I'm looking for a few good men (or
women!) to step up to the task of dealing with a complete beginner
and helping him finish (or start, rather!) a project that he is
determined to complete.
>
> Time is not an issue - I can take as long as I need. I just need
the knowledge to get me there. I'm not expecting someone to plan the
entire thing for me and deliever me a finished product - I've been
reading every piece of info I can get my hands on to educate myself.
But I do need advice specifically related to my project, and I hope I
can get some good help using this discussion list.
>
> I will be happy and willing to provide answers to any questions you
may have. If you are able to and choose to help - I thank you much
in advance! Hope to hear from some of you soon!
>
> Thanks,
> -Brad Wilson
> --
>
> _______________________________________________
> Get Free Email at Swirve.com, http://www.swirve.com