Robolympic Medals Will be Back. . .

Ken Gracey

. . . I'm pretty certain we'll be making the Robolympics medals again using the SX and SX/B. Anybody remember these? We just received the request to provide them for the June Robolympics. We'll make some extras for our SX users.

Ken Gracey
Parallax, Inc.

T&E Engineer

I would definately be interested. Any possibility they can be in kit form and assembled form (as I would like 1 or more of each). Kit form would be for·experimenting with on a solderless breadboard. Great news indeed!

CCraig

Yes, please. I would like a couple of them. I think the over-run last time went fast. Thanks for thinking of us.

(posted to give an idea of level of interest)

Chris

Bean

Here is what we are talking about: http://www.parallax.com/sx/projects/projects_robolympics.asp

Ken,
· Are these going to be exactly the same ?
· They are really fun to play with and with the Key-Ring is out, programming will be simpler too.

Bean.

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"Educate your children to self-control, to the habit of holding passion and prejudice and evil tendencies subject to an upright and reasoning will, and you have done much to abolish misery from their future and crimes from society"

Benjamin Franklin
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www.hittconsulting.com
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Ken Gracey

Bean,

The changes requested were a power switch and to eliminate the 3AAA batteries. I'm not sure what we'll do about the power supply. Any recommendations?

Ken

Bean

It would be nice to have it run atl 5V so you can just plug in the SX-Key and program it.

But I guess that depends on the power supply too...
Was it a weight issue ?

Bean.

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"Educate your children to self-control, to the habit of holding passion and prejudice and evil tendencies subject to an upright and reasoning will, and you have done much to abolish misery from their future and crimes from society"

Benjamin Franklin
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
www.hittconsulting.com
·

T&E Engineer

How about a 9v Lithium battery? Radio Shack has a 1200 mAh version. However, the cost is $11 but the user would have to worry about that cost.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?parentPage=family&summary=summary&allCount=66&fbx=0&cp=2032056.2032152&productId=2104692&accessories=accessories&techSpecs=techSpecs&currentTab=summary&fbn=Type%2F9V+lithium&custRatings=custRatings&features=features&f=PAD%2FProduct+Type%2F9V+lithium&fbc=1&fr=StorePrice%2FRSK%2F00001000%2F00004999&support=support&tab=techSpecs

·I don't think there will be a "perfect" solution at least not till fuel cell batteries are available on the market.

Or these Lithium AA batteries (8 pk is $23) but has 3000 mAh.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2110936&cp=2032056.2032150&allCount=20&fbn=Type%2FAA&f=PAD%2FProduct+Type%2FAA&fbc=1&parentPage=family



Post Edited (T&E Engineer) : 3/28/2007 4:41:22 PM GMT

Forrest

Good move at bringing them back. I added a DS1302 RTC and turned it into a clock.

I don't think you'll find a comparable power source as inexpensive as (3) AAA batteries.

Sparks-R-Fun

You might consider using a rechargeable battery pack. All Electronics has a 3 AA 850mA NiCad pack for $2. Let the user supply the input power (6-9V etc.) and use the SX to time the charge!

Just a thought.

- Sparks

T&E Engineer

And then for the cool kids....

The USB Cell batteries .

http://www.usbcell.com/

AA rechargable batteries with built in USB charge connectors to·your PC.

They even have AAA versions.

http://www.usbcell.com/product/4

Amazing technology!

Ken Gracey

Being that Parallax is paying for the medals, USB batteries are out of the question. I don't know what they cost, but unless they're a dollar each we won't be buying a thousand units.

How about two CR123 batteries?

Ken

T&E Engineer

Yes I know - but the concept is pretty cool. I guess I wasn't helping your cause on that posting.

The CR123 is a good choice but for a couple of bucks more you might want to try the Tadiran 3.6V / 2.100Ah "AA" Lithium Battery from Radio Shack. I have used it·for a laser pointer project. It lasts a long while and costs $13 from Radio Shack. Probably cheaper elsewhere. Since it is in a AA shell - it is easy for packaging too slightly more voltage and much more current for those LEDs.

·http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2104708&cp=&pg=2&sr=1&origkw=AA&kw=aa&parentPage=search

Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)

How about a single AAA cell and one of these? They're cheap, they don't require much in the way of externals and will switch 250mA, which at a 1.2 to 3.3V step up and 85% (just a guess) efficiency, should provide 77mA of available current. But is that enough? (Remember, the speaker can run on 1.5V, driven by a MOSFET.) If not, there are other step-ups available.

-Phil

Ken Gracey

T&E:

A pair of CR123s costs $2.50 and they have 1.6 Ah, so they're a huge value. A friend of mine has extensively tested every single CR123 on the market for a high-volume product and he identified this source. These are every bit as good as the $16.00 pair of Energizer CR123s you buy from drug stores.

I'll still look at the Tadiran batteries, though. Haven't heard of these until now.

Thanks,

Ken Gracey

Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)

I used one of the Tadiran's in an electric clock that I hacked (in place of the 1.5V AA). They work fine, but are very expensive. (The battery cost more than the clock, as I recall.)

-Phil

Bamse

I have a quick question about programming the medal.

I use the keyring to program it, but I "only" have a 9V 500ma (compared to 1Amp in the docs) power supply.
It does work as long as I comment out the "IRC_CAL IRC_4MHZ" directive.
However if I leave it in the program the code in the medal will be erased and then the dialog box will close after briefly display "Calibrating".
It will not program the SX.
Remove this line and it erases and programs without any problems...

The only 1 amp supply I have is 12V, should I give it a try with this power supply or do I risk burning the keyring ?
Does the "IRC_CAL IRC_4MHZ" directive fail because of something else ?

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Living on the planet Earth might be expensive but it includes a free trip around the sun every year...

Experience level:
[noparse][[/noparse] ] Let's connect the motor to pin 1, it's a 6V motor so it should be fine.
[noparse][[/noparse] ] OK, I got my resistors hooked up with the LEDs.
[noparse][[/noparse]X] I got the Motor hooked up with the H-bridge and the 555 is supplying the PWM.
[noparse][[/noparse] ] Now, if I can only program the BOE-BOT to interface with he Flux Capacitor.
[noparse][[/noparse] ] I dream in SX28 assembler...

/Bamse