Hardware on Simon Waite

Step One: Gather the Equipment

Mon, 03 Sep 2012 10:34:37 +0000

Post date: Sep 03, 2012 10:34:37 AM

First up, the battery pack.

The A10HZ from Maplin, a 5Ah 12v battery pack. This has 2x6v batteries internally, and a 200 W inverter, two accessory sockets, and two 12v terminal posts. It has a usb power socket and a light too, but the usb socket is tied to the inverter being on and the light is incredibly weedy, so we’re ignoring them for now.

12/24V to 5V 10A Converter

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 10:04:15 +0000

Post date: Apr 18, 2012 10:04:15 AM

Ordered from DX.com it claims to supply up to 10A at 5V from a 12V source.

I’m looking forward to seeing if that is indeed the case :o)

As I ordered more than one, they’re going to be used for both the Joggler and Portable Hotspot projects.

Hardware Mods

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 10:04:15 +0000

Post date: Apr 18, 2012 10:04:15 AM

Apparently some motherboards appear to have mic pins…

From the joggler wiki.

I thought this might be a different revision of the board, but it is probably a picture taken from the underside:

Joggler Heatsink Mod

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 10:04:15 +0000

Post date: Apr 18, 2012 10:04:15 AM

The Joggler has a terrible heat sink. It is plastic; no, I’m not kidding you. There is a metal stand at the back that the thermal transfer pad connects to, but even that is too little, too late. It’s enough for the openpeak main uses running a cut-down linux and flash UI, but hardly enough to run a full ubuntu stack on. Thermal throttling isn’t fun, so steps have to be taken to mitigate that.

Slowed down but not forgotten...

Sat, 02 Jul 2011 21:47:33 +0000

It has been a while since the last update. The project has slowed down a bit due to other commitments and a holiday in France, but it is certainly not forgotten.

I’m still looking forward to getting this thing in the air!

Bolting Stuff Together...

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 13:42:30 +0000

Finally got the frame and bolting it together with the nylon screws and bolts. I’ve got one thing to say, “oww” those nylon nuts sure do hurt! I’ll have to hunt down my needle nosed pliers to hold them to tighten them up.

The KK blackboard has arrived and almost sits comfortably. I suspect I’ll need to get some spacers to fix this.

The frame seems to be designed for + rather than X flying, which is a little confusing also.

Joggler

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 13:42:30 +0000

The joggler (aka O2 Joggler) wiki can be found here.

Currently running an Ubuntu image by exobuzz which can be found here. [maverick 1.9]

Car Based Joggler:

TODO:

[TODO] Media Playback (possible Moovida)
[TODO] GPS
[TODO] 12v -> 5V Vehicle PSU, possibly this adapter? this widget
[TODO] Auto mute / pause media playback whilst in a call
[TODO] Autoset “hciconfig hci0 scomtu 64:8”
[TODO] Double DIN mounting, perhaps this one.
[TODO] figure out the car stalk connector and map somehow to a usb HCI ?
[TODO] OBDII readout.

Alas, this project has fallen off the world since I have changed cars and invested in an iPad Mini. So far it seems to have most features… pictures when I can get around to it.

Quadcopter v1

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 13:42:30 +0000

Since 2010 I’ve been interested in building a quadcopter.

My initial experiment in building a frame (Summer 2010) with metal tubing and metal plates turned out to be quite disappointing as the arms warped and screws rattled free.

April 2011 brought a Hobby King quadcopter frame to my door. It’s wood and fibreglass, and nylon screws and bolts – it looks a little fragile, but we shall see after bolting the motors to it!