pic: My weekend project
 

Re: pic: My weekend project
 

So THAT's where all the cold cathodes went...

Re: pic: My weekend project
 

Ohhhh pretty. So whats its purpose? Or is it just to be like "Hey I made this...Cool"?

Re: pic: My weekend project
 

Whoa.. I'm having thoughts of 2003 vs 2006 now.. Sterilite bins from 2003, vs Cold Cathodes from 2006. Nice..

I'm guessing it's a homemade computer case? If so, that's pretty cool.

Re: pic: My weekend project
 

yeah I have a fealing that alot of unused electronics from this years kit will end up on my breadboard at home.

Re: pic: My weekend project
 

Home made computer case? In a plastic box? That'd be pretty awesome, if the CPU wouldn't fry.. =P

Still pretty cool

Re: pic: My weekend project
 

It's a housing to a computer power source. I'm using it to power various projects so I decided to give it a case. I still need to add holes for the cables and glue that grill on (it's taped right now). I used this to do some testing on our robot while running it on AC instead of the battery. I put a post out their a while back that one of these would make a perfect housing, I had some free time so I decided to prove it.

NOTE: If you do something like this yourself make sure you are very carefull. To get a computer power source to work without a motherboard you have to essentually short it. Also these things have the potential to be dangerous.

Re: pic: My weekend project
 

So I'm assuming the cold cathodes are there only to make it the sweetest looking power supply ever :cool:

Re: pic: My weekend project
 

I would like to see some one get a stack attak robot to locate and stack boxes lit up like this autonomously using the camera.

Re: pic: My weekend project
 

Yep, that and the lighted switch. I added another switch to the bottom so I could turn off the cathodes if I wanted. ooh and if you look hard you can see mesh covering the vent, thats modders mesh. :D
Funny, I was just thinking about how that would make a great game for next year. Lighted game pieces. :cool:

Re: pic: My weekend project
 

My Spring Break Project: Take a seemingly normal power wheels car and make it a fast remote control goose chasing machine, may become semi-autonomous :ahh:

Should be interesting, making my own Robot Controller from scratch (IC's, PC board,...) and i'm using a 1 mile range radio modem...

Updates later this week...

Re: pic: My weekend project
 

sounds fun, where do you plan to get the scematics?

Re: pic: My weekend project
 

I don't plan to get them, I plan to make them :D

I'm pretty good with Multisim, TurboCAD, Surfcam, and MCC18...

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I thought it was nuclear gerbils :c(

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I tried that once.... turns out gerbils don't do so well when exposed to nuclear radiation... :( Actually after some testing I found I can run everything except the larger motors with one of these. :)
NOTE: I haven't run anything for more than brief moments at a time and im going to add fuses before I do anything else.

Re: pic: My weekend project
 

If that is a power supply from a computer you will fry it running motors. Its not designed to handle large loads (the CIMs can pull >50A when they first start up) and they are not designed to handle inductive loads either.

If you want to power the robot motors you need something with a big transformer that can supply the amps.

Re: pic: My weekend project
 

Related Thread?

Where did all the cathodes go? Long time passing.
Where did all the cathodes go? Long time ago.
...
When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?

Re: pic: My weekend project
 

Yeah it worked fine for free spin but I'm not trying it while mounted to anything. I think ultimately I'm going to use this to power our test board that we use for programming and sensors. Not a bad use since it's a pain to switch out batteries for a couple sensors, especially because people keep mischarging them. :rolleyes: I've been playing with AC to DC converters a bunch lately, first running our light target and now for the test board... It's just easier then lugging batteries and chargers.

Re: pic: My weekend project
 

:ahh: this is perfect for using as a power supply for my workbench!!! normally i use wall warts. But usually i need 2-3 (9volts, 5volts, and 12 volts). This is perfect for PIC prototyping :D . Too bad you can't draw too much current or else i could use it when i experiment with electro kinetics :/. And you have excellent timing, i was just about to unsolder a power supply :p