Search found 42 matches

by bdickens
Tue Sep 01, 2009 9:21 am
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Hybrid Boat
Replies: 4
Views: 3992

Re: Hybrid Boat

First, thanks for responding. Some impressive work. kheston - Wow. I would not have even thought about that approach but I have to say, it has some appeal. And as Robert Reed correctly pointed out, I may not really need that much juice. 2.5kw might just get me there. And I have to admire the approac...
by bdickens
Mon Aug 31, 2009 6:23 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Hybrid Boat
Replies: 4
Views: 3992

Hybrid Boat

We have been running a small boat on an electric outboard we cobbled together using a design from Glen-L. But we are about to start building a second boat and we wanted to go electric. So we will have two electric outboards connected to 4 lead acid batteries (48V). We will be including a set of sola...
by bdickens
Sat Sep 20, 2008 10:38 am
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Capacitors on a Power supply (9v to 5v)
Replies: 5
Views: 4648

Thank you all. That cleared up a number of questions. Points on battery life well taken. It did in fact drain it faster than I would have liked. But wondering a bit more, I traced the input from the battery to the processor and discovered that they had already embedded a 2 step conversion, first to ...
by bdickens
Fri Sep 19, 2008 7:51 am
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Capacitors on a Power supply (9v to 5v)
Replies: 5
Views: 4648

Capacitors on a Power supply (9v to 5v)

I am working with my son on a project and we had to build a voltage converter. Looking at 7805-based circuits, I noticed that they all look "architecturally" the same, but the capacitors are different sizes for each. We are using a 9V transitor battery so some of this is clearly the input ...
by bdickens
Sat Sep 29, 2007 9:34 am
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Multi-meter sensitivity
Replies: 3
Views: 4162

Good points. I'm hunting for a better meter. I've tried it with a friends and you all were correct. Too few digits for the accuracy. Thanks
by bdickens
Mon Sep 24, 2007 2:39 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Multi-meter sensitivity
Replies: 3
Views: 4162

Multi-meter sensitivity

I'm using a Seapoint turbidity sensor on a project and I need to be able to measure down to 10mV accuracy for a 5V output line (.001 to 5). Now my MM has that many decimal places, but I got to wondering about sensitivity. Each FTU (Formazin Turbitity Unit?) is .01. How does one find out how accurate...
by bdickens
Mon Feb 26, 2007 12:56 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Constant PH Monitoring
Replies: 5
Views: 5025

Constant PH Monitoring

Darn. And it was such a good plan without that bit of reality. Thanks. Guess that will just have to be external where they can get to it.

Thanks again.
by bdickens
Mon Feb 26, 2007 9:42 am
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Constant PH Monitoring
Replies: 5
Views: 5025

Constant PH Monitoring

I'm adding PH to my list of waterquality measurements. I've figured out how to get some cheap PH sensors to work, but a friend mentioned that they start giving misleading measurements and need to be recalibrated. Can anyone tell me why that might be true and is there a way to avoid that ? Thanks[/i]
by bdickens
Wed Feb 21, 2007 7:00 am
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Mouse Stops working when Cell phone rings
Replies: 5
Views: 4658

Mouse Stops working when Cell phone rings

My MS mouse (USB) stops working when my Blackberry rings. It recovers fine when I pull the plug and reset, but this is annoying. Anything I can do besides get a differnt mouse ?
by bdickens
Fri Feb 16, 2007 11:05 am
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Hidef CCD ?
Replies: 3
Views: 3601

Hidef CCD ?

I notice that most of the CCD cameras have resolutions in the 640-480 range. I'm helping a friend with a project that really needs something in at least the SVGA range. Anyone aware of a digital video camera with better resolution ? Thanks
by bdickens
Mon Feb 05, 2007 7:04 am
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Shielding Generator
Replies: 15
Views: 11873

Shielding Generator

Some interesting ideas. I found that the culprit was more the wires than the generator itself. So I both rerouted them, cut them very short and then twisted them and the issue seems to have gone away. The motor also has a stainless steel cover now, just in case. I have both optical encoding as well ...
by bdickens
Tue Jan 30, 2007 2:25 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Shielding Generator
Replies: 15
Views: 11873

Shielding Generator

Ahh. Interesting. Ok, I'll see what I can find on those topics. As always, thanks.
by bdickens
Tue Jan 30, 2007 9:44 am
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Shielding Generator
Replies: 15
Views: 11873

Shielding Generator

I've run into a snag with my water monitors. The generator (a DC motor) is working fine and producing a reasonable amount of current (although anyone who knows of a micro-generator less than 3 inches long, email me). But in my test rig, it's making my compass read incorrectly.There will be only abou...
by bdickens
Mon Jan 22, 2007 12:59 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Monitoring Water Current direction and speed
Replies: 19
Views: 15385

Monitoring Water Current direction and speed

Thanks to all who posted/emailed. At a couple of folks suggestions, I'm going with a hydrodynamic shape, (a flat whale with a hole in the middle) that rotates around a fixed pole (tripod base). The tail of the body will be a propeller that will both act as a tail and generate electrical power for th...
by bdickens
Thu Jan 18, 2007 2:19 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Monitoring Water Current direction and speed
Replies: 19
Views: 15385

Monitoring Water Current direction and speed

I hesitate to add solar cells to the project just because it would make the bouys a bit of a theft target, although I can work around that if I have to. My wife wondered if I could genrate electricity from the current flow, but that seems more complex than the cells. A telescope for infrared is clev...