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Re: Entropy

Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2019 11:27 am
by mediatechnology
You're probably not going to like that analog peak detector feeding the Arduino A/D too much.

My neighbor does have driveway LED lights.
Though they aren't usually burning in the morning, when his gym customers come to workout, they have managed, somehow, to not be run over.
The rocks may serve as a warning to drivers as to what might lie ahead in the rest of the driveway.

Re: Entropy

Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2019 12:28 pm
by JR.
mediatechnology wrote: Fri Feb 08, 2019 11:27 am You're probably not going to like that analog peak detector feeding the Arduino A/D too much.
For production removing components and placements is a cost consideration. Performing the rectification inside saves manufacturing cost but you lose 1 bit of dynamic range. The last (only) production digital console meter I designed was cost competitive with previous analog circuitry approach, actually cost less with far richer feature set.

Hypothetically an analog front end with gain ranging, could be combined with microcomputer control to extend usable range of cheap internal A/D conversion.
My neighbor does have driveway LED lights.
Though they aren't usually burning in the morning, when his gym customers come to workout, they have managed, somehow, to not be run over.
The rocks may serve as a warning to drivers as to what might lie ahead in the rest of the driveway.
I have thought about this and I cannot imagine anything useful to gain from putting a microprocessor in a solar lamp.

The only design tradeoff your neighbor might benefit from is higher capacity battery storage, and more solar cell charging capacity. The mass market seems happy with only a few hours of light after dusk... more of both is an incremental cost variable.

JR

Re: Entropy

Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2019 1:23 pm
by JR.
DSCF0111.JPG
The town finally carted off the old drain pipe, so yard is slowly returning to normal. Water runoff has slowed in the front rain ditch, but both buried pipes still slowly draining water from back to front. The light colored sand by the drain outlets is clearly silt/sediment coming from the back ditch runoff water.

I am optimistic this will work for another couple decades as long as don't stir up extra loose silt in my back ditches like I did too often before.

I am still waiting for the back ditches to stop flowing runoff so I can expand my silt pools up/back there to trap silt and hold it in place, and out of the buried drain pipes, but no new digging while water is still flowing.

JR

Re: Entropy

Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2019 12:10 pm
by JR.
Happiness is new windshield wipers and a light rain... 8-)

Three weeks ago I thought I bought a set of replacement wipers but there was only one in the package. :o Last week I bought the mate for my new solo wiper... earlier this week I had the light rain and the windshield was cleaner than I remembered, even when new. :D

JR

Re: Entropy

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2019 4:30 am
by billshurv
Well I actually made some progress on a project. My miniDSP 4x10 was finally configured for operation. I may actually start to get back on track with projects as well as being able to offend my audiophile friends by having and AD/DA stage betwixt turntable and speakers :)

I had to have a new windscreen in December as old one cracked. The difference at night not having all the little gritty pock marks is amazing.

Re: Entropy

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2019 5:58 am
by mediatechnology
JR. wrote: Thu Feb 14, 2019 12:10 pm Happiness is new windshield wipers and a light rain... 8-)
JR
And on that we have this musical note from Haywood Banks and "The Bob and Tom Show" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP0HceS_v00

Bob and Tom used to be one of my Media Dial-Up syndication demo clients.
I miss hearing them regularly.

Re: Entropy

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2019 6:07 am
by billshurv
You've just reminded me how much I used to love the lunacy of the john boy and billy big show when I visited Tx.

Re: Entropy

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2019 1:34 pm
by JR.
Just replaced a burned out lightbulb in my carport. I rarely use this light for more than a few minutes at a time maybe once a week. I vaguely recall replacing the bulb once in 35 years (IIRC it was a yellow bulb when I first bought the house).

I stuck in an early LED bulb I had already upgraded from a lamp fixture. The bulb has a weird heat sink that will impact the light output pattern, but that does not matter for this application.

The early LED lamps were not uber-reliable but I'll take my chances.

JR

[edit I had to wait until after dark o'clock to make a comparison but the replacement LED is much brighter than the old incandescent bulb, which must have been low wattage. I put it in the garbage without cleaning it enough to read the wattage. The fact that I cleaned decades of smutz from the glass housing around the bulb may have helped. [/edit]

Re: Entropy

Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2019 6:40 pm
by billshurv
So it's your fault my mudroom light failed this evening! (cheap CFL about 6 years old).

Re: Entropy

Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2019 6:58 pm
by JR.
I just document the failures, I don't cause them...

JR