MPGuino release one workspace

[wyatt]

^^
Not worried about it not starting, more of a curiosity thing. I see lights on, I wonder how I could cut that power usage out. I know they don't use enough power to kill my battery (at least not with me driving my car 150 miles per week), just wondered if anyone knows.

[ptsmith24]

How is everyone connecting the LCD wires to the headers on the arduino? I thought mine would hold, but something shorted out and reset my tank info...

[dcb]

The pins were originally chosen to allow a short path to a standard form arduino and leave a few multi purpose pins open.





On the scratch built/custom units, it is just a 1/4 inch of wire to bridge to the pcb.

[ptsmith24]

Thanks for posting that, but yea... I messed up with the way I used perfboard to attach the components on the vss/inj lead wires. It's pretty messy. Before, I was using 3-4 inches of wire LCD -> arduino. Now I may add more to clean it up near the arduino (where the problem was).

I'd pay to have someone build me a nice one. I already have the appropriate wires tapped in my car (with crimp-on quick disconnects and everything).

[wagonman76]

Originally Posted by ptsmith24

How is everyone connecting the LCD wires to the headers on the arduino? I thought mine would hold, but something shorted out and reset my tank info...

I cut up a few paperclips, into pieces about 1/2 inch long or so, to use as pins. They fit pretty snug in the headers, so they dont move sideways and dont take a chance shorting against the adjacent pin. Then I just soldered my wires to those. For the wires themselves I just used network cable. A 5 ft cable from the dollar store goes a LONG way.

On my first guino, I built the extra components into a small section of perfboard along with the tact switches. On the 2nd one, I used a scavenged board with tact switches which was a perfect fit. So for the rest of the components, rather than do another perfboard, I just built the components right between the pins on the Freeduino board. I posted a pic a little earlier in the thread. Seems to work great so far.

Just my preference, I wont use splice taps anymore. I used to swear by them, now I swear at them. If they dont turn green and corrode, theyll loosen up over time. I lost my trailer brakes from them loosening. Anymore I just strip and solder and tape everything.

I ended up getting different switches, since I want to mount mine permanently in my car. I'm going to have just the LCD showing and the switches mounted just below coming through the plastic. They are part number 275-0644, rated 3 amps at 125v ac or 1.5 amps at 250v ac. I know it's a 12vdc circuit, but I can't see any reason why I couldn't use them. Does anybody know any reason why not? RS is only 1 mile away, so returning them isn't a problem.

Good luck with those switches, hope they work out for you. I used one of them when I relocated my reset button. It seems to work ok. Quite a few years ago I used two of them to raise and lower the air suspension on my car, mounted them in the dash. They worked ok for a little while but then got to where I had to really force them to get a connection out of them. Maybe they make them better now.

[gasnmyveins]

I'm thinking of bypassing the headers and soldering wire to the underside of the board where the headers themselves are soldered on. I'll probably use something like 24 gauge if I do it, so it won't be too bulky. Gonna have to be awfully careful, though.

[wagonman76]

I thought about doing that, but I wanted to use pins. Reason is because on my first guino, I had to unplug things from the board to troubleshoot some voltage problems. Was a piece of cake with pins. Would have been a lot more work with hard soldered connections.

[wyatt]

It is possible to fit the iGuino into a small interlocking storage box! These boxes are from Hobby Lobby, in the isle that has custom looking cardboard boxes in it. It is a tight fit, but the results are undeniable! They don't snap closed, so you have to tape or do something.


Here are some more pictures, lots of angles. The clearness of the box could be fixed if you don't like it... mine is held closed with packaging tape, can't even see it.

[wyatt]

Also, I would like to add some pictures to the "Enclosures" section of the MPGuino Wiki, but I'm not exactly sure how to go about that. Any help on that one?

[forgottenmindset]

Originally Posted by dcb

ratshack has another pnp general purpose transistor, quantity one. Good chance it would work fine but I never tested that theory.

It works, I'm using it