It has been a while since I last updated this blog but that’s because I’ve been working on various things and none of them are ‘finished’ yet. An overview:
- Writing a chapter for my thesis about ‘controlling LEDs‘
- Building a EmonTx ( a device to measure energy usage). The soldering went OK but I still have some problems configuring the device.
- Building a Nanode RF (a device to transfer data from the EmonTx to the internet and back). Some parts are missing in the package I ordered which causes a delay…
- Building a display prototype 2.5 . This is actually the same display as prototype 2 but the surface is painted black and a matte diffuser is placed behind the front. Also the letters are no longer controlled by multiplexing everything but by using shift registers. In the next prototype, black and white spray paint will be used to increase contrast.
- Starting to build a circuit on a prototyping board for a final display, complete with shift registers, transistors and lots of cables (to control the different ‘words’). The cables are a bit thicker than I wanted (0,75mm2) but at least they won’t break like the smaller ones I had before.
- Thinking about the different words and sentences I want on the display. 3 different displays would be nice because I expect that the users could give some more valuable feedback when they are able to compare them with each other. I’m thinking about a display that emphasizes competition, one that tries to motivate and advice the user and one tries to give more social pressure by directly using the names of the participants on the display.
- Designing the display. The front already became a lot smaller because I will be using 3mm LEDs now. But there is still some work on the back of the display. It should look good, it should not be too massive and the case should open easily so I could do some adjustments afterwards.
- Reading about how I can let the display wirelessly communicate with the Nanode RFÂ and the internet.
The deadline for all of this is February 1st and I hope I can post some real updates soon.