Good call, It only cost $20 delivered to my door... and I was going on holidays, so it was a temporary win win. I too was thinking about building a feeder but it needs to be rain and moisture proof with a big hopper. Maybe we should start a community open source fish feeder projectOh cool, BjShed.
But I cant believe you actually bought a fish feeder from a shop when you have electronics in your brain's bag of tricks. Even I managed a fish feeder with a plastic fork handle glued to a switch, a little motor, and a drill bit
http://120thingsin20years.blogspot.com/2010/11/aquaponics-demand-fish-feeder-success.html
and even a pebble/blutak/string based analog data logger
http://120thingsin20years.blogspot.com/2010/11/aquaponics-string-feed-counter.html
Is string a dirty word here?
Is that a thing? Do people do that in the real world?[stuff deleted]Maybe we should start a community open source fish feeder project
Nice. Much better. And I get to test to see if they can see in colour while I'm at it by using one of those LEDs that does different coloursWhy go to the trouble of rotating the lever out of the water, just add a time delay between allowed lever presses, as fish look to be somewhat smart then adding a red led near the lever for when they can activate it should teach them when they can press the lever for a reward and when they cannot.
When that happens to me I try to remember to check in my mouth first.... Sometimes I do.The older i get, the more i must be becoming a fish because that about sums me up.
Now what were we discussing...................?
Thats right where i put my teeth........... bugger i dont remember!!!
As a physicist, I would have thought you above all would have understood my point. I'm fully aware of the components to which you refer, but my meaning was more about the resistance than the device. Can a zero ohm resistor (conductor) exist? Even low temperature superconductors have some small resistance don't they?Zero Ohm resistors exist?
They certainly do Boriz. Every man and his brother makes them.
Here's a sample.
http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/search/browse.jsp?N=2031+203968+110071175&Ntk=gensearch&Ntt=resistors&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&No=0&getResults=true&appliedparametrics=true&locale=en_UK&divisionLocale=en_UK&catalogId=&prevNValues=2031+203968&mm=1000194||,&filtersHidden=false&appliedHidden=false&originalQueryURL=/jsp/search/browse.jsp?N=2031+203968&Ntk=gensearch&Ntt=resistors&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&No=0&getResults=true&appliedparametrics=true&locale=en_UK&divisionLocale=en_UK&catalogId=&prevNValues=2031+203968
I'm almost certain that ear-to-ear measuremet of many politicians would read 0.0000000As a physicist, I would have thought you above all would have understood my point. I'm fully aware of the components to which you refer, but my meaning was more about the resistance than the device. Can a zero ohm resistor (conductor) exist? Even low temperature superconductors have some small resistance don't they?
Zero resistance from a politician?I'm almost certain that ear-to-ear measuremet of many politicians would read 0.0000000
John
Distraction is what I need I think. I can add solder to the component wire, but not to the board. I get to much surface tension and it doesnt wet the board at all.
I'm tinning the iron (25watt)
I'm adding solder to the wire not the iron
But I just watched a youtube video and it gave me some tips about how the flux flows so Ill try again.
Also I'm some old LEDs to an old circuit board. The video mentioned dirt and oxidation as a problem.
I think I might have to buy myself a sacrificial board.
Q...Is there a wire that would behave like components?
Q...Can I just use tinned wire to practice soldering, or what that give me false easiness? I can tin a wire and join tinned wire with ease, so I get the feeling it must be easy compared to joining components to boards.
The number will be rounded to the nearest 0.1 or 0.01 which is why it's 0. Resistors don't have enough stripes or colours for stripes to allow 0.0000000000000000000000000000000000000001 ohms.Can a zero ohm resistor (conductor) exist? Even low temperature superconductors have some small resistance don't they?
!Or Impedance
How hot is too hot for a component?Sounds to me that you are not getting enough heat into the pad on the board, you need to have the tip of the iron touching the pad and the component leg, then a short pause to allow the heat to transfer to both parts then apply the solder to the junction of the 3 (the iron tip, the component leg and the board, it should flow and wrap around forming a nice joint.
What you are experiencing is what i think is the result of a crappy soldering iron, as they take time to transfer the heat, i know years ago i had a cheap crap iron and yes it worked but when i bought a good weller soldering station i could not belive how fast and how neat i could solder.
Sounds great, but what will AZtronics have to say about it? Do you own shares or something (here's where we find the real reason you sent me there )? I cant remember the last time I gave pottery lessons in pottery store that ended well. There's the mess, the fumes, all the adoring crowds of young girls. etc etc. It never ends well.For the sanity of the forum members, and due to your keenness to want to learn being infectious, and your current ability being zip, i think it might be best if you can leave the board assembly to next week, and i meet you in at AZtronics and give you a lesson on soldering and we assemble the board together there.
I also have several boards that was made wrong ( i have a lot of junk) and can give you to take and practice your soldering skills on.
We all want to see you up and running with your picaxe projects but one step at a time might be the fastest way given your current knowledge level.
How do that sound to you?
I'm attempting to practice on a the board from a broken multi meter board. There are a few holse that havnt been used, and some that have that I removed the components from. The board looks clean (amazingly clean) as I opened it probably for the first time since it was made, but I understand there is clean, and there is clean.Boriz, I assumed you meant the little resistor-shaped devices labelled commonly reffered to a "zero ohm resistor".
Maybe it was it said as a 'tongue in cheek' comment? If so fair enough.
Yes, haha, it does sound a little contradictory if you take it abs literally or pedantically but there we are.
120TI20Y... soldering requires practice and cleanliness and heat in the right places.
You need to head the track AND the wire/leg. I agree with SABorn.
And if you are soldering to a large area of copper it can be a nightmare , especially if your soldering iron is underpowered or cheap'n'nasty or has an unsuitable bit or your solder wire size is unsuitable or poor quality.
You need to get wire and track/pad (locally) hot enough to get the flux going and then melt the solder.
You may like to get some IPA solvent to clean the area and ,for tricky stuff (inlcuding repairs and reflow), a flux pen.
On a fresh home-made board I tend to have a rub with a brass wire (or fibre) brush and then clean with IPA.
And definitely have some practice on something not important.
Soldering iron performance -often related to price- is of great importance too.
Are you using lead-free solder?
Yeah, sorry ValueAdd,Just started reading thru this thread. From the title though we were in for something interesting.
akin to Thermo Nuclear power or something similar.
Then found it was a call for help.
so, as already stated, please keep thread titles pertinent to the actual topic.
Makes it far easier when trying to search the forum at a later time.
I just discovered that one of the strangest things about studying various unrelated fields, one after the other, is having to look up a key word from a joke on wikipedia to see if the joke is funny on notOr Impedance
There you have it. Build your PICAXE projects using good quality "rosin" core solder, of which the "rosin" is made from "resin."Rosin, also called colophony or Greek pitch (Pix græca), is a solid form of resin obtained from pines and some other plants, mostly conifers, produced by heating fresh liquid resin to vaporize the volatile liquid terpene components. It is semi-transparent and varies in color from yellow to black. At room temperature rosin is brittle, but it melts at stove-top temperatures. It chiefly consists of different resin acids, especially abietic acid.
No i dont own shares in Aztronics but all the money i have spent there i should have a stake in the place.Sounds great, but what will AZtronics have to say about it? Do you own shares or something (here's where we find the real reason you sent me there )?
Why would that be an ok thing to do?
No it is more like this............Do people gather around screens, looking at tables of binary digits, or strings of machine code, pointing and giggling?
The debate about irons and solder and soldering methods have cropped up a lot.
It's about getting the right amount of heat in the right place for the right time.
And assuming your iron is up to the task then a lot of this is down to cleanliness, preparation and practice.
I use irons ranging from a £15 Antex to £Fing-Expensive Wellers, Pace and Metcal stations.
I can say honestly that the more expensive ones are easier, but I can also say that with a little practice you can get perfectly good results with a cheap one. You have to choose a power and bit and solder that is appropriate for good, quick, high-percentage soldering.
Solder wire thickness can affect things, again you should choose appropriately.
Too high wattage and too thin solder wire often results in vaporisation and no solder joint.
A weedy bit+ weedy power+poor quality iron + fat solder = a waste of time.
Overheating or overtemperature can be a nightmare.
For practice I would certainly use a leaded solder, it's easier.
If you have a solder station you can run at a lower temp too. Overheating and/or leaving iron on too long usually results in a painful black tip which can be a bitch to clean.
You shouldn't need a heatsink clip for most components these days. Maybe 30 years ago you would.
For a typical through hole 1/2W resistor with 0.7mm diam lead-wire you shouldn't have to spend more than a second or so soldering.
A 15 to 20W good iron with a 1 or 2mm tip with <1mm solder wire (lead/tin/flux) should be fine for typical PCB soldering.
For larger components and/or large areas of copper (e.g. pads attached to ground-planes) then you might need more watts/bigger tip. This is why an adjustable soldering station is handy.
With practice a slightly-too-hot iron is OK - just do it more quickly and don't leave them on unused for hours
Cleanliness is important as is practice. Cleanliness of PCB and iron tip.
But if you've bought a 50penny iron that doesn't operate at vaguely the right temp then you may be peeing into the wind.
Good luck. Keep practicing.
Someone asked me to get him a solderig iron and solder for some PC board work. I got him the same inexpensive, adjustable-power iron that I've used for numerous boards (as in adding female headers to the 28X/40X PICAXE board for breadboard wiring connections) and his response was: "I'm lifting the traces from the PC board."The debate about irons and solder and soldering methods have cropped up a lot.
It's about getting the right amount of heat in the right place for the right time.
-snip-
If you're solder has the following properties, it is leaded solder:Q... How do you tell what kind of solder you have, and does it matter what thickness it is?
It's even more interesting to speculate what would happen if one's zero ohm resistance with 5% tolerence drifted downwards. What would be the effect of negative resistance. Reversed entropy?The number will be rounded to the nearest 0.1 or 0.01 which is why it's 0. Resistors don't have enough stripes or colours for stripes to allow 0.0000000000000000000000000000000000000001 ohms.