Small breadboards are added to PPPBs. The yellow wire is a pin control to the data LED. Small breadboards were obtained from Parallax Inc. and affixed with rolled tape in the event of necessary removal in the future.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Small Breadboards
Small breadboards are added to PPPBs. The yellow wire is a pin control to the data LED. Small breadboards were obtained from Parallax Inc. and affixed with rolled tape in the event of necessary removal in the future.
241 Resistor
01-03-2011, 04:52 PM Code 5-99 241 RESISTOR
This 241 resistor is insufficient for regulating the data LED due to power constraints imposed by robotic battery operation requirements.
This 241 resistor is insufficient for regulating the data LED due to power constraints imposed by robotic battery operation requirements.
Testing Conclusions
01-03-2011, 01:55 PM Code 5-98 TESTING CONCLUSIONS
* The decision is made to use on-PPPBs data lights with 4K7 resistors.
* The on board data light will be kept for more infrequent use
* Modified boards will be used throughout the Brain Stem, Brain Base and Brain Span
* A red LED will be selected over green and yellow
Power Testing
01-03-2011, 01:55 PM 5-97 POWER TESTING
* Modified Parallax Propeller Proto board (both regulators and LED disabled) draws 4mA idle. Power LED converted to data light draws 20mA when on. Another test confirmed 4mA modified board current. Unmodified, board draws 10mA. To modify, lift the middle leg of the 3.3 vdc (output leg) of the LM1086 CS-3.3 regulator.
* Another test, mod proto board draws 5ma, 19ma with on board data light. Put Taiwan LED on pin 25 with 150 ohm resistor = 12ma. Draws 6ma with 2.2k ohm. (since board draws 5ma, the Taiwan LED is drawing only 1ma)
* Power LED converted to data light still has a 241 ohm resistor on it which is too small a value and that is why you see 20ma current. This is not acceptable for the purpose of battery portable operations. Therefore another data LED will be added.
* The China red LED is the same as the red Taiwan LED – very bright at only 1ma. The green China LED is barely visible. (using a 2.2K ohm resistor). The green Taiwan is also too dim. The yellow Taiwan LED is also the same/ too dim.
* The secondary LED was tested with a 2.2K resistor and was bright. With a 4.7K, it was less bright but still usable. You would not want to go dimmer. Therefore, with the Prop's 3.3 volt pin, use a resistor from 2.2K to 4.7K range depending on desired brightness. Both tests showed the LED drawing 1ma.
* Modified Parallax Propeller Proto board (both regulators and LED disabled) draws 4mA idle. Power LED converted to data light draws 20mA when on. Another test confirmed 4mA modified board current. Unmodified, board draws 10mA. To modify, lift the middle leg of the 3.3 vdc (output leg) of the LM1086 CS-3.3 regulator.
* Another test, mod proto board draws 5ma, 19ma with on board data light. Put Taiwan LED on pin 25 with 150 ohm resistor = 12ma. Draws 6ma with 2.2k ohm. (since board draws 5ma, the Taiwan LED is drawing only 1ma)
* Power LED converted to data light still has a 241 ohm resistor on it which is too small a value and that is why you see 20ma current. This is not acceptable for the purpose of battery portable operations. Therefore another data LED will be added.
* The China red LED is the same as the red Taiwan LED – very bright at only 1ma. The green China LED is barely visible. (using a 2.2K ohm resistor). The green Taiwan is also too dim. The yellow Taiwan LED is also the same/ too dim.
* The secondary LED was tested with a 2.2K resistor and was bright. With a 4.7K, it was less bright but still usable. You would not want to go dimmer. Therefore, with the Prop's 3.3 volt pin, use a resistor from 2.2K to 4.7K range depending on desired brightness. Both tests showed the LED drawing 1ma.
Boards on Boards
01-03-2011, 01:37 PM Code 5-96 BOARDS ON BOARDS
This is the board attachment phase
Boards on boards simply refer to the mounting of secondary boards on the PPPBs. This is a small solderless breadboard (SBB) for wiring the components for data transfer (various BUS), data lights, power rail, power connection, and any additional circuits. It's also useful for rapidly changing and morphing the wiring and to run various test circuits. The board is extremely small and is very minimal in its propagation of EMI/ RFI and can be situated close to the Propeller chips' pin array - another useful minimization. This may or may not allow overclocking, future tests will determine the viability of overclocking. Currently the boards handle 80MHz and 20MIPs per cog.
Although there are 20 PPPBs, only 19 will receive the SBB. This is because the PPPB in the Brain Stem is a hybrid which must interface to a BASIC Stamp and already has a tiny SBB made up of 7 total pin connector arrays. It may take some time to attach all SBBs. They are attached directly beneath the PPPBs label "PropClip" and "Keyboard." Note the hybrid PPPB already has the expansion kit installed for attaching keyboard, VGA, and mouse, so in the remaining boards this position is available for adding SBB real estate.
SBBs are attached with large pieces of rolled plastic boxing tape. SBBs can be reposition, relocated, and removed at any time. The adherence may last for years, depending on environment and tape qualities.
This is the board attachment phase
Boards on boards simply refer to the mounting of secondary boards on the PPPBs. This is a small solderless breadboard (SBB) for wiring the components for data transfer (various BUS), data lights, power rail, power connection, and any additional circuits. It's also useful for rapidly changing and morphing the wiring and to run various test circuits. The board is extremely small and is very minimal in its propagation of EMI/ RFI and can be situated close to the Propeller chips' pin array - another useful minimization. This may or may not allow overclocking, future tests will determine the viability of overclocking. Currently the boards handle 80MHz and 20MIPs per cog.
Although there are 20 PPPBs, only 19 will receive the SBB. This is because the PPPB in the Brain Stem is a hybrid which must interface to a BASIC Stamp and already has a tiny SBB made up of 7 total pin connector arrays. It may take some time to attach all SBBs. They are attached directly beneath the PPPBs label "PropClip" and "Keyboard." Note the hybrid PPPB already has the expansion kit installed for attaching keyboard, VGA, and mouse, so in the remaining boards this position is available for adding SBB real estate.
SBBs are attached with large pieces of rolled plastic boxing tape. SBBs can be reposition, relocated, and removed at any time. The adherence may last for years, depending on environment and tape qualities.
Software Test 2
01-03-2011, 01:20 PM CODE 5-95 Software Test 2
It became necessary to have a small program for testing the data light to ascertain the current draw and compare the LED on the Parallax Propeller Proto Board (PPPB) with another one on another pin (mounted on the breadboard).
Attached is testing Spin software for three types of LEDs.
1) On the Demo Board to test the software
2) Surface mount LED on the PPPB
3) LED on the breadboard
Pins are listed in the code and remarks.
The delay between on/off cycles was increased to allow for ammeter settle time between reads.
It became necessary to have a small program for testing the data light to ascertain the current draw and compare the LED on the Parallax Propeller Proto Board (PPPB) with another one on another pin (mounted on the breadboard).
Attached is testing Spin software for three types of LEDs.
1) On the Demo Board to test the software
2) Surface mount LED on the PPPB
3) LED on the breadboard
Pins are listed in the code and remarks.
The delay between on/off cycles was increased to allow for ammeter settle time between reads.
The Brain Blob by Humanoido
brainblobtest2.spin
Sunday January 03, 2011
LED Testing for the Brain Blob Project
Blinks LED on pin 24 and/or 25 using the Parallax Propeller Proto Board
Use pin 23 for demo board testing of this software
Use pin 24 to test the Parallax Propeller Demo Board modification (on board LED)
Use pin 25 to test resistors for LED on the breadboard.
Rem out statements to select pins
}}
CON ' Constants
_clkmode = xtal1 + pll16x ' 80MHz clock
_xinfreq = 5_000_000 ' 5MHz crystal
' LED1 = 24 ' LED mod is on pin 24 Proto Board
LED2 = 25 ' This LED is on the breadboard
' LED = 23 ' pin 23 demo board
delay = 160_000_000 ' Delay enough for ma reading to settle
PUB Main ' Main method
' dira[LED1] := 1 ' Set LED pin as output
dira[LED2] := 1 ' Make pin 25 output
' dira[22] := 1 ' correct ghost led on demo board
' outa[22] := 0 ' correct ghost led on demo board
' outa[LED1] := 1 ' Initialize pin on pin 24
outa[LED2] := 1 ' Light the LED on pin 25
repeat ' Loop below
blink ' Do Private Method blink LED
PRI Blink ' Private Method to blink LED
' !outa[LED1] ' Toggle state LED
!outa[LED2] ' Toggle state - Light the LED on pin 25
waitCnt(delay+cnt) ' Delay
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Revised Test Software
01-01-2011, 03:36 PM CODE 5-92 REVISED TEST SOFTWARE
Try this attached revised version b test software. The LED will remain on longer for testing, improving visibility and allowing wire to pin 24 adjustment and testing.
brainblobtest.spin
{
The Brain Blob by Humanoido
brainblobtest.spin
LED Mod Test on the Brain Blob Project
Blinks LED on pin 24 using the Parallax Propeller Proto Board
(Use pin 23 for demo board testing of this software)
Friday December 31, 2010
}}
CON
_clkmode = xtal1 + pll16x ' 80MHz clock
_xinfreq = 5_000_000 ' 5MHz crystal
LED = 24 ' LED mod is on pin 24 Proto Board
' LED = 23 ' pin 23 demo board
delay = 80_000_000 ' Approx 1 second on and off
PUB Main
dira[LED] := 1 ' Set LED pin as output
' dira[22] := 1 ' correct ghost led on demo board
' outa[22] := 0 ' correct ghost led on demo board
outa[LED] := 1 ' Initialize pin on
repeat ' Loop below
blink ' Do Private Method to blink LED
PRI Blink ' Private Method to blink LED
!outa[LED] ' Toggle state LED
waitCnt(delay+cnt) ' Delay
Try this attached revised version b test software. The LED will remain on longer for testing, improving visibility and allowing wire to pin 24 adjustment and testing.
brainblobtest.spin
{
The Brain Blob by Humanoido
brainblobtest.spin
LED Mod Test on the Brain Blob Project
Blinks LED on pin 24 using the Parallax Propeller Proto Board
(Use pin 23 for demo board testing of this software)
Friday December 31, 2010
}}
CON
_clkmode = xtal1 + pll16x ' 80MHz clock
_xinfreq = 5_000_000 ' 5MHz crystal
LED = 24 ' LED mod is on pin 24 Proto Board
' LED = 23 ' pin 23 demo board
delay = 80_000_000 ' Approx 1 second on and off
PUB Main
dira[LED] := 1 ' Set LED pin as output
' dira[22] := 1 ' correct ghost led on demo board
' outa[22] := 0 ' correct ghost led on demo board
outa[LED] := 1 ' Initialize pin on
repeat ' Loop below
blink ' Do Private Method to blink LED
PRI Blink ' Private Method to blink LED
!outa[LED] ' Toggle state LED
waitCnt(delay+cnt) ' Delay
Troubleshooting Results
01-01-2011, 05:01 AM code 5-91 Troubleshooting Results
All boards are Operational
Board one had an LED that would not light - it was open from the front side board plated through hole to the back side, resulting in an open circuit and no LED response. The fix was scratching and removing the dielectric resin on the front side and re-soldering the through-hole wire on both sides.
Board two had the LED constantly on, but driven to increased brightness. Troubleshooting led to the trace under the second voltage regulator which had a tiny remnant trace fragment shorting out to the adjacent trace. The solution was to remove the trace.
Board three had a tiny short circuit surrounding the solder island at the back side. This was resoldered, solder wicked, and finally a knife was used to sever the ill connect point. Two out of the three boards required a microscope to detect the troubleshooting points of interest.
All boards are Operational
Board one had an LED that would not light - it was open from the front side board plated through hole to the back side, resulting in an open circuit and no LED response. The fix was scratching and removing the dielectric resin on the front side and re-soldering the through-hole wire on both sides.
Board two had the LED constantly on, but driven to increased brightness. Troubleshooting led to the trace under the second voltage regulator which had a tiny remnant trace fragment shorting out to the adjacent trace. The solution was to remove the trace.
Board three had a tiny short circuit surrounding the solder island at the back side. This was resoldered, solder wicked, and finally a knife was used to sever the ill connect point. Two out of the three boards required a microscope to detect the troubleshooting points of interest.
Hobby Machines
01-01-2011, 04:50 AM CODE 5-90 HOBBY MACHINES COMMENTS
Remember, these hobby machines are designed to satisfy my purposes. You
could also say the Propeller chip is just a bunch of connected cogs. You
would be right. Parallax put it out there and by itself it does nothing
- but in the hands of a person that can wrap their mind around it, new
worlds are opened.
The BSS follows a standard of Master-Slaves concept explained in the Parallax BASIC Stamp Book, as does the SEED and the US40 machines. Pin zero one wire serial half duplex interface bus - absolutely yes. A bunch of Propellers, and BASIC Stamps, connected together - absolutely yes. Distinct and separate boards only stacked - absolutely not. (Even if it was, that would be ok - refer to the discussion on art and visual representation.)
The boards are all connected, software driven at the same time, and talking to each other. Each machine has a specific purpose. Reviewing, for example, SEED software will show multiple Stamps listening at the same time and responding (talking) and processing data simultaneously in true parallel. Programs run at the same time as machines demonstrate various concepts of multi-processing, self enumerating, true parallelism, self evolving, memorizing, AI, determinism, aggregate memory, and so on.
The BSS follows a standard of Master-Slaves concept explained in the Parallax BASIC Stamp Book, as does the SEED and the US40 machines. Pin zero one wire serial half duplex interface bus - absolutely yes. A bunch of Propellers, and BASIC Stamps, connected together - absolutely yes. Distinct and separate boards only stacked - absolutely not. (Even if it was, that would be ok - refer to the discussion on art and visual representation.)
The boards are all connected, software driven at the same time, and talking to each other. Each machine has a specific purpose. Reviewing, for example, SEED software will show multiple Stamps listening at the same time and responding (talking) and processing data simultaneously in true parallel. Programs run at the same time as machines demonstrate various concepts of multi-processing, self enumerating, true parallelism, self evolving, memorizing, AI, determinism, aggregate memory, and so on.
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