Suggestions about electronics...

[SuperTrooper]

I need help. I wanna hook my cold cathode up to my VFD's GPO. I know I can hook up a led to the GPO, which is kinda neet BUT...

The problem is, I searched for how to do a cold cathode hookup. I know that my cathode requires more than the VFD can provide. SO, you say use the GPO as a switch. That sounds like a grand idea!

How do I do this would be the next question. I know I don't want to just experiment with this on the VFD, it's too spensive. SOOOOO.. Do all of you electronics guys have PhD's or are some of you just hobbyists that learned it at home? If so, I would like to learn.

Does anyone have suggestions on books for electronics for the beginner. Will these books bring me to the level of godhood required to make this switch? OR should I just give up wait a semester or two at school to take classes? OR ask one of you guys to make one for me so I can just hook it up? (Which I would if someone offered) How much would something like that cost BTW?

OR like is there a step by step guide to make this with pictures? heheh anyway..

THANKS!



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: SuperTrooper on 2002-07-03 03:04 ]</font>

[linear]

On 2002-07-03 00:00, SuperTrooper wrote:
I need help. I wanna hook my cold cathode up to my VFD's GPO. I know I can hook up a led to the GPO, which is kinda neet BUT...

The problem is, I searched for how to do a cold cathode hookup. I know that my cathode requires more than the VFD can provide. SO, you say use the GPO as a switch. That sounds like a grand idea!

How do I do this would be the next question. I know I don't want to just experiment with this on the VFD, it's too spensive. SOOOOO.. Do all of you electronics guys have PhD's or are some of you just hobbyists that learned it at home? If so, I would like to learn.

Does anyone have suggestions on books for electronics for the beginner. Will these books bring me to the level of godhood required to make this switch? OR should I just give up wait a semester or two at school to take classes? OR ask one of you guys to make one for me so I can just hook it up? (Which I would if someone offered) How much would something like that cost BTW?

OR like is there a step by step guide to make this with pictures? heheh anyway..

OK, Here's the basic idea. Your GPO can source about 20 mA, but you'd like to switch a device that needs more. A transistor is the answer here. I have a full BiT-Tech style how-to in the works for this, but right now, I'll just say you can have a look at the diagrams here.

I'm not wild about the 2N3904 as a transistor there, since it's only gonna get you up to 100 mA current, so my design will replace it with a TIP31 for up to 3A. So stay tuned to BiT-Tech.net for that.

And no PhD, sorry, just a Bachelor's in Electrical Engineering.

[Aniso]

Learning Electronics.

When I was young, "electronics" was a hobby like stamp collecting. More complicated and took more brains, of course, but it was seen as accessable. Hell, EVERYTHING was a hobby! Electronics, Auto mechanics, wood working, Ham radio, taxidermy, orchid breeding... everything.

It seems that today, we have lost this confidence that we can do anything, and we have also lost all the great magazines and books that went with that sense of confidence.

I learned electronics from playing with circuits published and explained in monthly hobby magazines like "50 Electonics Projects" (c1985) and the like. Sure I went to University later, but I swear that I didn't learn anything really critically useful! I am basically a hobbiest working as a professional.

Electronics is no more difficult than web design. The key in both cases is living and breathing it for weeks and months at a time. This is how you learn - not by doing it 3 days a week between 10 and 11 AM in a lecture hall.

Hit amazon.com or a library and see if you can find anything published by Rudolf F. Graf ("Encyclopedia of Electronic Circuits" - there must be 10 volumes by now).

Happy learning!

[Dak]

I rebuild a RC car last year that used an OOpic and a sonar sensor to steer (no RC input whatsoever after i was finished). I used an ULN 2003 to "amplify" the TTL output on the OOpic to a voltage that could drive the 5v motors... i belive the ULN uses a circuit VERY similar to the ones given (but no relays!!! yipee!)

the two designs should be pretty similar... your GPO lines go into one side of the chip, and when they trigger one of the 7 lines (you can use this chip for up to 7 different items.. i only used two, right and left.. not sure how well it performs with more) and it sends a higher-voltage source (can you say 12v?) through... i guess.. its been a while... my electronics knowledge can be pretty hit and miss too...

heres the data sheet for the ULN2003:
<a href="http://rocky.digikey.com/WebLib/Texas%2 ... A.pdf">ULN 2003</a>

worked great for me! i don't see what the difference is between a OOpic's TTL I/O line and a low-voltage GPO.. should work the same as far as i know...

anyways, drop me a line on ICQ if you have any questions, its been a while, but i think i could prolly figure it out again.. id love to have some mod discussions.. just getting into it myself (right as it goes mainstream, yay... saw a windowed case at compuserve.. grr)

laters,
~Dak