6 volts, 6 pack, triple digits and boredom...

slodave · slodave's Garage

Ahh, another hot night in the Valley. Too hot to sleep, the heat and the beer must be getting to me. I don't know why, but I made a very cheap laser/IR detector.

Well, I was going to post a pic of my achievements, but I can't at the moment.
Imagine a bread board, 4 AA batteries, a 270 ohm resistor, a green LED and 1 infrared detector. Shine a laser at the detector and the LED lights up. The intensity varies, depending on the angle.

Useless, but provided some entertainment this hot night.

P.S. I'll post a pic of my wonderful device later...

slodave · slodave's Garage

Here's the pic.. Yippee!

Joeaksa · 09-02-2007, 05:23 AM

And what are we going to be doing with this? Drive even faster?

Dan in Pasadena · Dan in Pasadena's Garage

Hi Dave, Yeah unbelieveably hot here last night. My (oldazz) house has AC and it is so friggin hot that it basically can't keep up. Even running a long time. The stucco and the roof, etc all seem to absorb the heat offsetting the AC. Anyway, I had two fans on me, all hte windows open and I didn't really sleep so much as eventually pass out!

bell · bell's Garage

the old a/c in our house didn't keep up in 90+ degree heat......filter was changed regularly but the transfer coil radiator thing (in the furnace) was pretty clogged up killing it's performance.....
maybe get in there with a flashlight and see if it's clogged.
we found this out as our new modern a/c unit was installed.......

Joeaksa · 09-02-2007, 09:39 AM

Come to Arizona and you will learn about hot...

Dan in Pasadena · Dan in Pasadena's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joeaksa

Come to Arizona and you will learn about hot...

I've been to Arizona, I know about hot and it is no excuses, frickin HOT here these last couple days. It has been 111 degrees here the last two and expected to be the same today. Okay so it isn't like being ON THE SUN

but it is plenty hot enough to complain about when "normal" hot summer weather here is probably the mid to upper 90's.

My house seems to "heat saturate". The AC simply cannot overcome that.

slodave · slodave's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joeaksa

And what are we going to be doing with this? Drive even faster?

The thought had occurred to me... Today, I will try and build a small robot.... If I am successful, I will post some pics.

As for the heat, I'll stay here Joe. It's already over 100. If I was really desperate, I could always go to the ocean where it is a cool 77.

Dave

slodave · slodave's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dan in Pasadena

Hi Dave, Yeah unbelieveably hot here last night. My (oldazz) house has AC and it is so friggin hot that it basically can't keep up. Even running a long time. The stucco and the roof, etc all seem to absorb the heat offsetting the AC. Anyway, I had two fans on me, all hte windows open and I didn't really sleep so much as eventually pass out!

One of my neighbors in my Town Home complex knocked on my door last night and said she had water coming out of her AC unit in the house. I looked at it and either the condensation pan is plugged and the water is backing up and pouring water down the walls or the drain broke at the unit.

Another guy came out last night and said his AC just broke. The manager was not home last night and no one knows if she is gone for the weekend. Three years in a row, my AC went out during triple digits and it took a week each time to get it fixed. This year things have been great. The AC works all day, but it keeps the place at 80.

Dave

competentone · 09-02-2007, 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by slodave

One of my neighbors in my Town Home complex knocked on my door last night and said she had water coming out of her AC unit in the house. I looked at it and either the condensation pan is plugged and the water is backing up and pouring water down the walls or the drain broke at the unit.

If she's "hot" and you're looking to be a hero, find the drain outlets outside the building for her unit. Take a wet/dry shop vacuum -- set up for wet use -- and apply suction to the end of the drain outlets. This will clean out the sludge in the line, allow the condensation to drain properly, and stop the water leaking inside her unit.

slodave · slodave's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by competentone

If she's "hot" and you're looking to be a hero...

Um, no!

svandamme · svandamme's Garage

ehm, what good is a laser detector?

by the time it detects the laser, the laser detected you as well
speed of light is like, fast and stuff?

slodave · slodave's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by svandamme

ehm, what good is a laser detector?

by the time it detects the laser, the laser detected you as well
speed of light is like, fast and stuff?

It made a half an hour go by last night. Nothing more. I had the parts laying around and like the title said...

Now if I could only find an ATmega8IC chip....

Dave

Joeaksa · 09-02-2007, 03:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by svandamme

ehm, what good is a laser detector?

by the time it detects the laser, the laser detected you as well
speed of light is like, fast and stuff?

Police use them for speeders. Yes they do hit you and its over, but if you can detect the beam when its being fired at others in front of you, it just might give you time to slow down.

It also keeps Dave occupied and away from the girls and beaches!

slodave · slodave's Garage

Now I'm building a robot. It's small, but can navigate on its own. I'm scavenging parts from old motherboards and a few new parts from Radio Shack. Only thing I can't source until Tuesday, is an ATmega8 IC. Looks like I found a local supplier.

Weeee!