Is there a contest where make a simple electronic device as complicated as poss  - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Beamin
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 17, 2018, 12:58:21 pm
content: ...ible?Kind of like the blinking light contest but say the goal is to turn on a LED but instead of doing it in as few parts as possible make a whole bunch of ridiculous electronics to do it?What would you call that? I think that might be a future project where you just keep adding complexity to it.

author: julianhigginson
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 17, 2018, 01:08:44 pm
content: rube goldberg electronics?https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rube_Goldberg_machine

author: bd139
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 17, 2018, 01:29:25 pm
content: It's called IT.

author: schmitt trigger
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 17, 2018, 01:44:24 pm
content: A nephew once made a LED blinker out of a FPGA just for kicks.Now seriously....you want to see a real complex yet commercially useful circuit? Look no further than an analog-TV sync generator made out of vacuum tubes.

author: AndyC_772
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 17, 2018, 01:57:20 pm
content: Quote from: schmitt trigger on May 17, 2018, 01:44:24 pmI've done exactly that in a commercial project, albeit as a way of testing a much more capable system.With a few more lines of code, that LED could have easily been programmed to blink a pattern at several GHz.

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 17, 2018, 02:12:33 pm
content: There was a suggestion a few months back about members of the EEVblog putting something like that together. No contest - just a bit of EE whimsy.

author: schmitt trigger
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 17, 2018, 02:30:58 pm
content: Quote from: AndyC_772 on May 17, 2018, 01:57:20 pmIf I remember correctly, the purpose of his "experiment" was to use a complex and absurd Verilog command structure to perform a ridiculously simple task.

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 18, 2018, 01:48:23 am
content: To light a LED, it (obviously) requires at least one LED. Then add as many things as you can think of to make it light up.Here's my idea, which goes around the world:Start with a large number of participants (in the US) playing an online "game", the more players the better. They are divided into two teams - one using AMD Ryzen CPUs and the other using Intel Coffee Lake CPUs. Both sides use their CPUs to mine earnhoney.The mined coins are converted to Paypal and sent to Naomi Wu, who makes a short video every week announcing the percentage contribution by team. She also spins a roulette wheel every time, using the contribution percentages to define which sectors denote a win for which team. But that's not the final decision. She blows a whistle near the end of the video for the next step.Julian Ilett preloads his breadboard shift register with a single one and lets it run on a 555 timer. The percentages define which LEDs denote a win for each team. He plays the video from Naomi Wu on his phone and when she blows the whistle, a 567 tone detector activates a latch that stops the 555, at which point the LED that's lit decides which team gets a win.An ESP8266 in Micah Elizabeth Scott's lab reads the results and lights up a red LED if team AMD wins, a blue LED if team Intel wins, or both if there's a tie. The picture is automatically posted (possibly with Tuco in the view) and the players try to recruit members to make their color light up more.I'm sure something similar can be implemented running in the other direction with GPUs (AMD/Nvidia) mining Curecoin/Foldingcoin, Micah Elizabeth Scott and Julian Ilett getting the coins (the players can choose who the coins go to) and deciding the winners, and Naomi Wu wearing an IoT necklace that glows red, green, or striped red/green depending on which team won and posting a picture.

author: Richard Crowley
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 18, 2018, 01:53:43 am
content: Submit it for UL approval?

author: brucehoult
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 18, 2018, 02:49:05 am
content: That should nicely support Ms Wu in the style to which she would like to become accustomed.

author: Gregg
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 18, 2018, 02:52:11 am
content: And the winner is XKCDhttps://xkcd.com/730/

author: brucehoult
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 18, 2018, 02:52:56 am
content: Quote from: Beamin on May 17, 2018, 12:58:21 pmHave you read "Running Blind" by Desmond Bagley?

author: brucehoult
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 18, 2018, 02:54:18 am
content: Quote from: Gregg on May 18, 2018, 02:52:11 amWhen that cartoon came out I actually worked out the resistance of the network of 1 ohm resistors. It must have been slow that afternoon...

author: Red Squirrel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 18, 2018, 02:54:43 pm
content: Quote from: Richard Crowley on May 18, 2018, 01:53:43 amWould be funny to do this for a simple led blinker project for kicks... and disposable income.

author: RobK_NL
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 18, 2018, 02:58:15 pm
content: Blinking a string of 17 CREE XP-E's @1A from a 12V power supply requires some complexity ...

author: hans
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 18, 2018, 05:48:14 pm
content: Design a FPGA board with SDRAM/DDR that has enough memory to run a modern day operating system.Then proceed to design a custom microprocessor and computer architecture. The ever increasing complexity of todays systems, especially a blinky program, requires that a functional programming language such as Haskell is used. Take care to use as many Monads or Applicative functors as possible, such that it is possible toeventually synthesize the processor design for a quantum computer. Since we cannot order our quantum computer design yet, fortunately we have made the necessary preparations and prepared a FPGA board instead. For now we will need to do with one of the many FPGA hardware orientatedEDSL'sto generate VHDL/Verilog such that you can synthesize it for your specific FPGA.After having finished a microprocessor that can run code and has a MMU for modern operating systems, you need a compiler for it. You could attempt to port GCC to your particular architecture, but since GCC is written in C you might as well attempt to reuse code from the Haskell design and implement a custom C compiler in a shared codebase between the processor.Once you have finished writing this compiler, you can finally start on the real project andthat is to port or implement a Java virtual machinefor it. You could try to do so directly byimplementing the JVM bytecode as your instruction set, but that creates a vendor lock-in which is undesirable.Once Java is running and has relevant I/O drivers available, you can make use one of the many IOT and enterprise cloud service libraries available. The purpose is twofold; one is such that you can blink LEDs via one of the many home automation protocols, which can work from anywhere around the world. Secondly is that anyone else can also do blink the LED when they inevitably hack the crappy IOT implementation.Please take however that this project is a short term proposal. There are rumors that running Java on quantum computer is a bad idea, as it will immediately break down quantum entanglement and crashes the machine. /sMan I do love shitposting..

author: Cyberdragon
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 18, 2018, 05:59:19 pm
content: Quote from: RobK_NL on May 18, 2018, 02:58:15 pmUm...use a relay?

author: Beamin
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 18, 2018, 09:36:32 pm
content: Quote from: NiHaoMike on May 18, 2018, 01:48:23 amIs there an intro video?

author: Mr. Scram
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 18, 2018, 09:58:21 pm
content: Quote from: schmitt trigger on May 17, 2018, 01:44:24 pmIsn't that one of the basic FPGA starter projects? I can recommend doing something similar to everyone with remotely similar interests.

author: Red Squirrel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 18, 2018, 10:04:55 pm
content: Quote from: Cyberdragon on May 18, 2018, 05:59:19 pmCurrent limited SMPS using reed relays instead of mosfets.I actually kinda want to try that now...

author: Beamin
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 18, 2018, 10:14:00 pm
content: Quote from: Red Squirrel on May 18, 2018, 10:04:55 pmDoes that work because the mosfets are used as hard on/off switches? whats that called saturation mode?

author: Cyberdragon
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 19, 2018, 12:15:47 am
content: It works, it's called a vibrator supply (used since low voltage tube equipment and some early DC to AC converters), but it would be low frequency. You would also have to have a pretty hefty subber to stop contact arcing.

author: Red Squirrel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 19, 2018, 12:24:08 am
content: Back EMF would probably be an issue too.

author: Cyberdragon
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 19, 2018, 12:47:41 am
content: Quote from: Red Squirrel on May 19, 2018, 12:24:08 amThere's filters on the input supply, probably acting as inrush current limiting too. Some even use a mechanical rectifier (often tied to the primary oscillator).

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 19, 2018, 07:15:39 am
content: Quote from: Beamin on May 18, 2018, 09:36:32 pmProblem description:http: //www.youtube.com/ watch?v=ATsIdNJ4pMc(Link intentionally broken because it's way off topic.)As for why only Ryzens and Coffee Lakes, earnhoney mining difficulty is quite high now and something like my old Sandy Bridge E would not be able to make enough to be worth the power it takes to run. The smartphone coins have also dramatically increased in difficulty, still yielding a good amount of profit for the power usage but it is no longer profitable to buy new phones for mining. None of the GPU coins easily convert to a form Naomi accepts. There is an ASIC coin that is currently leading the way in efficiency and does convert to a form she accepts but it requires... a practically unobtanium ASIC. FPGAs do well on certain coins except they take way too long to pay for themselves.Trying to get back on topic, if the power issue could somehow be magically solved, it would be funny to mine coins using only 7400 chips. (Interesting mental exercise: How many chips would it take to give Naomi the salary of an average electronics engineer if you could somehow power them all for free?) And while we're at it, put a LED on every node to turn it into a light show that would be well at home in Las Vegas.Quote from: Cyberdragon on May 19, 2018, 12:47:41 amI remember the time in 3rd grade when I found that it was possible to make a "DC transformer" by coupling two motors together. Or a mechanical inverter by coupling a DC motor to a stepper motor salvaged out of an old floppy drive, which would generate enough voltage to give quite a tingle. I also discovered that it was trivial to make a LED light up by connecting it to the stepper and turning it by hand, sadly before white LEDs were even commercially available...

author: IanMacdonald
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 19, 2018, 09:44:54 am
content: Quote from: Red Squirrel on May 18, 2018, 10:04:55 pmThat IS literally how it was done, back around WW2 days. Tank radios used a 'vibrator' to step up 12v or 24v to voltages suitable for valves. Some even used a mechanical synchronous rectifier.

author: Richard Crowley
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 19, 2018, 01:06:08 pm
content: It feels like we are taking a simple concept and making it as complicated as possible over on this discussion:https://www.eevblog.com/forum/beginners/how-to-wire-up-a-240vac-receptacle/We are at 5 pages now trying to explain the concept of split-phase 120-0-120 North American mains power to the OP who needs 240-0 single-phase for his "Power Distribution Unit" (i.e. fancy power strip).

author: schmitt trigger
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 19, 2018, 04:15:25 pm
content: Indeed!I attempted to follow that thread, but by the second page I was bored sh!tless.

author: RobertHolcombe
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 19, 2018, 04:29:15 pm
content: Your thread title immediately made me think of this channelhttps://www.youtube.com/user/Fredzislaw100/videosHe makes what appear to be simple circuits but they are far from it, pretty much the complete opposite of what you are looking for

author: Cyberdragon
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 19, 2018, 08:06:30 pm
content: Quote from: NiHaoMike on May 19, 2018, 07:15:39 amMost didn't use rotors. There's literally just a 2-pole switch alternating between the two output phases when they energize.