Gotta love the markup on stuff like that. They're clearly still making money on the $99 sales.

Reminds me of the extortionate prices of lab equipment when I was working at a uni. Stirrer hot plates being one of the items that made me angry. They're just a hot plate with a magnetic part spinning under the plate so you can pop a stirrer bar in the flask and get things stirring. Not sure I saw even the basic models under around £300.

Yeah. Niche market /low volume sales = silly prices.

Bought some dip sockets from China for my shift registers. Came as a pack of 30, thought they'd arrive in a small jiffy bag....

That looks like quite a large package.

Ive had some success with my Arduinos (dismantled the one for my lights) and the transceivers. I had one plugged into my phone and the other into the laptop. Tried the led remote example with the RF24 library and it worked but unreliably. Had to almost touch the things together to connect. I might try adding caps to see if that helps.

My FTDI cable doesn't seem to be working to program my mini though. The USBASP does. And the FTDI works with the serial monitor.

Are you having issues getting it to reset? I found it a real pain in the arse to time it right (yj).

I'm not really sure what the problem is. Could be resetting it at the correct time.

Although now I'm not sure if I've broken it. I tried my USBASP cable to repgoram the bootloader. I'd read somewhere to try that. Not when I try to do anything, even with the USBASP, it says it's not responding :S

I was getting an error trying to reflash the bootloader but I fixed that. I had to update the firmware on the USBASP using my Uno so it could set the clock speed when programming. Managed to get the bootloader working.

When I try and upload a sletch now it says content mismatch.

Ok, it's working, but only if I upload it really slowly. Better than nothing I guess. Still can't get the FTDI to work.

Looks like it was the Arduino board. I had another Pro Mini turn up today. Soldered the program pins to it and the FTDI cable worked with no problems.

Got it working. Yay! I used AVRDude to burn the bootloader instead.

I've been playing around with the RF24Network now I have both my Minis working. Setting up 2 to communicate between each other seems straight forward enough but not so easy to do with more. The library comes with an example for multi node setup with a branch configuration but only for the child nodes, doesn't show how to do the base.

I've got two sending some temperature information to a base now though. I plugged one into a battery pack and it's outside reading the cold temperatures out there now. It's in a plastic tub with the temperature sensor in its own so the heat from the other components doesn't warm it up. Hopefully it won't rain, I don't think it will be water tight.

My big protoboards have finally arrived. Time to figure out the layout.

My first protoboard for my LCD screen took hours to make. I assume it's for the world clock.

I'm currently trying one of my Minis outside again. Transmitting temp every minute and also the voltage at VCC. Found a way to measure the voltage without needing to use one of the analog pins which is handy.

I'm trying to use 4 AA NiMH batteries but take 3 different voltages off a 4 pack. Using 2 batteries for the radio (can't go above 3.6V), 3 for the Mini and all 4 for the temp sensor (that can't go below 3V).

I don't think I'll manage to do many long solder tracks. I might use a lot wires instead.

Good idea. Those solder tracks were a pain to do.

I think I might do one for a common 12V in and maybe a common ground. I've got a load of telephone cable and CAT6 which should be suitable.

It was looking neat on the smaller board until I remembered the transistors. I think I'll need to use the bigger board.

I saw a tip that looked handy for long rails like that. Run a naked bare (that's the word I'm looking for) cable along the breadboard where you want the track and solder along that. Easier to do and less solder.

Not a bad idea. I suppose then you only need to solder the connections and that keeps the wire secure.

Unsure whether to go transistors standing up or lying down.

Lying down takes quite a bit more space but I should have plenty to spare on this board.

What's this going to end up being? If you've already mentioned it, I've missed it.