I didn't realise it was a pin either. Always thought it was for attaching a heat sink.

Makes sense now looking at PCBs where they're lying flat but with the middle pin at the bottom cut off.

I made a lovely little board last night with one of my minis and radio on it. Went to plug it in to test it and realised I'd forgotten the temp sensor. Oops.

I practiced some breadboard soldering last night on a mini board I bought. Saw a few videos of making tracks and it didn't look too bad. Mine was shocking.

I definitely need to clean my soldering iron. Probably need a sponge too.

Haha. Some things look so easy when other people do them :) Got a picture of it?

Definitely use a sponge. And if you have a pointy tip get a chisel type instead. Makes it much easier to transfer the heat.

Got a pretty bog standard pointy tipped iron.

No picture as I got annoyed and burnt my thumb :(

Ace biscuits. Wonder if anyone's done something similar for moon phases or even an orrery? I'll have a Google at lunchtime.

Ouch. Electric shocks and burns. Dangerous equailment you're playing with.

How about 2 clocks that orbit each other. One of the earth showing the light levels around the world and another for the moons phases.

I'm trying to sort the map I'm going to use.

The original has this as the plan



But I don't think Europe or the UK is detailed enough so I've knocked up this which is a bit more detailed. Hopefully it's not too difficult to actually drill. It'll be a lot more holes.



Though this might be better as a compromise


 

That looks like far too many holes to drill (UYM,J)

I did consider counting them on the way up yo Stoke, going to see Top Gear Live in Liverpool tomorrow, but I decided against it. Been dragged out for drinks with my drunk sister and friends. And they've all desserted me for the toilet.

Started soldering the main board.

So far I think I've done a reasonable job, but it's only the easy bits. Felt like I was cheating using the long pins of the transistors to make things easier!

So far I've learnt that dip sockets are quite easy to solder, female pin headers are an absolute pain.

I've finished the board. But it's not working properly :C

The second and third shift registers aren't working. They seem to cause the LEDs to be full brightness . I've checked the wiring but I think I need to check again with a fresh mind. Though I did read something about communication issues across shift registers with poor wiring.

Any luck with it?

Not had chance (been bothered) to have a proper sit down with it. Bought a cellulose decorating sponge the other day, so I finally have sponge!

Removing all of that multi-coloured capellini laying all over the board should help a lot.

It needs to taste good though!

Arduino... The taste you have been looking for.

It seems the step up reg might not be the best way after all. Either that or the Pro Mini is consuming more power than I realise. Got about a week from the last set of batteries.

New plan is to drop the clock speed so it can run at 1.8V and switch the step up regulator on when the temperature is read. The sensor needs 3V.

I've also ordered a couple of Atmega328p chips to make a barebones board.

And my Nanos have /finally/ arrived. Got one of them controlling my bedroom LEDs now. Borrowed the mini that I'd set up to do it before.