Part 3 Electronics assembly

Where to start?? Start with a power switch!

Add some wires to it and custom make a plate for it. Grind down the
washer when you find it's too big!

Next Mount a Terminal strip and of course we want to fuse everything just in case.

Next the remotes get wired up. Start with the grounds then power.

I added a voltage regulator for the LED gatelight BUT the light just
draws too much current.

So how to reduce the current...Rewire the leds so half of them are parallel!
Nice try but it still draws too much current! They must be depending on the
resistance of the battery or somehing.

So next make a chart showing what the actual current is and how bright
the light is.

So we could build a regulator circuit OR use this handy adjustable 50 Ohm
resistor I got from Digikey!

Here is a shot of my V and I measurement experiment.

Next, the channel A remote relay does not seem to be working. No screws
on the case so time to find a can opener!

The guts!

Ah Ha! The big solder blob in the center is not making contact to the white
wire.

Another shot.

Add some heat and stir up the solder and we are back in business!

Next I did a test of the beacon and the flasher under the control of
their respective remotes. Now it works!

Hinge installation on the box. Note the box is upside down.

Another view of the box.

Ok now it's beginning to look cool! The pipe was primed and painted!

The AC works best in my kitchen and I had the house to my self so you can see how spread out the project is.
This mess will all be cleaned up in just a couple of days Dear.

Here is what the box looks like when it's not upside down.

And to close out the night, lets add a connector to the BS2 board.

Time to power up the board! I was able to install the Parallax tools and
download the sample board code to the stamp. Everything just worked!

These are Sweet! Southco K3-99-114-07
622805. Now I can drop down the entire unit for maintenance.

Cut a few holes for the flasher and beacon.

Time to build the CPU!

Add the diodes and resistors that go from the Ipod to the Stamp.

Wire it up.

Drop in a nice big 7805 so we don't run out of power.

Top View..

Wire up the relay that controls the Ipod power and Power amplifier relay.

Back view.

Test Time!

Sweet! The BS2 can now easily control the Ipod Shuffle!!

Code Snippets! More code in part 4

Tonight:
Added another relay circuit to control the gateway light. A PIR will be added
that will allow the CPU to turn on the light late at night if someone walk near by.

Mounted the CPU board.
Connected the control cable.

The 9V clip will be removed later...

Here is a close up of the CPU with it's new relay. Well almost. I'll take another picture
when I have it out again. Note I added a backup battery for the clock. I should be
able to set it and have it run for years.

WOW is worked great! The unit is now pretty much integrated! I used my pc
to tell the BS2 what to control and it all just worked. Eventually the BS2 will be
smart enough to run everything.

My son actually helped with some of the soldering tonight! This was his first time
using a soldering iron. He was pretty impressed when we turned on all the lights
 AND played music!

Hot glue makes a great potting material. Put a piece

of tape under the contacts to catch the glue as it seeps through.

Once more piece of tape on top completes the connector.

I used the other rotating beacon to test my lead acid battery

to see how long it would last. The light presented the battery

with a 50 watt load. The LED beacon will be less power.

 The battery lasted almost 10 hours!

That's enough power to get us through 1 week

Here is my kitchen programming station. An RS232

cable runs from the box to the laptop.

Closer view of the unit.

Programming the Ipod with the play list!

Finally a custom power cable to allow the battery to be

put in the Dog House.