Misc23 Mar 2017 11:59 pm

A while ago I had an idea to make an 18650 lithium cell charger out of a series of single-cell TP4056 charging modules.  Before I completed it though, I came to realize that every other 18650 hobbyist out there had the same idea.  No big deal, still need one.

I initially wanted to design a slick 3D printed frame for it, but I was getting hung up fleshing out the concept.  So I abandoned that and just hacked it together out of whatever was laying around.  Mainly a chunk of 2×4, a piece of baseboard trim, some aluminum channel, and a few sticks of one-bys.

 

 

I glued the modules on the aluminum bar.

 

 

 

Then it was time to start soldering wires to the modules.

 

 

I just used what wires I had on hand, cat 5 ethernet cable, but I wouldn’t use them again.  They’re too brittle and break too easy.

 

 

I hooked up these little amp meters to each bank of four cells, just to keep tabs of what each group is doing.

 

 

Kind of a mess on the bottom.

 

 

 

I’m plugging it in to my 40 amp 12-volt power supply.  Master switch on the left, then it goes to the 15-amp dc-dc converter to dial the current down to 5 volts for the charging modules.  There’s a volt meter just above the power switch that displays the output of the dc buck converter.  Then it’s the amp displays, TP4056 modules, cell holders, and a fan on the right.  The charging modules get pretty toasty so some airflow is nice.

 

 

It has been working really well.

Aviation&Hoosierville27 Aug 2016 04:02 pm

Aviation09 Sep 2015 09:37 pm

Anyone who’s done any work with electronics knows about magic smoke.  It is the vital component necessary for any electronic item to function.  If you let the magic smoke out of a circuit board or electrical component, it will not work anymore.

I never thought about it before, but wires need magic smoke to work too.

I was wiring up some electronics recently and due to the small battery size (800 mAh 2 cell lipo) I needed to use JST connectors.  I hate JST’s, they’re too tiny.  I don’t have a special crimpers for them and they’re just difficult to work with.

Because of that, I had previously purchased JST leads with the ends already put on, so for this project I just grabbed a lead and hooked everything up.  I plugged the battery in and got a little snap and puff of smoke.  Magic smoke.

Well that’s not good.  I was afraid I had punctured the ESC and let the magic smoke out of it, but then I saw that it was actually just the wires that were damaged.

 

 

Wires are cheaper than an ESC, so if you’re going to release some magic smoke, you might as well let it out of the wires.

Turns out the polarity of the cheapo lead I was using was opposite of my battery.  I had not checked it, obviously, I guess I had a naive faith in some industry standard that would be adhered to by even the cheapest manufacturers.

 

 

No such luck.  As you can see in the picture above, black and red are not lining up the way they would in an ideal setting.

 

 

Black to red – a tried and true way to liberate some magic smoke.

 

Family21 Aug 2015 10:49 pm

When my daughter Allison, 7 years old, learned that her great uncle Cloy had died, she was inconsolable. “Why did God let him die, why couldn’t he make him well? Why did so many of my great aunts and uncles die? And I lost the paper with Great Aunt Grace Roth’s name on it, what if I forget her name? Three of my grandpas have died! I only have one grandpa left. I just want to talk to Great Uncle Cloy one more time, right now I can’t even remember what he looks like.”

Beyond assuring her that I would help her remember Aunt Grace’s name and show her pictures of Uncle Cloy, I didn’t know what to say. So we just laid on her bed and cried together.

Then I told her that Uncle Cloy had been very sick. He had finished all the work that God had for him to do, so Jesus said it was time for him to come home to Heaven.

Hope said that Cloy once told her “Man is immortal until his life’s work is done”, so maybe that was the right thing to say.

I’m sure many people would testify that a big part of Cloy’s life work was encouragement. He didn’t seem to hold back when it came to encouraging others, he certainly didn’t with me. I remember soon after starting to sing in my quartet how Cloy and Norma went out of their way to be so supportive and encouraging. In fact, if I remember correctly, one of the first times we sang outside of our home church was when Cloy had us come sing for the morning service at his church. And over the years that encouragement was always there, and it meant so much to me.

This summer the quartet got together for a reunion concert, and afterwards I thanked Cloy for all the encouragement he had given over the years, often when there probably wasn’t much to encourage! He didn’t seem to think he had done anything special, but I know better than that. And even from our conversation that night as he told me of people and events in his life from the last few years, it was plain to see I was just one of many to be on the receiving end of his tremendous encouragement.

What an incredible example he was, I am truly blessed to be his nephew.

Aviation&Family27 Aug 2014 07:51 pm

One Saturday morning last month, Jewel woke me up extremely early and said “Go look in the backyard!” I could hardly believe it, two hot air balloons had taken our backyard as their landing pad.   The first one was already deflated, but the second was still upright.       Someone from the chase crew had knocked on the door and asked if they could land in the backyard.                     The kids had great fun, they helped pack it up and also got to hop in the gondola.    

The ITF Airfield will always be open to hot air balloons.  We also really appreciate low flybys of any type of aircraft.сондажи

Family08 Jun 2014 03:35 pm

Alexis Erica was born last night at 7:56.  She weighed 8lb 5oz, was 20.5 inches long, mother and baby are both doing great.  Her brothers and sisters are very excited!

 

 

 

 Сео

Family02 Aug 2013 09:08 pm

I got a package recently from my sister-in-law Anisa.  It contained a small blue shirt.   She said that it needed to go back to its owner for his boys to wear!

It was mine in school, eventually Mom gave it to Tyler to wear.  At some point it was passed on to Duane, and now three decades later it has come full circle.   It’s a little long but otherwise fits just-turned-3-years-old Josh fine.  If he doesn’t destroy it Bradley will wear it someday too.

And if it hasn’t been destroyed by now, it may well be nearly indestructible!

 

 

 Сео

Family&Music02 Apr 2013 11:19 pm

There’s a possibility that she doesn’t have enough stage fright! I think we’re going to start covering proper stage etiquette soon.

строителство на къщи

Audio&Family01 Jan 2013 08:03 pm

A few weeks ago Mandy had her first solo in church singing “Jesus Loves Me.” She did a terrific job.

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