Looking for Microcontroller Recommendations
in [Design]
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From: krw on 16 Jan 2010 15:09 On Sat, 16 Jan 2010 13:41:17 -0600, "RogerN" <regor(a)midwest.net> wrote: > >"krw" <krw(a)att.bizzzzzzzzzzz> wrote in message >news:e524l51tm7q1rb4sk0e6v8dq8sbv8squud(a)4ax.com... >> On Sat, 16 Jan 2010 03:38:42 -0600, "RogerN" <regor(a)midwest.net> >> wrote: >> >>>Thanks for all the fantastic recommendations! It seems like for many of >>>the >>>microcontrollers it doesn't cost much to get going at a hobby level. I >>>ordered a PIC18 something starter kit that comes with a PICkit2 >>>programmer/debugger and I ordered a PICkit3 Debug Express. >>>I also have an Atmel STK500 starter kit that I bought around 10 years ago >>>and have hardly used. I downloaded Arduino software and GNU C compiler >>>for >>>the AVRs. >>>I plan to look into the other stuff that I'm not familiar with but sounds >>>interesting, such as the Texas Instruments, Silabs, Arm, etc. >>> >>>At work some of our electricians hacked into alarm clocks to automatically >>>start their car a few minutes before the end of their shift. They have >>>the >>>Bulldog security remote starter and said it has an input you can use to >>>start your car, where we work is too far from the parking lot to use the >>>remote. That would be a nice microcontroller project, use a temperature >>>sensor and RTCC, if it's freezing out, start the car so many minutes >>>before >>>the end of shift, the colder it is, the more warm up time is allowed. >> >> Be careful here. It's very easy to burn up a starter, wiring, or at >> least kill a battery, when you least want a dead battery (BT). Even >> professionally installed car starters cause enough problems to >> invalidate car warranties. There is a *lot* to consider here. I >> certainly wouldn't play with a car starter. I found it easier to move >> to the South. ;-) >> > >They have the Bulldog Security remote car starter installed and working, >hopefully the bugs are worked out of it. I thought they were rolling their own starter. A commercial unit is better but still will do exactly the wrong thing occasionally. DAMHIK ....and may void any warranty. >If I understand correctly, they >run the starter for a couple of seconds, if the car doesn't start, it will >try again so many seconds later, running the starter for maybe 3 or 4 >seconds (or something like that). Car starters also have to monitor RPM to detect the start. Sometimes this doesn't work out so well. Multiple start attempts will often kill a battery. A human has a better chance of doing it right than a generic auto-starter. They work great, when you don't need them. >Also, they said it will only run the car >up to 15 minutes and then shuts off unless the ignition switch is turned on. Yes, but starting under all conditions is the real problem. >One guy took a battery operated alarm clock and wired a transistor to the >alarm, I'm not sure what the others did, but something similar. With a >microcontroller you could sense temperature, if it's above freezing you may >not want the car to start at all. > >In my position, I go to work at the same time every morning but I work over >some almost every day, so starting my car based on time wouldn't work for >me, starting by cell phone might though. But I don't want to have another >cell phone just to set in my car to start it a few days a year. Remote >starting would benefit me mostly in the morning but I'm in range to start my >car from inside if I wanted to. I had one of these things in my wife's car. Never again, and I only lost a battery (and had to put up with SWMBO's ire).
From: krw on 16 Jan 2010 15:21 On Sat, 16 Jan 2010 14:08:47 -0600, "Tim Williams" <tmoranwms(a)charter.net> wrote: >"Nico Coesel" <nico(a)puntnl.niks> wrote in message >news:4b520c58.595258812(a)news.planet.nl... >> That is not a PIC. That is a PIC32! A whole different beast. If you >> like your sanity, I wouldn't program those in assembly though (google >> 'MIPS one delay slot'). > >That's a neat feature. Wikipedia says most assemblers baby you though. > >If delay slots are hard for you, you must've never written 8086 assembler. >The inorthogonality is staggering until you get used to it. IA-32 and 64 >are better of course. I never had trouble with 8086 assembly. In fact I found it easier than most because there was only one place to put things so I didn't have to remember a synthetic register convention. ;-)
From: Falk Willberg on 16 Jan 2010 15:54 krw schrieb: > On Sat, 16 Jan 2010 20:36:41 +0100, Falk Willberg > <Faweglassenlk(a)falk-willberg.de> wrote: > >> RogerN wrote: >> ... >>> That would be a nice microcontroller project, use a temperature >>> sensor and RTCC, if it's freezing out, start the car so many minutes before >>> the end of shift, the colder it is, the more warm up time is allowed. >> Are you really going to waste 50% gas by blowing warm air (and harmful >> gases) out of the exhaust, torture the engine by running it cold and >> idle for minutes? > > 50%? A rough guess. Hot exhaust gases, heat radiation... > The car isn't "tortured" by running it at idle. OTOH, it isn't > good running a car at high speed until it's warmed some. Running an engine at low temperatures causes a lot of wear. Starting it and drive at reasonably low RPM is the best way to reach operating temperature in short time. > The car > needs to be started anyway. It may "waste" a little gas by idling a > *little* longer than normal. The amount of waste depends on what you consider a "little longer". >> Why not use an auxiliary heater and control this with a micro? >> That would be a smart approach. > > With what are you going to power this "heater". Electricity (from > where?) rather than waste heat? Not necessarily electricity. This is common practice in Scandinavia. Auxiliary heaters can be powered with gas or diesel. Besides that there are two types. One heat the coolant, thus heating the car's inside and avoid cold starting the engine. The other type only heats the inside of the vehicle. Both have a much better efficiency than an idling engine. http://www.webasto.us/am/en/am_auto_heaters.html Falk
From: RogerN on 16 Jan 2010 16:07 "Falk Willberg" <Faweglassenlk(a)falk-willberg.de> wrote in message news:hit41r$pvm$1(a)news2.open-news-network.org... > RogerN wrote: > ... >> That would be a nice microcontroller project, use a temperature >> sensor and RTCC, if it's freezing out, start the car so many minutes >> before >> the end of shift, the colder it is, the more warm up time is allowed. > > Are you really going to waste 50% gas by blowing warm air (and harmful > gases) out of the exhaust, torture the engine by running it cold and > idle for minutes? When it's iced over, we walk out to our car, start it, and scrape ice from the windows. After it starts warming up the ice scrapes off easily. Seems like either way the car needs to warm up to get the windows clean, the only difference is if it's warming up before we get there or after we get there. > Why not use an auxiliary heater and control this with a micro? > That would be a smart approach. > > Falk Do you have a recommended energy source to warm the car? LP? RogerN
From: Falk Willberg on 16 Jan 2010 16:17
RogerN schrieb: > "Falk Willberg" <Faweglassenlk(a)falk-willberg.de> wrote .... >> Why not use an auxiliary heater and control this with a micro? >> That would be a smart approach. > Do you have a recommended energy source to warm the car? LP? Gas or diesel: http://www.webasto.us/am/en/am_auto_heaters.html Falk |