★★★★George Graves★★★★ Project Blog for e30 Gizmos and Gadgets - 2025 UPDATE

Collapse
X
 
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • george graves
    I waste 90% of my day here and all I got was this stupid title
    • Oct 2003
    • 19986

    #346
    Lots of parts and tools starting to come in.


    Recent mouser.com order. My biggest yet.


    Genuine "molex" crimpers. These are the crimpers needed to crimp the tiny pins onto wire that you then use to create a custom electrical connector. Different than what you would buy in a hardware store. Maybe I can get a close up of how they work some day. The copper part to the left is a "hot knife" blade. It's used for cutting wiring sheathing and braiding.






    2ft. roll of wire sheathing for building sensor wiring harnesses. 1000ft of the good stuff.

    So, one thing I'm studying is the correct way to build wire harnesses. If you ask around, everyone will point you to a NASA document. Kinda cool. Turns out they had to deal with this stuff for years, and literally, wrote the book on it. It's mostly common sense.









    My goal is to be able to make professional grade harnesses and interconnects where it's required. Some of the stuff I've see is over kill for a street car. Other stuff (like using cat 5 cable) is quite clever if you use it for things protected in the interior of the car(just saw that alpha-n uses it). Once you leave the confines of the cabin, things need to be a bit beefier.

    But I think you can agree, there is nothing better than a well built, clearly labeled harness to make an install easier and much more trusted.

    Here are some example I'll use for inspiration/ideas - (these I believe are all Motec) - something like this is what I'll be doing. Not that's I'll need as many cables for a good long time. But I think you get the idea.



    Last edited by george graves; 03-05-2010, 11:32 PM.
    Originally posted by Matt-B
    hey does anyone know anyone who gets upset and makes electronics?

    Comment

    • ///M42 sport
      No R3VLimiter
      • Oct 2003
      • 3952

      #347
      really cool about the quality of your stuff. I was impressed with the dim module I bought from you.
      Renting my rear wheel bearing tool kit. SIR
      http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c5...ps6debf0b0.jpg

      Your signature picture has been removed since it contained the Photobucket "upgrade your account" image.

      Comment

      • george graves
        I waste 90% of my day here and all I got was this stupid title
        • Oct 2003
        • 19986

        #348
        There are basically two kinds of electrical parts. Through hole, and surface mount.

        Exact same parts - both through hole and surface mount:




        If you were to crack your grandma's television, you find a bunch of through hole parts. It's also the stuff you find in the parts drawers at radio shack. They are great because they are easy to work with, especially if you are prototyping something.

        The downside is that they are bigger then they need to be. So your circuit board is a bit bigger, and the case gets bigger and more expensive. And it needs all those pesky holes to mount into. But the real killer is that, over the last few years, the through hole chips have been disappearing - being replaced by surface mount parts. Almost everything will be surface mount in a few years(?). So sooner or later I'm going to have to switch to them, and now seems like a good time. I'll get into more of that later.

        On to the pictures- more stuff arriving:

        Brand new breadboard - some 3520 little holes that you can stick a component into(yep! thru hole components pop right in, surface mount parts require an adapter). It's let me design larger projects. Love it. Things tend to grow big quickly on these things - I needed the room.



        And it came with a nice 5 volt power supply for mocking up circuits.



        New breadboard wires - several hundred. These were donated to the project from a really great company in downtown Manhattan - www.Adafruit.com - if you think what I'm doing is neat, and you want to try building something yourself, give them a try! They have a really cool UBS charger kit for iPods and cell phones. Cool beans!


        OBC air temperature sensor sales are looking up. Thanks to everyone that has bought one - I know that almost all of you. If you haven't and you enjoy reading this project - you should get one! They are only $10 shipped. Great way to support the cause.

        PAYPAL DIRECT LINK (click here):





        And I need to build some more parts storage, so I rescued some old fence pickets. More on that later.
        Originally posted by Matt-B
        hey does anyone know anyone who gets upset and makes electronics?

        Comment

        • george graves
          I waste 90% of my day here and all I got was this stupid title
          • Oct 2003
          • 19986

          #349
          3000 feet of wire - over 1/2 a mile. Should keep me stocked up for a while.
          Last edited by george graves; 03-11-2010, 07:16 PM.
          Originally posted by Matt-B
          hey does anyone know anyone who gets upset and makes electronics?

          Comment

          • george graves
            I waste 90% of my day here and all I got was this stupid title
            • Oct 2003
            • 19986

            #350
            New digital Weler iron to replace my aging iron. This puppy is awesome.
            Temperature feedback. Quick heat. Dozen of tips available.






            The iron is set to 533 in the picture - but digital displays on camera offten will snap the picture *in between* the time that the

            digit is lit. Digital LED displays use persistence of vision to trick you mind into thinking all the LED's are lit at once. But hey

            are almost never are. This picture reminded me that I'll have the same problem taking pictures of my LED displays. But I assume a

            tripod and a slower shutter speed will take care of it.
            Originally posted by Matt-B
            hey does anyone know anyone who gets upset and makes electronics?

            Comment

            • Simon S
              No R3VLimiter
              • Oct 2004
              • 3758

              #351
              I <3 gg projects.
              -----Zen and the Art of e30 Maintenance - / - Zen TOC - / - Zen Summary

              Comment

              • kronus
                R3V OG
                • Apr 2008
                • 13000

                #352
                gg, are you doing multiplexed digit output for your digital gauges?
                cars beep boop

                Comment

                • DanMan68
                  Wrencher
                  • Feb 2009
                  • 204

                  #353
                  Its funny, your econometer gauge makes me want a turbo...








                  Im such a nerd.

                  Comment

                  • george graves
                    I waste 90% of my day here and all I got was this stupid title
                    • Oct 2003
                    • 19986

                    #354
                    Originally posted by kronus
                    gg, are you doing multiplexed digit output for your digital gauges?
                    Maybe. I might use a LED driver. Depends on what uC I use, pins, space, ect. But I really want software controlled dimming, so as you adjust your dash lights, the LEDs of the gauge will fade up and down with it.
                    Originally posted by Matt-B
                    hey does anyone know anyone who gets upset and makes electronics?

                    Comment

                    • Jean
                      Moderator
                      • Aug 2006
                      • 18228

                      #355
                      GG - good work dude. I love my Weller station as well, although it's a little simpler than yours.
                      Mtech1 v8 build thread - https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/sho...d.php?t=413205



                      OEM v8 manual chip or dme - https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/sho....php?p=4938827

                      Comment

                      • kronus
                        R3V OG
                        • Apr 2008
                        • 13000

                        #356
                        Originally posted by george graves
                        I really want software controlled dimming, so as you adjust your dash lights, the LEDs of the gauge will fade up and down with it.
                        Sounds like a job for a 555 :p
                        cars beep boop

                        Comment

                        • TexasTerp
                          No R3VLimiter
                          • Jan 2009
                          • 3541

                          #357
                          I love your work, haven't purchased yet but I seem to just keep building a list of things I want (that and I need an e30 first....)
                          stephenbrody.com

                          Comment

                          • bejbis
                            E30 Addict
                            • Dec 2008
                            • 596

                            #358
                            George, im super jealous of all your new toys. I cant even begin to count the times i needed a decent breadboard and wires only to use a bunch of cat5 strands twisted together.

                            Im sure you know this already, but on the harness like the one you have pictured they used the higher end shrink tube with the hot glue inside. Makes it watertight and helps strained connections from pulling apart.

                            You also mentioned software dimming. And this is probably below your level of electronics experience, but this is a good read and Ive heard these kits are fun to play with. And this autospeed site has a lot of info of its capabilities, from a interior dimmer, to modifying voltages for engine tuning.

                            -Dan

                            Comment

                            • george graves
                              I waste 90% of my day here and all I got was this stupid title
                              • Oct 2003
                              • 19986

                              #359
                              Originally posted by bejbis
                              Im sure you know this already, but on the harness like the one you have pictured they used the higher end shrink tube with the hot glue inside. Makes it watertight and helps strained connections from pulling apart.
                              By higher end heat shrink tubing - you must mean 3M? Yea, that's what I'm using. I have a large order that should be here tomorrow. Come crazy 2" stuff too - I love 3m stuff. It's almost like they have a rule at the company, that if they can't make a kick ass product, they don't bother selling it.

                              Thanks for the tip about hot glue. I'm hesitant to use anything like hot glue in a car. Maybe I need to look at some of the pro hi-temp hot glues. In the last year or two I've been noticing lots of talk about them.

                              I wouldn't be surprised if that hot glue is actually an epoxy. At any rate, there are times you don't want to try and water proof something. Most of the time you fail in stopping 100% of the moisture - and succeed in trapping in water forever.
                              Originally posted by Matt-B
                              hey does anyone know anyone who gets upset and makes electronics?

                              Comment

                              • bejbis
                                E30 Addict
                                • Dec 2008
                                • 596

                                #360
                                Originally posted by george graves
                                Thanks for the tip about hot glue. I'm hesitant to use anything like hot glue in a car.
                                Guess i said it wrong, its technical name is 'adhesive lined heat shrink tube' its basically a dual layer shrink tube with the inner layer being about the consistency and stickiness of hot glue when you put the heat gun to it.

                                -Dan

                                Comment

                                Working...