My Robot

OBD reader : Data, error codes and erase error codes

2011-10-11T22:42:00.013+08:00

The OBD reader now has the capability to read error codes and erase them after repair. It can read up to 10 error codes (I think nobody needs more than 10 error codes... unless you are a repairman. Several error codes is enough to get you to the workshop and get professional help).

One thing good is that the error codes for Proton EMS700 and ems400 is in accordance with the standard error codes. You can find the codes and what it means from the internet. This one lists the error codes

http://www.nology.com/OBD2FaultCodes.htm

This one has details on the symptoms and recommended solutions.

http://www.obd-codes.com/trouble_codes/

The new upgraded software also has improved data speed. The display now is a lot more responsive and real time.

Here is a video of the dashXtender...

OBD reader new update

2011-05-02T23:01:00.008+08:00

The OBD based dashboard extender for PROTON Campro engine was squeezed into small electronic hobby box.

I read recently that someone managed to get Scangauge to work on PROTON persona elegance. He mentions that the new Scangauge has updated firmware and should work with Campro based engine. I certainly have doubts as it was unlikely (in my opinion) that Scangauge people would consider upgrading their kit for such a small market. My feeling is that, it is the new PROTON ecu that is compatible with OBD2 protocol. Note that the new Persona has new 32bit ECU, unlike its predecessors.

Thus,I still think the kit shown in this picture is the only one that works on older EMS400 and EMS700 ecus....; ). I can also change the codes for use on Perodua MyVi.

Things that can be shown:
1. engine rpm
2. throttle position
3. engine coolant temperature in degree Celcius
4. intake air temperature
5. Injection pulse width in milliseconds
6. intake manifold pressure
7. oxygen sensor correction factor
8. load (this is actually volumetric efficiency)
9. oxygen sensor voltage
10.Battery voltage
11.lambda adaptation 1 and lambda adaptation 2 (I am not sure what these are, but are available from the ECU data)
12. fuel consumed in liter (calculated by my own calculation)
13. Fuel economy in litre/100km. This is average fuel economy.(calculated by my own calculation)
14.fuel consumption in km/liter. This is instantenous data. (calculated by my own calculation).

The display can be in the form of digital values and also simple horizontal bar graphs.

The new source codes also assists for acceleration tests to be carried out. (Passby and standing start acceleration tests). It prompt the driver to execute the tests and automatically measures and display the data.

Interested? Leave a comment below or email azrisyamil AT yahoo DOT com.

And here is another equally poor quality video.

and here is another

Student project using OBD reader

2011-03-21T22:34:00.003+08:00

Here are some example data obtained from the OBD reader as was collected by one of the student groups. This is actual driving in KL. I think this is from Kajang to KLCC. Here it can be seen that the fuel economy changing along the route. At beginning of the route, at kilometers 5-10 and at 17kms there are peaks of fuel consumption (in litre/km). This could be due to traffic jams etc. Thus, if there are 2 routes available, one can compare the data and tell which route is more cost effective.

Below is the raw data of engine rpm, vehicle speed and injection pulse width. There are other data that can be monitored.

There are a lot more possible projects that can be carried out using the OBD reader. One can plot the fuel consumption along major roads in major cities and relate that to CO2 emissions. Hence hot spots can be plotted on a map.

One can also monitor the data when driving in Malaysian cities and compare the driving pattern to the adopted emission test cycles (based on European test cycles). See whether the adopted test cycles represent our roads and cities. See whether the emissions measured by the adopted test cycle over or under-estimate the real emissions produced when driving in our own cities.

One can test different fuels and see whether there are significant differences

One can test all gadgets/additives on the market and see whether they really perform as claimed.

and many more......

Diesel Common Rail System pressure controller and injector driver

2011-03-21T22:06:00.014+08:00

Here are the diesel common rail pressure regulator controller that I developed ( it is the strip board on the left, inside the black box). It is based on simple PID control. The output is a pulsed voltage to the regulator.

On the right is the injector driver, with 2 potentiometers to adjust the injector pulsewidth and the rpm. Both are driven from a PC power supply. Refer to earlier post on how to make use of PC power supply units. Note the large capacitor, it is used to store enough charge for the initial opening of the injector. The injector needs 50V to initiate. The other picture shows the voltage trace for the injector operation.

It seems that this topic on the injector driver may be of interest to many people, I am posting the schematics and the source codes. Again I am using the PicBasicPro compiler.

Note that I do not guarantee that this will work for any other applications. In my case, it works but not very reliable. Use at own risks. Modify the circuit as seems fit (e.g. increase the voltage to 80V, isolate the microcontroller better (use optoisolator?), adjust the capacitance, etc). If anyone has managed to make it work better, please let me know by putting some comments below.

The schematic above I got from the internet.I think this is from Freescale. An article here may be useful http://www.eetimes.com/design/automotive-design/4019437/Trading-Fuel-for-Silicon--151-How-Electronics-Drive-Fuel-Efficiency

Below is my own circuit. This is for one single injector operation only.

HERE is the hex file.

HERE is the picBasicPro file.

There is LCD display showing the pulsewidth and also the delay in between the pulses.

There are also 2 potentiometers to adjust the pulsewidth and the delay between pulses.

Make sure you have strong 12 or 14volt supply (maybe from a car battery)

Also make sure you don't short out the high voltage circuits. This could be damaging to the circuits as well as give quite a nasty bang (you don't want to touch it). Put adequate insulation (maybe you want to put some tapes/silicon/hot glue underneath the board, if you are using stripboard/vero board)

the idea is to charge the capacitor by switching the injector on/off from12V repeatedly at certain frequency (I cannot remember what frequency that I used). This is done from the low side driver (i.e. repeatedly connect and disconnect the injector to ground) This charges the capacitor up to 50V (you may want to increase the capacitor to make it 80V).

Then switch on the injector (low side driver) and send voltage from the capacitor for a short time ( this also I cannot remember) by using high side driver. After that, switch off the high side driver and switch on 2nd high side driver to give 12 (or 14 Volt,depending on your supply).

Repeat the process.

Schematics and source codes for the pressure regulator control will be later.

OBD reader

2011-03-21T21:32:00.007+08:00

just plug to the OBD port.

Here are some pictures of OBD reader that I've made. It has similar functions as Scangauge in showing real time data of the engine operation. The only difference from those available on the market is that my system will work on Campro based PROTONs and possibly Perodua MyVi. No other system on the market that can work on these cars.

Things that can be shown:
1. engine rpm
2. throttle position
3. engine coolant temperature in degree Celcius
4. intake air temperature
5. Injection pulse width in milliseconds
6. intake manifold pressure
7. oxygen sensor correction factor
8. load (this is actually volumetric efficiency)
9. oxygen sensor voltage
10.Battery voltage
11.lambda adaptation 1 and lambda adaptation 2 (I am not sure what these are, but are available from the ECU data)
12. fuel consumed in liter (calculated by my own calculation)
13. Fuel economy in litre/100km. This is average fuel economy.(calculated by my own calculation)
14.fuel consumption in km/liter. This is instantenous data. (calculated by my own calculation).

The display can be in the form of digital values and also simple horizontal bar graphs.

At present I am working on displaying error codes or diagnostic trouble codes (DTC).

There is also a version of the kit that can tell the driver when maintenance is due (based on kilometer and calendar). This also includes reminder of road tax and insurance renewal.

The new source codes also assists for acceleration tests to be carried out. (Passby and standing start acceleration tests). It prompt the driver to execute the tests and automatically measures and display the data.

And here is a video showing the kit in action. Poor quality video, though..

week 9 fuel systems

2011-01-16T10:18:00.006+08:00

For week 9, HERE and HERE areadditional lecture materials.

Please also get THIS macro codes for your StamPlotPro to communicate with the black box (I don't have a name for the thing!).I think they should now work on MyVi, the last test with Irvy's car seems to work.

Please get your own USB to serial converter (buy them from computer store, it may cost you RM25 at Serdang stores) and make sure you install the right driver. So far, I've only used driver for Vista.I am not sure whether you can get USB to serial driver for Windows7.I am pretty sure there are drivers for Vista and XP.If you are using windows7, search the internet and see whether you can find one.

We may want to try start the system on Monday and see whether you can get some data. I have 4 units of blackbox, three more are with some of you (1 with Chong, another with Karim. I am not sure who has the other one.) You may want to bring them Monday. There is an upgrade of the codes and the chip.

Week 8 Fuel System 2

2011-01-08T23:59:00.007+08:00

lecture notes for week 8 is HERE and HERE. HERE is additional material.

Exercise questions are HERE and HERE.

Some other reading materials that you may find interesting are HERE. HERE. HERE.

For assignment project, here is new macro codes for the graphical user interface. Please make sure that you have the USB to serial converter that has the driver suitable for you operating systems (windows vista,etc).

Lecture notes for Thursday 30th Dec

2010-12-28T22:14:00.004+08:00

Lecture note for Thursday 30th Dec is HERE.

some other readings materials are HERE and HERE

lecture notes and exercise 27 dec 10

2010-12-25T23:08:00.003+08:00

Lecture notes for week beginning 27 dec is HERE.

exercise questions are HERE

Lecture Notes for Week 3

2010-12-13T22:46:00.001+08:00

Lecture notes for Thursday week 3 is HERE

software for projects

2010-12-02T11:47:00.004+08:00

get these softwares and install. HERE. also HERE.

Get these pictures and save into the stamplotpro V3.8b/media/comp in directory where you have installed the stampPlot software. HERE. HERE. HERE. also HERE.

Fuel Systems2: Week 1

2010-12-01T00:03:00.003+08:00

Lecture notes for week 1. Combustion theory is HERE

lecture notes for week 9 Fuel System 1

2010-08-29T21:28:00.005+08:00

additional notes for week 9 can be found HERE

lecture notes for week 5 & 6, Fuel System 1

2010-07-31T16:16:00.005+08:00

lecture notes can be found HERE and HERE

Lecture notes for week 4 Fuel System 1

2010-07-23T23:20:00.003+08:00

The notes for lecture on 29th July can be found HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE HERE, HERE and HERE

Lecture notes for week 1 Fuel System1

2010-07-08T22:42:00.003+08:00

The lecture notes for week 1 : Fuel systems is HERE

Fuels and alternative fuels is HERE and HERE

HERE is the exercise questions

Please print and bring to lecture. You may need to scribble notes on them...

lecture notes for week 8 and 9

2010-01-29T10:00:00.007+08:00

Here are the lecture notes for week 8 and 9. Mind you that a test will be held at week 8 (4th Feb.)

Fuel Systems lecture notes for week 5 and week 6

2010-01-17T23:20:00.006+08:00

Here are the lecture notes for Fuel Systems week 5 and week 6. Week 5 was on the 14th Jan. Week 6 will be on the 21st Jan. Please print them and bring to lecture as you may want to scribble some notes on top of it.

lecture wk5

lecture wk6

HCCI single cylinder injection and ignition piggy back system

2010-01-17T12:59:00.006+08:00

This was done many-many months ago. Now I don't even remember how it should work exactly. But this was built to help my colleague doing his PhD work on HCCI engine. HCCI stands for homogenous charge compression ignition. He was working on a single cylinder direct injection research engine and trying to convert that to HCCI operation. The idea was to build a piggy back system that would take over the injection and ignition control of the engine. The system would truncate the fuel delivery pulse so that a very lean operation would ensue. The system was also supposed to cut off the ignition when operating in HCCI mode. To assist combustion, alternate firing of the spark was desired (alternate cycle will have ignition spark). There was also a swicth that would allow the engine to operate either on HCCI or on normal mode.

Sadly, the system was never tested. As I completed building it, my friend had found other options. Nonetheless, it was tested using relay in place of fuel injector, and some LED to show the ignition.

Here is the picure of the system. The top half is the simulated engine (relay and injector and LED as ignition).

I don't have the schematics drawn yet. But the source code is here

The HEX file is here

Lecture notes for Fuel Systems week 4

2010-01-15T18:12:00.004+08:00

The notes for week 4 lecture as below.Click to download.

notes week 4

Sensorless engine rpm counter update

2009-12-29T19:16:00.009+08:00

Here are some videos of the rev counter in action. Unfortunately, my effort to modify the display to make it brighter did not work quite well.

The second and third video are the improved display, by changing the pause time between each LED light up. The LED draws power from the PIC microcontroller, thus need to limit the current. They did not turn up very bright. The videos were captured early morning, before sun rise. I wanted to change the circuit and draw the power for the LED from power supply regulator, but it got messy and I damaged the whole thing.

One more thing, the rev counter works best when there is electrical load from the engine such as headlight or rear windscreen demister. Readings are more stable...

My new project is to develop a control system for a pyrolysis reactor. Part of it involves controlling the speed of a DC motor (in this case a cordless drill), without any speed encoder. I also used Selmaware's StampPlotLite software for computer control and data logging... Maybe more on that project later.

Universal Proportional Integral Derivative Controller

2009-07-12T16:31:00.006+08:00

It has been quite a while since my last post. For some reason or another, these 2 months were a bit hectic during the weekends. For the past few weeks the weekends were spent attending the Hajj (Pilgrimage) Crash Course. I am hoping to go for my Hajj this year. More on that later....

I've also put on hold the project on my HUD. I was asked by my colleague to develop a Proportional,Integral and Derivative (PID) controller for an engine test equipment. So that kept me away from the HUD project (will finish the HUD thing later). Then I thought this could also be used for any system that need PID control. This thing will take any 0-5 volt input (you can also make it 0-10 or whatever by putting a voltage divider). Then there is this PID algorithm that will compute the voltage output. The DAC0830 will then output this voltage. You can use to control whatever thing that require voltage output.

Sometimes you need to trick a system by giving false input. For example, you want to tell the engine that the intake manifold pressure is high so that the engine will inject more fuel. You will get more power. This same hardware can also be used. I've developed the source codes for this. You just need to recalibrate the voltage i.e. the actual one and the desired one.

Here are the components needed:

1. PIC 16F877 - 1 (RM27)
2. buttons - 4 units
3. DAC0830LCN - 1 unit (RM10)
4. op amp LF351N - 1 unit
5. 2pole dipswitch -
6. npn transistor C337 - 1 unit
7. relay (automotive type) CMA51-S-12V - 1 unit
8. LCd display
9. resistors
10. capacitors
11. 20MHz crystal
12 some length of wires

Oh ya, you also need the negative voltage supply. I got it from the old PC power supply. See my previous post on using this power supply.

PID source code is here . The hex file is here

Signal modifier code is here .The hex file is here

I don't have the schematics yet. Maybe later....

not much progress this week

2009-05-03T20:14:00.003+08:00

this weekend busy with some wedding receptions. The sensorless rpm meter progress was slow. Still struggling to get the right amount of lag filter into the codes.

The display is also a bit too dim for HUD during the midday. Will try to perfect this thing next week.

Update of sensorless engine rpm meter

2009-04-12T10:01:00.003+08:00

This is the project built onto strip board. It was quite a challenging project. The idea is to display this as a HUD (head up display) on the windscreen of my old kancil. That is what the 7segment LEDs for. I am hoping that the LEDs are bright enough to be projected onto the windscreen.

Haven't soldered the components yet. It took me a few hours just to put the component together.

Can't wait to solder everything and test it. Now I have to run my other errands first .....

Melayu.....

2009-03-29T21:07:00.002+08:00

Melayu Bangsat!?
Isteri kesayangan aku baru beli laptop ni. Pinjam duit aku. Janji nak bayar.
Aku tahu dia ada sikit flair into writing. Aku suruh dia menulis. Buleh dak jadi penulis. Buktikan dulu. Jangan main cakaaaaap je..
Buat dulu satu cerpen atau sajak ke..
Cerita buduh pun tak apa ....
Kalau aku pandai menulis dah lama aku ada novel sendiri. Atau pun koleksi antologi cerpen sendiri.
Ahhh... bukan susah sangat nak menulis ni. It is all about story telling. Cuba buat satu cerita dan tulis seolah-olah kau sedang bercerita. Guna gaya bersembang santai pun boleh. Asal ada flow cukup...
Lantaklah kalau tak berseni pun. Bukannya ramai melayu yang tahu menghargai seni. Tengoklah selera wayang mereka. Atau selera lagu mereka. Ataupun program TV mereka, drama pilihan mereka. Drama murahan dari Indonesia yang langsung tak masuk akal pun boleh diterima. Lagu lempeng hangus pun boleh ada tempat di hati mereka. Lauk masin pun boleh jadi lagu. Menang pertandingan pulak tu. Pertandingan apa? Entah, aku pun tak ingat. Melayu mudah lupa...
Apa lagi boleh dikatakan. Hatta novel picisan pun boleh diusulkan supaya jadi teks untuk sekolah. Memang teruk melayu ni.
Mari kita tengok apa definisi melayu yang diberikan oleh Sweetenham dulu. Apa? Tak kenal siapa Sweetenham? Memang sah jahil melayu nihh. Dulu cikgu aku pernah panggil melayu bangsat!. Ya, melayu ni bangsat! Walaupun cikgu tu sendiri pun melayu. Agaknya dia sorang yang tak bangsat...
Benarkah melayu ni bangsat? Bangsat di tanah air sendiri? Mengemis di bumi warisan sendiri? Mungkin juga.
Berbalik kepada definasi Melayu Sweetenham tadi. Mungkin kita boleh renung dan fikirkan sama ada masih tepat atau tidak setelah lebih seratus tahun berlalu. Beliau mentakrifkan.... Dia mentakrifkan melayu sebagai “....
Aahh... bacalah sendiri di website sabri zain ni.....

Lepas tu nilai sama ada masih relevan atau tidak. Kita boleh saja memilih untuk menuduh En Sweetenham tu bias atau ada agenda tersembunyi. Atau kita boleh juga melihat kajian dia itu secara objektif......

My latest invention - sensorless engine rpm counter

2009-03-28T12:32:00.013+08:00

It has been quite a while since my last post. Been busy with going to work and.... working on my new project.

I had this brilliant idea (so I thought...) of measuring engine speed (rpm) without having to go into the engine bay and meddle with the ignition distributor wiring. As such, I scrapped my plan to work on the 2-axis accelerometer and the odometer estimator and focus on this one instead.

Over the past few weeks I've been figuring out how it should work, it turned out that it was not as easy as I thought. And I was just about to give up when I managed to get it to respond the way I wanted it to.

Currently, it is still on the breadboard and the display is still on my laptop (using Selmaware's StapPlotPro). I plan to get it fixed on vero/strip board and use 4 pieces of 7 segment displays. Will start doing it today if possible.

The good thing about this engine rpm meter is that you do not require any connection except to the cigarette lighter socket for power.

This is the only thing that needs to be connected to your car.... Simple and easy..!!!

I will post more info when I'm done. Not sure whether I will post the schematics and source codes though....

Engine Oxygen Sensor reader

2009-02-13T09:16:00.011+08:00

This is just for fun. Another weekend project for the weekend warriors.

For most modern engines, there is air fuel ratio control to ensure efficient operation. Mostly aimed at reducing those harmful gases of the exhaust that destroys the environment. Also, it helps protect the catalyst. Too rich mixture can melt the catalyst.

Items

1. PIC16F676 - (RM8)

2. 7805 power regulator - (RM1)

3. Capacitor (ceramic) -(RM0.3 x 4=RM1.20)

4. Capacitors (e caps) -(RM2)

5. Resistors -(RM0.05x3=RM0.15)

6. KK connector7 way (male and female) and 4 way– (RM5?)

7. IC socket for the PIC16f676 -(RM1)

8. 4MHz crystal - RM(2.50)

9. strip board/vero board -RM(6.50)

10. diode 1N4007 -(RM0.30)

Tools

1. Solder

2. Pic programmer

3. Any compiler for PIC (I use PICBASICPro)

4. Download free Selmaware StampPlotLite

5. USB to Serial (COMport) converter – you can get it from computer stores.

Depending on the engine make, the voltage signal from the oxygen sensor vary. On my TOYOTA it is about 0.1 to 0.8 volts. I think for PROTON also about the same. Actually, what I built was just voltage meter, and plotted the voltage read out on the laptop.

First build the thing. The source codes is here. The source codes is in PICBASICPro. The hex file is here.

The schematics is here.

To connect the 9pin com port to the board – ground to pin5 of the 9pin port, serial out to pin 2 of the 9pin port.

Get the free Selmaware StampPlotLite. http://www.selmaware.com/stampplot/

Find the wires that leads to the oxygen sensor of the engine. Depending on the sensor type, comes with either 2 or 4 wires. Usually for the 4 wires, the black is ground,the red is 12v and one of the lighter coloured is the signal. First using multimeter. With engine ON, find the one that appears to have fluctuating signal.

Here is an example of the signal from the oxygen sensor. I save the data to excel. Note that there is a lot of noise in the data. I suspect that the noise comes from the poor serial communication ( there is a lot of invalid data coming in). I think that it is due to the inaccuracy of the crystal. Need to change that.

digital rpm tachometer untuk kancil

2009-01-27T10:51:00.010+08:00

Satu atau dua hari punya projek. Untuk weekend warriors:

Barang2:

1. PIC16F877 - sesuai kerana banyak port, boleh guna untuk LCD display (RM25)
2. 16x2 alphanumeric LCD display (RM27)
3. vero board/stripboard (RM6.50)
4. KK connector 7 pin complete with crimps (male and female connectors)(RM5?)
5. IC socket, 40pin (RM1?)
6. capacitors (E caps) - (RM2)
7. capacitors, ceramic 4 bijik (RM0.3x4=RM1.20)
8. crystal 4MHz (RM2.50)
9. diode 1N4007 - RM0.30 x 2 = RM0.60
10. zener diode (rm0.5x2 =RM1)
11. resistors (0.25Watt) RM 0.05 x 4 =RM0.20)
12. film capacitor - RM0.50
13. potentiometer, variable (untuk LCD contrast control)- RM3.50
14. power regulator, 7805 (RM1.00)
15. some length of wires
16. double sided tape
17. dua batang skru
18. solder
19. bekas ais krim (free, yang ni aku curi wife aku punya bekas kapur tulis. Dia cikgu sekolah)

board dan LCD display setelah disambung

Untuk kancil lama aku, dia punya ignition signal diambil di sini. Perhatikan wayar ungu kecik dalam gambar di bawah tu. Connector kat coil tu ada dua pin. Aku ambik pin yang bawah. Cucuk dengan pin yang selalu orang guna untuk pakai tudung kepala tu, hopefully water prooflah. Wayar tu aku masukkan melalui firewall, dengan cara tebuk satu penutup plastik dekat situ. Kalau boleh tutup lubang tu baik2 sebab tak mau wasap dari kompartment enjin tu masuk ke dalam cabin.

LCD dalam bekas aiskrim dipasang dekat sisi kiri tempat duduk pemandu. Guna double sided tape pun dah OK. Vero board tu aku letak dalam kotak dan sorok dalam glovebox.

Untuk lebih selamat, elok letak dalam kotak elok2 dan lekatkan di luar glove box. Power regulator tu agak suam2 jugak aku rasa. Biar ada ventilation, lebih baik. Kalau nak letak heat sink pun boleh. Tapi aku tak guna heat sink pun OK. Setakat ni letak dalam glove box saja pun aku dah pakai dekat sebulan. Paling jauh perjalanan setakat ni adalah dalam 200lebih km (dari Tronoh ke Nilai) dalam tiga jam.

lagi satu, LCD display tu elok letakkan jauh dari matahari. Nanti padam pulak dia.

Ni ada video rpm tachometer setelah siap semuanya.

Source code boleh didapati di sini . Tapi dalam PICBASICPro. Kalau nak migrate ke bahasa lain pun tak susah. Bahasa PICBASICPro ni mudah, very high level mnemonic. Kalu nak Hex file dia ada di sini.

Schematics di sini dalam bitmap format.

Next projek aku nak cuba fikirkan macam mana nak dapatkan odometer/tripmeter pulak. Untuk makluman, kereta buruk ni pakai cable untuk odometer dia. Jadi, tak ada electrical signal (digital atau analog). Ada dua pilihan: 1. hack dashboard meter tu, 2. Guna clever trick dengan rpm dan inertia measurement (guna dual axis accelerometer, tapi mahal sikitlah)

How to make use of old PC power supply

2008-11-21T09:55:00.005+08:00

I have 3 of those old power supply. At least 2 of them still works.Here is how to make use of the thing for power supply for other purposes.

This power supply has 5volts, 3volts, 11 (or 12?) volts and -11volts power. This is nice for electronics projects. For example, some IC's like the DAC requires negative voltage. It is available here without having to buy negative voltage generator.

Best of all, electronics dedicated power supplies costs at least RM100 or usually more. But in this case it is much cheaper. RM50?

The trouble is when you simply hookup this power supply to the 230volt supply,it will not work. Here is the trick that would make it work.

The black wire is ground. Using a multimeter, check each connectors and you'll find at least one wire with 3V and one with 5 V.

Most of the wires are red, black or orange. The other colours are one each.

Using 1kohm resistor, connect the 3V line to the other wires (not the red or black)one by one while monitoring the voltage across the black and redwire. Best to try connect the unique colour wires first to the 3 volt line. When you register 5 volts(or 12volts) across the black and red wires,the power supply unit is ready to go.

In my case, the 3 volt wire is green, and need to be connected to white wire for the power supply to work. Now I am off to do some projects..

Racial Relation

2008-11-11T07:02:00.001+08:00

Baru-baru ini Negara digegarkan dengan tuntutan untuk kesamarataan antara kaum. Ini diikuti oleh tuntutan balas untuk ketuanan Melayu dan memperthankan perlembagaan Negara. Buat kesekian kalinya artikel 153 perlembagaan itu disentuh banyak pihak. Mujurlah ada Raja-Raja Melayu yang bersuara menegur rakyat agar tidak berlebihan dalam membincangkan isu yang tentunya amat sensitive ini. Peranan Raja yang beginilah yang akan mengangkat martabat institusi raja di Negara ini. Selepas teguran Baginda, nampaknya tiada siapa yang berani menyentuh isu ini lagi.

Namun aku rasa perkara ini perlu terus dibincangkan tetapi secara tertib dan objektif. Aku boleh faham dengan ketidakpuasan hati masyarakat bukan melayu terhadap ‘preferential treatment’ terhadap kaum melayu. Kalau kita lihat generasi baru bukan Melayu mereka bukan sahaja merupakan anak kelahiran Negara ini, tetapi yang entah telah beberapa generasi lahir di sini . Yang mereka tahu inilah satu-satunya tanah tumpah darah mereka. Dan disinilah juga kasih merreka akan tertumpah. Walaupun mungkin ada segilintir yang terlampau kecewa dan mahu berhijrah, tapiaku rasa lebih ramai yang akan setia dengan Negara ini. Sebahagian besarnya tidak pernah pun menjejakkan kaki ke tanah asal nenek moyang mereka itu.

Apabila mereka rasa mereka telah dilayan sebagai rakyat kelas kedua, tentunya ini akan menimbulkan rasa tidak puashati. Namun apakah benar wujud layanan kelas kedua ini? Ini perlu kepada penilaian yang objektif. Apakah falsafah yang mendasari ‘preferential treatment”ini? Kenapakah dasar ini menyebabkan rasa layanan kelas kedua ini wujud? Apakah dasar ini yang perlu dipersalahkan atau perlaksanaannya?

Aku seorang Melayu. Walaupun mungkin ada yang pernah menyangka aku mamak restoran MegahMaju di Nilai ini. Namun aku Melayu.. Sebagai Melayu aku juga ingin supaya bangsa aku mampu bersaing dengan yang lain.Aku juga tidak mahu melihat bangsa aku selamanya bergantung kepada preferential treatment ini. Aku malu kalau jadi melayu yang tidak kompetitif dalam segala bidang. Aku mahu satu hari bangsa Malaysia ini bersaing atas dasar merit. Siapa kuat bekerja dia dapat. Inilah utopia nya. Siapa kuat bekerja dia dapat. Tapi benarkah begitu? Apakah realitinya? Itu nanti kita bincangkan lain kali….. This is me thinking aloud. Kalau ada sesiapa yang membaca dan ingin turut “thinking aloud’ dipersilakan……

Still Alive...!

2008-11-07T23:13:00.000+08:00

Man...! It has been 2 years since the last time I tried to write something.

Actually I did complete part of the robot. However, my computer went out of order and I lost all the source codes, pictures and everything. The BASIC STAMP was also damaged, for reasons I couldnot understand. And I had already dismantled the project.

This blog is actually meant as a medium for me to document all my doings. Hence I will try to put something on the robot project as well as other projects. There were also several other projects that I completed during this past years. The robot car, the stroboscope using LEDs, engine rpm counter/display (on laptop), engine lambda reader and water pump (hand operated) using PVC pipes.

First on the robot toy car project.

As I can remember it the following are the items used.
1. BASIC STAMP as the main controller (I don't know the price, maybe a few hundreds ringgits. There is cheaper option, using PIC microcontroller. PIC16F676 would be appropriate for RM9 only - 1k program memory, ADC, 12 IO ports)
2.L293D for motor driver (RM13)
3. light sensitive resistor. I don't know the porper name of this thing.... oh ya photoresistor?
4. resistors (RM0.05each)
5. capacitors(RM0.30 each)
6. breadboard for constructing thecircuit (RM15)
7. The RC car. battery operated. (RM50?)

One of the trouble with the operation was that the motor (DC motor) was quite powerful and draw a lot of current. The battery pack need to be adequate. I remember using 2 separate source of power for the STAMP and the motor. Otherwise the motor would draw so much current that the STAMP stopped working.

The other issue was the turning radius of the car. This made it to lost track of the light easily. In most wheeled robots, the robotcan turn on its axis and face the light. The way I overcame this is by having the car to make very fast three point turns everytime it sense that the light was lighter on one side. It is fun to see it making small three point turns in very rapid movement. Effectively one can see the robot to shake and turn towards the light source.

Unfortunately all the source codes were missing. I will see whether I can salvage the source codes from my old hard disk and post it here.

Next post will describe the toy car, its drive motor and the steering system.

Robot building: 1st post

2006-11-14T17:48:00.000+08:00

Okay, this is my real 1st post.

I’ve promised my son that I’ll show him how to make an autonomous robot by the time he reach 9. That was 2 years ago. Now he is almost 10. That promise was never fulfilled.

Guilty conscious, I have scrambled for the past several months to find ways to get it done. Luckily, I saw one advertisement for a workshop on robot building for 9-12 year olds during one of the school holidays. I sent my son, and his cousin, for that one day workshop. It cost me RM125. There, they were taught how to build robots by using the LEGO Mindstorm set. Interested, I asked the instructor how much it would cost to buy one of those sets.. RM3000! I later asked Sasbadi (the agent for LEGO Mindstorm in Malaysia) and found that the minimum set would cost me around RM2000!

I feel that it was too expensive. And I was convinced that to make the robot from scratch would be more fun.

Electronics is not my area, let alone robotics. However, I was determined to learn and build one on my own. I own one Parallax Basic Stamp2 microcontroller, which I bought six years ago. One good thing about Parallax is that they have good website with a lot of information. They also have robotics teaching modules for their Board of Education single board computer (?). That would be useful.

Here is the plan for the robot that I would like to make. I used a cheap radio control car as the base with all the drive motor, steering motor, wheels, and the chassis. This cheap RC car employs DC motors only. There is no servo motor. I will have to figure out how to drive this motors.

Since it is based on a RC car, I need to figure out how the robot would have to maneuvre e.g. through obstacles etc. with a slightly different technique as opposed to using 2 servo motors.

I plan to have photo sensors to make the robot either folllow or run away from bright light.

I will put the detail of the parts list in the next post.

First Post...

2006-11-13T08:25:00.000+08:00

Coming up next.....

plan, parts list, construction and experience of my first robot ... kalau projek tak terbengkalai lagi la.....