#245

[@Cptnbond]

Thanks, Ralf. I always find your episodes fascinating with all the tiny bits and pieces of advice. Cheers.

[@RalphBacon]

My pleasure! Glad you found it interesting.

[@CTCTraining1]

This is the sort of research I no longer have time to do myself... thx Ralph, much appreciated. 😀👍

[@RalphBacon]

My pleasure! Just things I've discovered along the way!

[@stevenfinken5835]

I subscribed just now. Not because you asked (sold, begged, advertised or promoted others). Not because you know more than I do. I subscribed because you talk about how you address your failed attempts and experiences as learning opportunities. We learn by doing, but we learn more by failing and finding solutions to our previous failures. Thank you for your experience, your expertise. Most importantly, thank you for sharing your results (good and bad). Keep it coming!

[@RalphBacon]

As they say, Steven, you can teach experience 😁. It's only from failures that we truly learn. So by now I _should_ be very knowledgeable... I wonder what happened to that theory? Welcome along, nice to have you here!

[@TheUnofficialMaker]

these connectors are the bomb! hot glued some Dupont jumpers and the wires became non-conductors!

[@RalphBacon]

DuPont cables are thin and delicate (inside the plastic covering). Although I have bought some super-duper quality ones and they are very different (but too expensive).

[@dom1310df]

On my boards I add footprints for the mosfet and two resistors required for level shifting, with a cuttable jumper directly connecting the GPIO pin to the neopixels. I only fit the components and cut the jumper if it turns out level shifting is required.

[@RalphBacon]

Sounds a sensible approach. I, too, could have just linked each LV pad to its equivalent HV pad do obviate the need for the actual level shifter. As it happens I decided to fit it, as I had one and I didn't want any hassle (my breadboard prototype included it).

[@ForwardGuidance]

I like my chicken wrapped with Bacon! Great video, Ralph.

[@RalphBacon]

Good choice! 🍗

[@geoffpanchaud967]

I've used white paper or a plastic milk bottle as a diffuser. Good tips and video. There must be lots of other plumbing accessories that can be used in projects!

[@RalphBacon]

Great point! I'm sure there are and I'll keep an eye out!

[@jimbarchuk]

The vent grill idea is excellent! The one word you didn't mention was convention. An idea, holes don't need to be a separate physical part. A pattern of drilled holes does the same thing. It takes a little more work and harder to look snazzy. Although, the hole pattern can be interesting in itself.

[@RalphBacon]

It was after my rather disappointing attempt to drill a regular pattern of holes that I came up with this idea, Jim. If I had drilled the holes _first_ before I had mounted the enclosure to the wall, _and_ had used my drill press I guess it would have looked better but these vents just look more professional IMHO. Whatever floats your boat 🛶 is the right solution!

[@vonries]

Thanks Ralph.

[@RalphBacon]

Most welcome, thanks for viewing, Steven.

[@benfranklin4524]

Lots of good advice here. I have tried a number of crimpers for small connectors and have watched a number of vids on the topic. For my needs the PA09 is best, although not everyone seems to agree, I certainly agree with Ralph here. Until I started using the PA09, my results were pretty random.

[@RalphBacon]

Thanks for sharing! I find the PA09 work really well, even though it's a two-crimp operation (but I don't make many cables so what's an extra few seconds?)

[@benfranklin4524]

@@RalphBacon I think the two-step process is the main negative that bothers other people, but at least for me, given my skills and tools, I get much, much more consistent results with the two-step process and that is the reason the PA09 is my "go-to" crimper for these connectors. Well worth the "extra" time for me.

[@jbrian8618]

Regarding the inch of water in the bins perhaps they need drainage holes in the bottom, won't stop you forgetting to close the lid but will stop a build up of water ;-)

[@jyvben1520]

and on blocks

[@RalphBacon]

The storage bins themselves have drainage holes and are on free-draining gravel trays (like car park egg crates). 🙄 The problem was that the containers in the bin did not have tight fitting lids so filled up with 🌧 water. I've replaced _most_ of those now with decent lids but I still don't want water in there!

[@gmanshackshack6822]

It would be VERY cool, if you would do an ESP32 deep dive into Bluetooth programming... Especially the SPP and A2DP profiles.

[@help137]

Yes, this!

[@RalphBacon]

Hmm, sounds interesting. I'll think about that. Seriously. 👍

[@wayne8113]

Thanks Ralph

[@RalphBacon]

And thank you too, Wayne. 👍🏻

[@flemmingchristiansen2462]

Good pliers are ain't cheap but good tools do half the work. I'm using a Plato SN-01BM to crimp JLC connectors. It can hold the pin while you insert the wire and it crip wire an insulator in one go. As wire stripper in using an old, 30 years old, RS 243-257. It is still on sale at Radio Parts but hold on to your chair, it is expensive.

[@RalphBacon]

Yes, I have a similar tool for DuPont cable-type crimps but it's still fiddly. I checked out the wire stripper you mention (pricey!) but I still prefer mine. A personal thing, obviously. 🙄

[@johntoe6127]

Nice video Ralph. By the way, you can use an IC Puller to take those JST connectors right out.

[@RalphBacon]

Good tip! That's if you have enough room to get the IC Puller into position (which is half the problem with my wall-mounted Smart Heater Controller, it's a bit packed in there!). I'll try it soon.

[@TheUnofficialMaker]

Found a cool tool in a grab bag at estate sale, very useful for holding wires while soldering, picking up components, etc. Give it a look, similar one: Alligator Ear Forceps 3.5'' & 5.5'' Serrated

[@RalphBacon]

Good grief, they look like surgical forceps! Actually I use something called a Third Hand which is similar in principle: alligator clips on flexible arms all attached to a base. Very useful for holding wires and even PCBs whilst soldering.

[@brianwest7344]

bin has bit of water in it, tip it over and pour out, but no some of us have to build an early warning detection system for bin lids!!!

[@RalphBacon]

Those bins are big and heavy, too big to just pick up and tip over - and all the components in them would end up all jumbled together. So my EWDS is a good excuse to use ESP32s, nRF24L01s, NeoPixels, discover some decent connectors... it's what it's all about, Brian! (Keeps me out of my wife's hair too). 😅

[@TheEmbeddedHobbyist]

Ralph if you think those crimpers are expensive, look on RS for what a professional pair would set you back. If you add a 0 to the price tag you will get a crimper to do the whole think in a single go. Normally the wire insulation crimp is a different size to the wire crimp part. Do you different parts of the tool to perform the complete crimp. I was watching a collection of crimpers at auction from a company I had worked at, so I knew the quality and how the tools were handled was very good. But the 9 or so crimpers went for just over £1000. I had stopped bidding at £100 😞

[@RalphBacon]

RS is sooo expensive on tools - I guess they are aimed at professionals who really need that quality and durability. I guess for my few the one I showed will just have to do me! I use the same bit of the tool for both parts of the crimp (I followed the makers instructions to the letter).

[@TheEmbeddedHobbyist]

@@RalphBacon The problem with a good crimp is that it performs a cold weld which provides a good and lasting connection. A not so good crimp provides a resonable connection but not as good in the long term. but great for us hobbtists of which i class myself as now. The days of having to sign out a crimper and count the number and type of crimps made and adding it to the tool sheet are now behind me, i'm glad to say. i did like the large dancing spider in the lower indicator.

[@georgef7754]

That crimper is even more earth shattering in NZ $. An updated EasyEDA video will be great. Thanks.

[@RalphBacon]

Worth every penny, I'm sure. An updated EasyEDA video? Hmm. 🤔

[@ArenasWorld]

Hi there, I've been using the YEFYM* YE-013BR to crimp my XH wires, it's absolutely wonderful and relatively affordable. The tabs on those KF2510s look rather similar ( massive thanks by the way! I've been looking for the proper model name of these for ages ), so I wouldn't be surprised if it worked for those as well. I'll be ordering KF2510 connectors some time soon for higher power projects, so unless I forget I'll update here!

[@RalphBacon]

Glad you found it useful! Now I have both sets of connectors and I can use the one most suitable for what I am connecting (I suspect the KF2510s will be used most, especially as I have lots of pre-crimped wires of various 'ways' and I have the crimper too!)

[@MUHAMMADYAWARIFRAHEEM]

Very informative video Sir

[@RalphBacon]

Thanks and welcome, Muhammad 😉

[@jcxtra]

Cool that you took the idea of using nRF24L01+ when we were talking about it :) It's been a while since I've played with the Adafruit Neopixel Library, but you can fade all the colours, probably the easiest way would be to assert colour, then brightness then do strip.show().

[@jcxtra]

I know the WS2812FX library can do some amazing fades (comes with 50+ effects) and it uses the adafruit library for talking to the hardware, definitely possible with just the raw adafruit library too! :)

[@RalphBacon]

What I found (and Adafruit warn against) is that you can't set the strip (or circle) to a nice shade of pink and then fade it up and down. What happens is that it works initially then switches off entirely. Only works with primary R, G, B colours for me. I'll check out both FastLED and WS2812FX library, thanks for the heads up!

[@TYGAMatt]

Blimey, those crimpers ain't cheap!

[@RalphBacon]

But I do feel they are worth it if you need to make those sort of crimps. If not... well, then not!

[@TYGAMatt]

@@RalphBacon Oh I agree with you 100% Ralph. In fact I plan to take a close look at my XH2.5 crimpers this morning, as the success rate with them is not perfect, and will grab a pair ot the crimps you recommend. As an engineer, I have no issue paying for the proper tools to make my life easier.

[@TYGAMatt]

@@RalphBacon Oh well. Pulled the trigger on the crimpers. Got a box of the KF connectors while I was at it. Good luck if you ever meet my Ms Ralph. You have a lot of explaining to do as I blamed you as always of course :-) LOL!

[@RalphBacon]

Nothing to do with me. Never heard of you. Who are you and why do you keep commenting here? 🤣

[@TYGAMatt]

@@RalphBacon 😉😉😉

[@egonsvensson2728]

I think youtube censored my comments about alternatively using breathable IP-Rated Vents for outdoor project boxes, tried it twice but they didn't stick, just disappeared. Lets see if refrasing will do the trick :) Good content as always Ralph! 👍

[@RalphBacon]

Oh no! YT is quite draconian in censoring comments; don't put any links (other than to YT videos) or that is the kiss of death for sure! I will look for those vents as it would do the containers good to get some fresh air in there.

[@egonsvensson2728]

@@RalphBacon Might have just been the word "Sear*h", I didn't even put any links in the comment.

[@blic-sx9ix]

Ralph, A couple of things. The Adafruit Neopixel library can do HSV to RGB conversions to control brightness (the V in HSV). Second do you find it better to declare 3 Neopixel objects rather than just daisy-chain the rings and declare 1 Neopixel object? I guess I always like to save the MCU pins when I can.

[@RalphBacon]

I'll double check the brightness capability, thanks for the heads up (although my caveat was quoted from Adafruit's own page). Yes, I chose the three different Neopixel objects as they are each controlled by a dedicated task that just "does its thing" depending on the state of its individual bin. It's almost 3 identical projects in one box. Makes for much easier coding (and debugging). I did have rather grandiose ideas about having special LED patterns per bin but, frankly, I'm a bit bored with flashing LEDs now so I'll park that until the cold, dark winter is upon us!

[@dennis8196]

I have no idea why people glue Dupont connectors together. I've seen this so often. I buy Dupont connectors outers in SIL and DIL by however any many I need eg 2x6. Gluing to the board is fine for a home project, but for a production run of several, commercial application etc then other connectors are significantly better. Dead right about the hotsnot not being real glue, it's useful for some applications, but it's not a wonderglue.

[@RalphBacon]

I only glued them together whilst prototyping... but sometimes it comes along for the real project 😲 But no more! The KF2510 connectors are the answer for me!

[@geoffdailey1955]

I hawe IWISS 2820M (28-20AWG, 0.7-2.2mm) and 2412M (24-12AWG, 2.2-3.4mm) crimpers about £17 each from Aliexpress, and IWISS FSA-0626 stripper (22-10AWG, 0.6-2.6mm) about £10 . All appear to be good quality and I've been using them for some time with very satisfactory results.

[@RalphBacon]

That's the $64,000 question, Geoff: are you satisfied with the item you bought? In your case you say you are so your money was well spent. I say the same about the two "ENGINEER" products I showed, but that was after using some inferior tools for years that was just frustrating. Thanks for the model numbers, always good to share info like that. 👍🏻

[@geoffdailey1955]

@@RalphBacon You're right. My only basis for comparison is some cheap unbranded ones. These IWiss ones are a major step up, and good enough for a hobby user, I think, but I can't claim expertise. Is there aother step up from these to the "engineer" ones? There may be. I don't know.

[@FairlyOldGit]

Ventilation panels and project boxes become easy with a 3D printer!

[@RalphBacon]

Tell me about it. But (a) I have no printer and (b) I wouldn't know how to use it if I did get one. A bit of a Catch-22 situation. Did you just buy one and learn as you went?

[@TheUnofficialMaker]

@@RalphBacon Paul McWhorter has just started a series on learning fusion 360 and 3d printing using Creality Ender 3 V2 3D Printer $279

[@RalphBacon]

I'll check him out, thanks for the heads up! [Edit] Found his video lesson 1.

[@kentswanson2807]

This will save me trouble checking out connectors. Thank you. My 0.0002 worth. Save the moving and blinks lights for when there is a bin open or some sort of problem. That way it only grabs your attention when it is needed.

[@RalphBacon]

You could be right: report by exception, but I do need something running all the time just to show me that the bins are at DEFCON 5 and all is well. I might just leave it as-is for now.

[@zyghom]

5:37 are you sure it is 0.127mm spacing?

[@RalphBacon]

Yes, the spec sheet here s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_A3NJ5n states: 1 x 8 x 1.27mm or 2 x 4 x 2.54mm depending on which model you buy. So one row of 1.27mm connections or use the 2x4 standard header pins (on the larger models).

[@RalphBacon]

Hang on, did I say 0.127mm instead of 1.27mm ? That would be ridiculously tiny. 🙄

[@zyghom]

@@RalphBacon see? ;-)

[@RalphBacon]

Oops. 😳

[@rianderous8761]

If you crimp JST connectors regularly, do yourself a treat and get the proper JST tool for them (they cost a lot of money, but are worth it if you do it often)

[@dom1310df]

Does the one tool crimp all sizes (XH, SH, PH etc.)? I'd happily pay the money if it can.

[@rianderous8761]

@@dom1310df no

[@RalphBacon]

Yes, I have a proper DuPont cable crimper, the first one I bought quite a few years back now. Did the job but I get so _bored_ making those connections. It's so slow and time consuming!

[@chimpofm]

afternoon buddy. i got the 2 seperate wakeup pins working after our previous exchange. can you do a video on the esp8266audio git. its not newb friendly . im using playmp3fromspiffs outputing to dac and into a pam8403. demo code works. i have got a mp3.buflen0 issue. but it doesnt seem to be affecting the mp3 playback. id like to use deep sleep and the dual wake up using a spring vibrationsensor (pulled down) . id like a box that wakes up and shouts at you when you shake it .then goes back to .. it will double up as an alarm to talking motorcycle.

[@RalphBacon]

Late reply, but I guess you know why now. Sounds like you have been busy, which is always a good thing.

[@jstro-hobbytech]

Great video Ralph. Two queries please. Why do you not have an enclosed 3d printer in your workshop? Secondly, jlpcb offer normal mail as well right? Pcbway are draconian with shipping because every shipping (along with option) is quite pricey to the point where I've bought the stuff the etch my own. That xh 2 pin can pass like 3 or 4 amps continuously.

[@RalphBacon]

I don't have a 3D printer because I wouldn't know how to use it. And, if I were to buy one, it would be a Prusa "just plug it in" model but they are quite pricey. I'm not prepared to buy something like that (just yet) "on spec". But one day, one day... JLCPCB do a sort of "regular" mail. I've just ordered a PCB from them and I'm using the slower but considerably cheaper *FedEx International* (just under $10 to the UK) just to see how well it works. If successful, I'll report my findings in a future video for sure. I think there is even a cheaper method, some sort of collaboration between the UK Post Office and China which is really cheap, but presumably really slow too. And I don't know if it can be tracked. I will have to try that out next!

[@jstro-hobbytech]

@@RalphBacon same with Canada. Stop saying prusa like everyone else haha. Buy one of the new ender 3 models. They're a fraction of the price and have better print quality. Prusa haven't updated their design in over 6 years yet the price hasn't dropped. I got into printing as a way to make my projects not look like a 3 year old made them haha. I got the bug and had like 5 at one point but I just put one of them back to new in box quality with parts they sent me I didn't ask for that cost 300 on Amazon. It's a creality cr-10. I'm selling it and keeping my last one that I bought as a diy kit and I've heavily modified it. The cr-10 takes up way too much room so my winter project is going to be a diy printer build that is like 10 times as fast on slow than a prusa and its self contained with ventilation for printing more engineering based plastics. Fumes from abs can harm your pets so I don't dare print anything but pla which is made from corn oil as I have 5 kitties and my favorite one is getting old and I worry about his health constantly. Too much actually but that's what having mental illness causes. I am very high functioning though. The local makerspace want me to develop a simple robotic platform (which I have already got the electronics finished for the mecanum wheels and platform done and working lol) for teenagers which I'm happy to do and document but I don't leave the house much. I just donated like 3 or 4 k worth of microcontrollers and such to them that i have been saving up to donate anonymously. This hobby has helped me so much after being off work for so long and only playing guitar for 3 years almost every waking minute then starting to code again with an arduino kit from videos from you and others popping up and now i have a proper lab haha. Anyway, I ramble. Sorry Ralph. Get a printer!

[@jyvben1520]

crimping tool, bigclive channel ?

[@RalphBacon]

Really? I can't imagine him blowing it up or setting fire to it so I might have a look 😜

[@jyvben1520]

@@RalphBacon that is type casting, taking apart and explaining is a big part of his channel

[@RalphBacon]

Yes, I know, I occasionally watch him when I can find a few minutes and he's great.

[@jeffbluejets2626]

I use the fibreglass style fly screen on the back side of any shape hole I require...... epoxy in place with model aircraft epoxy (ZAP) . What is the cost of those NRF24 units you use there? also what is the range like...?? For ages now, it has been difficult to get anything "clone" with any decent range i.e. can be as little as 4 or 5 metres for the ones with inbuilt antenna. One never knows what one is liable to get as there doesn't seem to be any reputable supplier. Some problems I know can mostly be down to power supply or settings but in general rather hap hazard. Nice boards, just ordered some from them myself....had some problem as I wanted "panalized" and had to submit my design a couple of times before it passed a review and each time the price went up....final cost was AUD$10 ( $2 went somewhere but not my way) and AUD$10 delivery 20 days (fine for me) Plumbing and electrical holes are always just that bit different....crazy, must be a reason somewhere I guess. Maybe to stop people using plumbing fittings (miles cheaper) to run cables in..... 😜😜

[@RalphBacon]

I agree. nRF24L01 modules are cloned far too much. It's better to pay $10 per module and get a genuine module from, say, DigiKey, then spend $3 on a cheap clone with the range of about 3 metres! Use the cloned ones for short-range development but a genuine one in the project!

[@jeffbluejets2626]

@@RalphBacon According to their web site they don't stock them anymore... 😢

[@RalphBacon]

(Genuine) Chip shortages are with us for a while, unfortunately.

[@yogeshitaliya473]

😍😍😍😍😅😜😜😍😍😍

[@RalphBacon]

Hey, Yogesh, I wondered if you would be here! 👍🏻

[@piconano]

I bought the cheapest crimping pliers that money could buy. It works like a charm if you don't go all ape s**t on it.

[@RalphBacon]

Sometimes you just get lucky, I suppose. 😄