Clean looking sensor node

[NeverDie]

I received the Q8 wireless charging pad (above):
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Q8-QI-Wireless-Charging-Pad-2-USB-Port-Splitter-HUB-Charger-Pad-For-Phone-F5/301913729117?_trksid=p2047675.c100623.m-1&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D39345%26meid%3Decb1959e8f164eb5ad0a17aeaa297f59%26pid%3D100623%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D252485416371

However, it is even thinner than the OP's vented puck, and it's about double the square inches of foot print. So I don't see any real advantage to them.

[NeverDie]

For a thicker case, Amazon Dot looks like it might be very nice:

A bit pricey though!

[Nca78]

@NeverDie said:

I received the Q8 wireless charging pad (above):
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Q8-QI-Wireless-Charging-Pad-2-USB-Port-Splitter-HUB-Charger-Pad-For-Phone-F5/301913729117?_trksid=p2047675.c100623.m-1&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D39345%26meid%3Decb1959e8f164eb5ad0a17aeaa297f59%26pid%3D100623%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D252485416371

However, it is even thinner than the OP's vented puck, and it's about double the square inches of foot print. So I don't see any real advantage to them.

I have ordered one also (In fact two as aliexpress payment messed up and asked me to process payment again, but few days after I realized the "failed" payment was in fact processed and sellers were sending everything twice...).
I'm planning to use one as gateway box with wemos d1 mini and smd pa/lna NRF24 side by side. Any chance it will fit this type of ESP board inside or it's too thin and I should go for ESP12 module instead ?

[NeverDie]

@Nca78 said:

@NeverDie said:

I received the Q8 wireless charging pad (above):
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Q8-QI-Wireless-Charging-Pad-2-USB-Port-Splitter-HUB-Charger-Pad-For-Phone-F5/301913729117?_trksid=p2047675.c100623.m-1&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D39345%26meid%3Decb1959e8f164eb5ad0a17aeaa297f59%26pid%3D100623%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D252485416371

However, it is even thinner than the OP's vented puck, and it's about double the square inches of foot print. So I don't see any real advantage to them.

I have ordered one also (In fact two as aliexpress payment messed up and asked me to process payment again, but few days after I realized the "failed" payment was in fact processed and sellers were sending everything twice...).
I'm planning to use one as gateway box with wemos d1 mini and smd pa/lna NRF24 side by side. Any chance it will fit this type of ESP board inside or it's too thin and I should go for ESP12 module instead ?

I just now measured the D1Mini, and it's about 6.7mm thick. If you removed the USB connector, it would be thinner.

I haven't opened the QB wireless pad, so I don't know how much depth is available. However, the case itself is 8.5mm thick. In comparison, I measure the case thickness of your OP puck as 11.7mm.

[Nca78]

@NeverDie said:

I haven't opened the QB wireless pad, so I don't know how much depth is available. However, the case itself is 8.5mm thick. In comparison, I measure the case thickness of your OP puck as 11.7mm.

Thank you. Sounds like it won't fit :(
For Amazon Dot yes it looks great, but 50$ is a bit too expensive for a case :D

[NeverDie]

I notice that Kalia made his own uniquely shaped enclosure that he 3D printed himself:

(for more detail see his posts under: https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/1566/mysensors-sensebender-micro-3dp-case/18)

I'm not yet savvy about 3D printers, but from what I've been reading lately the line artifacts in the plastic may vary in how prominent they are depending on the quality of the software slicer that's used to produce the g-code that's sent to the 3D printer. Still, I'm not sure to what extent it's avoidable or just a reality of 3D prints. Would such line artifacts always be visible, regardless of which printer or software produced it?

In any event, I like the way Kali molded the battery holder into the case itself. Very clever!

[mfalkvidd]

@NeverDie the lines will be more or less visible depending on layer height (which varies by 3d printer model) but can easily be made totally smooth. See this video

https://youtu.be/h2lm6FuaAWI

[NeverDie]

@mfalkvidd said:

@NeverDie the lines will be more or less visible depending on layer height (which varies by 3d printer model) but can easily be made totally smooth. See this video

https://youtu.be/h2lm6FuaAWI

Funny that in the video the demonstrator uses a polypropylene chamber, as I'm pretty sure acetone will strongly react with it. Aside from that, though, it was a good video. Thanks for posting it!

He seems to imply this acetone vapor chamber approach only works on ABS printed models. Is that correct?

Also, what must the 3D printer's layer height be for the lines to no longer be visible (without resorting to acetone vapors)?

[NeverDie]

Looks as though my small TH mote will have no problem fitting inside the OP's enclosure:

I can also configure my medium TH mote to also fit. The enclosure is too thin to accomodate AAA batteries, but I should be receiving the button cell batteries from China very soon.

[Nca78]

@NeverDie said:

Looks as though my small TH mote will have no problem fitting inside the OP's enclosure:

I can also configure my medium TH mote to also fit. The enclosure is too thin to accomodate AAA batteries, but I should be receiving the button cell batteries from China very soon.

Don't forget a capacitor parrallel to the button cell battery if you want it to last more than a few days ;)

[NeverDie]

@Nca78 said:

Don't forget a capacitor parrallel to the button cell battery if you want it to last more than a few days ;)

That's good input, as I haven't yet tried running it on a button cell. Is a button cell alone just not able to keep up with the Tx load? I had wanted to avoid button cells altogether, but even an AAA battery has too wide a diameter to fit in this enclosure.

[NeverDie]

It might be worthwhile to make a board specifically for this enclosure. It would necessarily have to have a somewhat similar size as the board that was in it, so that it could mount an LED near the LED window, and a micro USB at the USB window, all while fitting the groves of the enclosure.

BTW, how did you get that sticky black foam tape out of it? I tried scrapping it off, but I didn't manage to remove all of it.

[Nca78]

@NeverDie said:

That's good input, as I haven't yet tried running it on a button cell. Is a button cell alone just not able to keep up with the Tx load? I had wanted to avoid button cells altogether, but even an AAA battery has too wide a diameter to fit in this enclosure.

No it can't keep up with it without a serious voltage drop, especially at startup and with RFM radio. A 100µF ceramic capacitor (and sleep between successive tx in your code) should be enough from what I read from scalz who made a few boards with button cell + RFM.

I just uploaded version 0.2 of my dedicated board to Seeed, it should be just the right size this time :) Led is in front of the led window but on USB side I don't have anything, it's just a vent.
For the black tape I don't remember having so much pain to remove it, maybe it's different between enclosures, I will tell you when I receive the next one.

[NeverDie]

@Nca78

It would be nice to keep the usb port as an aid in reprogramming it, so that the case doesn't have to be opened or without having to do wireless OTA programming of it. Alas, it's probably feature creep.

[NeverDie]

On my medium node, I found that if I used right-angle FTDI header pins and if I splayed the antenna and the Temp-humidity-pressure sensor out horizontally, then the overall thickness was low enough that I could fit it inside the OP's enclosure.

Also, I think that if, rather than clipping the LED's legs after soldering it close to the board, I instead left the LED legs long, then I could bend it over and have it pointed at the LED window on the OP's enclosure, to maximize its visibility outside the closed enclosure. So, on a future version, I'll try that.

[NeverDie]

After a long-wait, I received my so called "tabbed" CR2477 batteries today from China via AliExpress. According to the seller, they would look like this:

and so that is what I was expecting. Instead, what the seller sent me was:

which obviously has no tabs. :cry:

Anyhow, the second photo shows the depth of the battery in relation to the OP's case. It looks to me as though with tabs it likely would have been too thick for the cover to snap back on the OP case.

[scalz]

@NeverDie
:open_mouth: not cool
I hope your 2477 will work well ;)
my little xp about coincells showed me that i can't trust ali coincells.. well i tried only few orders, but those wasted my time searching for bugs whereas batt were discharged and didn't check this in first place as i was using fresh ali coincells. I was thinking it couldn't be that! Then i checked their voltage in case...and was surprised!
Changing for good and strong coincell was day&night.

if it can help you to not run in dumb issue, for future :)

[NeverDie]

@scalz said:

@NeverDie
:open_mouth: not cool
I hope your 2477 will work well ;)
my little xp about coincells showed me that i can't trust ali coincells.. well i tried only few orders, but those wasted my time searching for bugs whereas batt were discharged and didn't check this in first place as i was using fresh ali coincells. I was thinking it couldn't be that! Then i checked their voltage in case...and was surprised!
Changing for good and strong coincell was day&night.

if it can help you to not run in dumb issue, for future :)

Urban Dictionary: "get shanghaied"
www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=get shanghaied
Top Definition. get shanghaied. verb, ditransitive, passive (with to Be or to Get). to be swindled, cheated, lied to, robbed, stolen from, duped, conned, deceived.

Not sure what I'll do with the "non-tabbed" batteries. Shipping costs between the US and China are asymmetric, and it would probably cost me more in time and money to ship them back with tracking to the seller than I would get in a refund. Oh well, I guess I'll be buying batteries from Digikey in the future. It will cost twice as much, but at least I'll get the real thing.

[scalz]

@NeverDie
ahah, this one is funny :)

[NeverDie]

I just now ordered this CR2460 battery from Digikey: http://www.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&itemSeq=212190252&uq=636150784616350020

It's a bit thinner and should have a better chance of fitting inside the OP case.