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    Posts made by Nca78

    • RE: No more batteries....

      @skywatch said in No more batteries....:

      What started this was my research into Dark Matter and Dark Energy discussions with Astronomers and Scientists. I wondered why a simple atom made of one electron around a nucleus of one proton and one neutron could remain stable when the electric charges would mandate an attractive force between the positive nucleus and negative electron. The electron can 'somehow' sustain its distance and therefore gets energy to overcome the attractive force. It can do this for millions of years with no 'conventional' input of external energy.

      You can move electrons around atoms and molecules with relatively low chemical or electrical energy...
      Zero point energy is the equivalent of the remaining drops of gazoline in an empty gaz tank. If you have millions of cars with "empty" gaz tanks then you're looking at a lot of energy. But it will take you way more energy to retrieve those last drops of gazoline from each tank than you will get from burning them later.
      It's the same with zero point energy, getting the matter in the right conditions to be able to extract any of the remaining energy will use more energy than you will be able to collect.

      Right now the world could do with cleaner energy.

      Yes we all want it. But it doesn't mean we have to fall in the hand of all the scammers who have pretended for centuries to have discovered all by themselves the secrets of infinite energy. They've been updating the buzzwords but the scam is always the same, with demos using an hidden power source. It's the case for ecat they never ran it unconnected from a power supply, pretending it's using only little external power but it's very easy to cheat.

      I just hope the breakthrough comes in the west because if Russia or China leapfrog us on this tech then we are at a severe disadvantage.

      Breakthrough will come from international cooperation that has been happening for decades, no single country has the resources and brains to make the breakthrough all alone.

      I guess that 'solar power' would have been laughed at 2 generations ago (along with nuclear power, smart phones, space stations etc...) ๐Ÿ˜‰

      Chose better examples, a working demo of photovoltaic effect was done in 1839, way more than 2 generations ago... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_cell#History

      And for nuclear power, smart phone and space station yes it would have been laughed at if someone in 1900 had come up saying he built a smartphone, a nuclear power plant or a space station all by himself in his garage.
      But no one laughed at Hertz when he identified and described radio waves in 1886, 10 years later there were functional radios, and 15 years later it was getting widely available to the public.
      No one laughed at Fermi in 1936 when he discovered nuclear fission, only 6 years later he was running the first nuclear reactor in the US, in 1951 they were producing electricity from a nuclear reactor and in 1957 the first commercial reactor was running at full power.

      Only scammers make "revolutionary" discoveries in their garage while having no experience and education in physics, pretend to be victims of the "lobbies" so they have to recourse to crowdfunding, refuse to have independent testing of their devices and pretend to have been running decades of intense research but have never published anything in a half-decent peer reviewed scientific journal.

      When there's real science and real scientists behind it, the technology can progress fast and they have no problem getting some funding.

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: No more batteries....

      @mobsens said in No more batteries....:

      There is a spectacular project just recently announced which involves making direct electrical power from ZPE(Zero Point Energy).
      See https://ecat.com/science-technology.

      Lol one more company perpetuating the scam. This "ecat" thing is already 10+ years old... It's just been renamed from "cold fusion" to "zero point energy" because it's a more efficient buzzword nowadays.

      This is the Wikipedia page of the creator. Long past of energy-related scams...

      Andrea Rossi (born 3 June 1950) is an Italian entrepreneur who claims to have invented a cold fusion device.[1][2][3]

      In the 1970s, Rossi claimed to have invented a process to convert organic waste into petroleum, and in 1978 he founded a company named Petroldragon to process waste. In the 1989 the company was shut down by the Italian government amid allegations of fraud, and Rossi was arrested.[4] In 1996 Rossi moved to the United States and from 2001 to 2003 he worked under a U.S. Army contract to make a thermoelectric device that, while promising to be superior to other devices, produced only around 1/1000 of the claimed performance.[5][6]

      In 2008 Rossi attempted to patent a device called an Energy Catalyzer (or E-Cat), which is a purported cold fusion or Low-Energy Nuclear Reaction (LENR) thermal power source.[7][8] Rossi claims that the device produces massive amounts of excess heat that can be used to produce electricity, but independent attempts to reproduce the effect have failed.

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: No more batteries....

      My guess is the current state is the same than when they got their patent: a totally pseudoscientific state ๐Ÿ˜‰

      The Tesla quote promising infinite energy that you can see at the end of the text in your link is a trademark of the "alt scientists" who have been dreaming of infinite energy, perpetual motion etc etc for decades but have produced nothing valuable for humanity while gobbling a lot of money from gullible people who "invested" in their technologies.

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Coronavirus (way, way, off topic)

      @NeverDie thank you for taking the time to read all my long messages ๐Ÿ˜„
      I mostly read from news in French from (relatively) reliable newspapers but I try to cross check with their own sources, and trying to avoid the infamous confirmation bias which is a very hard task ๐Ÿ˜„ So sorry, no good single reliable source to share, I think that's the key, try to get multiple sources and avoid the bogus ones: those who can't recognize their mistakes, who try to bend reality to fit their narratives, who pretend they have a miracle cure based on cherry picked or self-made low quality studies etc etc

      And of course always remember that even from "experts" in virology/epidemiology predictions are only best guesses and we can never be sure of anything, it takes time to see which hypothesis becomes reality. While media can't wait and are ready to invite anyone who is willing to give answers, the most probable outcome is not always the one that will happen. As seen in France right now, it was expected the Omicron outbreak would fade away like it's doing in UK after peaking last week, while in the end a sub-variant that seems even more transmissible has taken over and made contamination numbers increase again and set new records (0.7% of population tested positive on Tuesday only !).

      So trust those that dare to say they are not sure and talk about the other possibilities, and whatever the subject is, always try to check the solidity of the data/information on which what you hear is based on, especially if you like what you hear/read ๐Ÿ˜‰

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Coronavirus (way, way, off topic)

      @zboblamont said in Coronavirus (way, way, off topic):

      The cross immunity being documented suggests any subsequent variant would be rendered ineffective since the immunity imparted is for the whole virus not specific proteins.

      This is obviously not a good argument, it sounds "logic" and "common sense" but has been denied by the facts. Many people got the original strain of sars-cov2 and got immunity for "the whole virus" but later got sick from Delta and/or Omicron.

      The hope I think is that with the combination of widespread vaccination AND widespread Omicron circulation following an already strong circulation of the Delta variant the immunity most people will have will be based on many different strains of sars-cov2 and at least 2 of them (original through vaccination and Delta or Omicron) which have a lot of differences. So unless nasal vaccinations get widespread we will still get sick from covid when new variants emerge, but only will lighter symptoms like vaccinated people with Omicron.

      But even if most doctors and epidemiologists seem very optimistic there is still a risk of a new, more virulent variant escaping this immunity, and the widespread circulation of Omicron makes it possible, as the widespread circulation of the virus has made possible the appearance of previous strains where the virus circulation was strong (Alpha in UK, Beta then Omicron in South Africa, Lambda in Peru Delta in India, ...).

      I try to take any claim by any doctor with a grain of salt, especially when they refer to previous epidemic/pandemic situations as reference. Because many predicted sars-cov2 would evolve to be more contagious but less virulent, only to be proven wrong repeatedly (Alpha more contagious and as virulent, both Lambda and Delta being more contagious and much more virulent).
      And for this specific doctor he made false claims about Ivermectin use and efficiency in Japan, in addition to being no virologist nor epidemiologist, so like others he is not infallible and is mostly sharing his hopes (that I share !) and guesses but it should not be taken as truth cast in stone, sars-cov2 has been very unpredictable until now...

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Coronavirus (way, way, off topic)

      @NeverDie said in Coronavirus (way, way, off topic):

      Sadly, according to NPR news, if you have to go to the ER in Tucson, Arizona, where I grew up, you now have to wait over 200 hours before a hospital bed frees up for you. That means you're laying on a gurney in a hallway for over 8 days! Plainly an overflow condition, literally.
      Worthy of note, according to some European health agencies, is that mixing and matching the vector and mRNA machines may be optimal: https://fortune.com/2021/12/07/mix-and-match-vaccines-heterologous-boosters-pfizer-moderna-jnj-astrazeneca-sputnik-ema-ecdc/ I wasn't aware of this until I specifically went looking for the info. Too much "not invented here" mentality in the US when over the summer we could have been trading Pfeizer and Moderna vaccines for sputnik vaccines and had a true win-win outcome. Compared to both Pfeizer and Moderna, Sputnik protection loses effectiveness more slowly (4x more slowly than Pfeizer and 8x more slowly than Moderena).

      Yes it's been known for some time now that mixing vaccine technologies is a good way to have better immunity. No need for Sputnik it also works with AstraZeneca vaccine, and you had some in the US but never used them.
      Here in Vietnam they have mostly AZ and Pfizer but for booster dose they chose the "safe and fast" version: same injection than the second dose so they are sure you won't get an allergic reaction. Not best for personal immunity but faster for mass injections as they can skip the waiting time and process more people daily.

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Coronavirus (way, way, off topic)

      @zboblamont said in Coronavirus (way, way, off topic):

      His opinion is none will escape infection, but precautionary measures such as vaccinations and masks will minimise effects and help slow spread to more prevent strain on medical facilities.

      Then he's joining the German health minister who declared sometime in November or December that by the end of winter people would be either vaccinated, cured or dead. Vaccinated category might be discarded now with Omicron variant, but clearly it helps staying in second category instead of the third...

      @NeverDie for situations I know in other countries there are much more limitations in France where you need full vaccination (and booster shot soon) or fresh test to access most public places, and a law is being discussed to exclude the test and only allow in fully vaccinated people in malls, cinemas, any type of public show, etc etc But in the end Omicron variant started to spread in schools in December, continued in families during Christmas time and now the number of daily cases has been at 3-4 times the previous peak for over a week.
      Hospital are full of covid cases, but it seems it's mostly the Delta wave (still running at the same level than in December), where Omicron cases have exploded there have been no meaningful increases in hospital admissions, which is good news.

      In Vietnam the situation is much more controlled as I said before: strict border control+quarantine, with no vaccination you get basically nowhere (public places including supermarkets have a mandatory QR code scan at entrance to make sure you're vaccinated, not freshly positive or supposed to be in isolation), even if you are vaccinated you need a fresh negative covid test to take a plane for a local flight, schools have been closed for 8 months (๐Ÿ˜ข). And here in Saigon the vaccination campaign for boosters is going full steam, I got mine 3 days ago, most people down to 30 yo had a booster shot in my district now.
      Result in only a few hundred cases per day in the city, and 18 000 daily cases (peak but still low for 100 millions people) for the full country where vaccination rate is lower (but still around 80% of total population).
      Just checked the number of doses administered in Saigon until yesterday and it's 18,099,453. More than 2 doses per inhabitant, while children under 12 are not vaccinated.

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Coronavirus (way, way, off topic)

      @chey given the same website has completely whacky stuff (like this: https://www.nutritruth.org/single-post/technological-parasitism-covid-vaccines-appear-to-contain-self-assembling-nano-octopus-microparti ) I wouldn't trust any "recipe" they share to cure anything... If you've done a few battery powered sensors you can easily realize that it would be impossible to make and then power mechanical and electronic structures small enough to go through the needle used for vaccines ๐Ÿ˜‰

      And regarding HCQ:

      • quinine is not the same at all, so even if the recipe proposed was really producing quinine in sufficient quantities, it wouldn't make anything acting like HCQ
      • HCQ has been proved inefficient long ago by many widescale studies. Initial proponent of the drug (Didier Raoult in France) has cheated in his initial study to make it appear efficient, but without cheating it was not at all. Main cheats were 1) the only death was in the HCQ group and the patient was removed from the study for no valid reason 2) PCR tests for HCQ group were done with fewer amplification cycles (meaning they were far less likely to end up positive) and performed on different days than initially planned in the study description
      • in next studies, Raoult carefully avoided to have a control group so there was no good comparison possible, he just compared results of young people (average age 40) able to stand waiting hours in front of his hospital to get tested, and result of 60+ yo admitted in critical care in other hospitals. And the most ridiculous is his hospital has no critical care unit, patients in critical condition are sent in other hospitals and die there so he never had to account for them in his statistics, the only deaths were those with health degrading too fast to be transferred.
      • opposite to what is claimed in the document (which looks pretty old...), even Trump doesn't believe in it any more, and was not treated with it but with cures that had proved their efficiencies.
      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Coronavirus (way, way, off topic)

      @NeverDie hello and happy new year ! I hope you will get well soon, but with 3 shots it should not last too long and you are safe for long term effects of covid.

      In Vietnam there are a few "antivax" but they are a small minority. Especially here in Saigon where Delta hit really hard during the summer and everyone saw the overloaded hospital in Saigon, with people treated outside (filling up courts and parkings) on military beds and barely protected from tropical rain by tarpaulins, all while looking at corpses getting evacuated in plastic bags. Really terrible images, it was like a bad movie... Now 99+% of adult population in Saigon is fully vaccinated, 95+% of 12-17 yo old also and booster shots are progressing fast too with most 50+ already done.
      The virus is under control at the moment with numbers falling (less than 500 new cases daily for 10 millions people), but Omicron had not spread yet due to strict border control and quarantine. It's arrived in the country though, so we will see how it spreads and if it can fill hospitals in a nearly completely vaccinated population and with nearly all fragile population having received a booster.
      With nearly everyone vaccinated there is no need for prioritizing now it got under control.

      In France situation is different, there is no "selection" based on covid patients vaccination status, but a lot of people with other conditions had surgeries delayed because of the Omicron wave. Around half of hospital admissions for covid are unvaccinated people (for only around 10% of unvaccinated population), and as they usually have more severe conditions and stay longer in hospital in critical care units 2/3 of people are unvaccinated. For only 10% of adult population (and an even tinier fraction in the 60+ age range) this is shockingly high.
      So basically the unvaccinated are taking the beds of non-covid patients who might lose chances to survive, there are people having important surgeries like brain tumor removal delayed ๐Ÿ˜ž

      The good news is that even if it now mostly fails to protect from Omicron contamination, the vaccine is very efficient against severe forms of covid, and unless you have immunodeficiency and/or very severe co morbidities you basically can't end up in hospital, in the worse case you have some traditional flu symptoms.

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: What's a good power bank for use with IoT?

      @NeverDie said in What's a good power bank for use with IoT?:

      I was wondering the same thing, and also: do the counterfeits counterfeit the quality Chinese brands? I'm guessing so, in which case, mfalkvidd and I, not living in Asia, may not fare any better with them either.

      Yes they do, they even counterfeit the websites as you can see on the vapcell link I posted above...
      So no it doesn't sound like a really better option in US/Europe.

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: What's a good power bank for use with IoT?

      @mfalkvidd I mostly bought LiitoKala and Soshine from a reliable local supplier. I also bought a few Vapcells 18350, as they have an ID code that you can check online http://antifake.vapcelltech.com/anti-fake.html

      Those brands have good or very good reviews on lygte-info website, except the overly optimistic high current capacity, but I don't need them for that. Lygte info is the best place to check a specific brand and model.

      On the opposite side of the quality spectrum, I wouldn't buy any of the TrustFire, UltraFire, GTL, GTF, etc that you see a lot on AliExpress and similar websites. They usually have only a fraction of the stated capacity, they are often re-wrapped 2nd hand batteries, can have fake control circuits etc.

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: What's a good power bank for use with IoT?

      @NeverDie said in What's a good power bank for use with IoT?:

      I'm using some 18650 cells that I previously acquired from a solar cell vendor on ebay at a reasonable price. Where does one even find a good source anymore for high quality 18650's? There are just so many fakes out there these days.

      For me, old laptops, Dyson battery packs etc.
      Else good quality Chinese brands, as I'm in Vietnam and the probability to have genuine products from other brands is close to 0 ๐Ÿ™‚

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: What's a good power bank for use with IoT?

      @NeverDie said in What's a good power bank for use with IoT?:

      https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07SZKNST4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

      I've 2 very similar (not sure if exactly the same) to the single battery one and they work fine.
      I can confirm they don't stop unless you switch them off.

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Is it possible to extract child ID from a just sent message?

      @Nigel31 Hello, if you have a message variable (msgSPFlag I guess ?) then you have the child ID in it in the destination property of the message.

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Candle - the privacy friendly smart home

      @alowhum are you still around ?

      posted in My Project
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Pir AS 312 with 2 rechargeable AAA battery. Boost needed?

      @Diego-Serrano said in Pir AS 312 with 2 rechargeable AAA battery. Boost needed?:

      @franz-unix Hi, this post is very old I hope I can get an answer ๐Ÿ™‚
      I have ME2188 here but the behaviour of CE pin in extrange.
      If I apply high to CE pin I get my correct 5v but if I change CE pin to low I get 4v on the output and I hope to get 0v.

      Hello, this is the normal behavior for this chip. CE will enable the step up, but with CE low it acts as a bridge so you get input voltage at output.
      Pretty annoying ๐Ÿ™‚

      Anyone can share your experience?

      My experience was to add an MT9700 power switch before the voltage input of the ME2188. The EN pin of the power switch is connected to the same signal than the CE pin of the MT2188, driven by the microcontroller.
      It works fine like this driving a Plantower PM sensor not a PIR (don't pay too much attention at the caps at output I just wanted to have different footprints available).

      ME2188.png

      posted in Hardware
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: 2021 EU customs regulatory changes โ€” where should I buy now?

      @Tmaster said in 2021 EU customs regulatory changes โ€” where should I buy now?:

      What sense makes pay 5โ‚ฌ on a arduino promini that cost 1.5โ‚ฌ?

      It makes perfect sense when the idea is to stop the flood of dirt cheap packages from China that abused the Universal Postal Union by paying extremely low terminal dues to receiving postal companies, making them lose money on each delivered parcel.

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: anyone can tell me what this Hardware/Sensor/Module is?

      Hello @ANTaro, this is an ULN2003 stepper motor driver.

      posted in Hardware
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: PMS7003 peaks every 90 seconds

      Hello @troost, I have no time to investigate your case (and without code, it would anyway be impossible), but maybe you can try my (basic) library for PM sensors here: https://github.com/Nca78/NcaPMSensorLight to see if you have a similar result with it.

      posted in Development
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Best time of year to buy higher quality small project solar panels?

      @berkseo said in Best time of year to buy higher quality small project solar panels?:

      @NeverDie
      When to buy? Now.

      https://mobile.twitter.com/UnbelievableEv1/status/1402321586246623232

      Base materials of solar panels produced in Xinjiang using coal as energy source, not looking so great for the final carbon footprint ๐Ÿ˜ž

      posted in Hardware
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Private BLE Beacons with nRF52840

      @Ivanli said in Private BLE Beacons with nRF52840:

      Does it only work for Arduino nano? I have an Arduino UNO board and I don't know if I can achieve the same function.

      Only on Nano BLE 33 not on classic nano which has no Bluetooth connectivity ๐Ÿ˜‰

      posted in Hardware
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: ๐Ÿ’ฌ LCDUINO

      @NeverDie said in ๐Ÿ’ฌ LCDUINO:

      the LCD components don't appear to be named, not even on the schematic

      Looks like a typical text LCD like 1602 on the picture.

      posted in OpenHardware.io
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: What I must buy in order to measure mAh please

      @DenisJ you can just wait for the arduino to be in sleep mode to switch from mA to uA.

      posted in Hardware
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: What I must buy in order to measure mAh please

      Having a common plug for mA and ยตA range as the one you bought is the minimum, else you have to unplug/re-plug before the nodes gets out of sleep and obviously this will make measurement impossible. Unfortunately a lot of cheap multimeters have a separate plug and are useless in this scenario.

      Best is to find a multimeter with more digits and that can use them all in the ยตA range. With 20 000 count you can go up to 20mA which is usually enough to measure power consumption for both sleeping and running node.

      posted in Hardware
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Coronavirus (way, way, off topic)

      @NeverDie The study is only about "mild or moderate" illness, as long as there is a decent effect on severe cases, hospitalization and death, it's still worth distributing. And it is a preprint only, done on a low number of cases so it's a bit far fetched to draw some final conclusions from that.
      AZ is very efficient against "old" variants and UK variant, and until now that's all we've seen arriving in Vietnam, so it's already a great progress if we can limit transmission of those variants. If people are less severely ill, it also means than in addition to limit the overload of hospitals people are less contagious (shown by all studies on this subject until now), so it will still slow down the spread of the virus, even for variants for which it can't really protect against.

      And yes probably they don't want to use AZ in SA because the interaction with other vaccines is not known, so using AZ when the vast majority of cases in your country have a variant against which people will have a low protection is a loss of chances for people in the future. In their situation it's logic. But for most of the world where this variant is in minority in declared cases using AZ vaccine makes sense, it will help limit the propagation of the virus and limit the risk of seeing new variants appear.

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Coronavirus (way, way, off topic)

      @NeverDie said in Coronavirus (way, way, off topic):

      @hek If you hop across over to Russia, you might be able to get inoculated with Sputnik V. Although it was initially greeted in the West with skepticism, it has since gotten thumbs up from a proper peer review in Lancet.

      Read an article in a French newspaper yesterday about French people getting vaccinated with Sputnik in Russia while they were not supposed to be accepted at vaccination centres. But it seems it depends on the centers, and rules can change from one day to the other.

      The problem of Sputnik V is they have a low production capacity at the moment, and that's the same problem than with all the vaccines. They're selling it everywhere but in the end like all other vaccines when countries start buying millions there will be delays due to production bottlenecks. They're signing deals with other countries to produce it but it will take time to get real mass production, and by that time other vaccines suppliers might have solved their production problems.

      For the Chinese vaccine last time I read something about it there were doubts about the efficiency, Coronavac used in Brazil has shown poor efficiency against their local variant. Wouldn't rely on it for my vaccination ๐Ÿ˜›

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Coronavirus (way, way, off topic)

      @NeverDie yeah the timing is pretty bad in the US while you are only a few months away of immunity with the fastest vaccination program except Israel. Letting the virus spread free again now is taking a lot of risks of seeing new variants that vaccines can't prevent, and making everything useless...

      Here in Vietnam only 200 000 doses of AZ were received yet, only 30 millions are secured until now so only 15% of population will be vaccinated this summer. Local vaccines are still in clinical trials so won't be here before the end of the year, they probably will be the game changers here are they will allow mass availability and very low cost allowing a mass vaccination campaign.
      But we still have a different situation, an outbreak of the UK variant has been found in the North end of January, they are still fighting with it but usual isolation of cases & contacts are showing their efficiency: in the last days the only new cases found were already in isolation so there was no risk of spread. There was also an outbreak here in Saigon in the team managing the freight at airport, it was contained in 2 weeks...

      Nearly normal life here, everything is opened, but still many people are wearing masks, temperature is checked before entering public places like shops and restaurants. Masks are mandatory in closed places: elevators, shops, etc ... sounds overkill with no community transmission but it has shown efficiency when an outbreak occurs (many border jumpers with China, Cambodia, Laos), it limits the spread of the virus until people are tested, and shortens the contact tracing.

      Wish all countries had the same strict measures than Vietnam, this pandemic would be long over like SRAS.

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Use FreeRTOS?

      MySensors runs on ESP32 which is based on a modified FreeRTOS. So technically you can have MySensors and FreeRTOS at the same time right now, just not on an atmega.

      Introduction to RTOS Part 1 - What is a Real-Time Operating System (RTOS)? | Digi-Key Electronics โ€“ 11:34
      โ€” DigiKey

      posted in Development
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Commenting and chat seem to be broken

      @NeverDie said in Commenting and chat seem to be broken:

      after wiping and re-installing Windows 10 fresh

      Do you really do that just for a problem on one website with one browser ? That's a bit extreme ๐Ÿ˜„

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: BTE16-19 PIR Sensor

      @skywatch yes but you don't need a module to use it, it's including a regulator and will probably use much more power than the sensor alone.

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: BTE16-19 PIR Sensor

      @skywatch there are some "all integrated" PIR sensors, with all electronic in the "can" so they don't need external components, and they use around 12-15uA, it's low enough for battery power. Check AM312 for example.

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: BTE16-19 PIR Sensor

      Hello, from the pictures it's based on the EG4002 PIR controller
      https://cdn-3a4dd4ab.ozdisan.com/ETicaret_Dosya/518010_780564.PDF

      Typical power consumption 65uA @5V and 35uA@3V for controller only, so ... not very interesting it seems.

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: What's the best way to set up lots of binary sensors on a single Arduino?

      Hello, if you want to keep it simple and you have no problem soldering SMD components (I don't think it's available as module...), you can use PCA9555, you can use up to 8 of them so 128 inputs/outputs.
      Advantages:

      • no need to use an arduino mega any more, a simple atmega328 will have enough pins
      • it has an interrupt pin that will switch on when value of any input changes, then you can just check the values of input and check which one has changed. This also solves the problem of debouncing, interrupt will only be triggered once before you read the value of inputs, so you just need to wait a bit before you read the values and you have no problem.
      • low power, only 1uA/IC. If you switch from arduino mega to atmega328 you will probably save more power than what the PCA9555s will use
      posted in Development
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: What's the best way to set up lots of binary sensors on a single Arduino?

      Hello, did you miss the MyMessage.sensor in the public attributes of MyMessage ?
      https://www.mysensors.org/apidocs/classMyMessage.html

      You can just create one message, then before you send it set the sensor attribute then set the value and send. No need to create 32 instances of the message object.

      posted in Development
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Favorite hand solderable radio chip?

      @monte said in Favorite hand solderable radio chip?:

      @NeverDie so is it directly compatible with nordic's protocol? Can it be used as drop-in replacement for nrf24?

      From MyConfig.h (obviously the assumed vendor is wrong ๐Ÿ™‚ )
      There are some settings also to fix the ACK that is reversed compared to NRF24.

      /**

      • @defgroup RF24SettingGrpPub RF24
      • @ingroup TransportSettingGrpPub
      • @brief These options are specific to the RF24 family of wireless transport modules.
      • The following chips are supported by this driver:
      • | Vendor | Chip
      • |--------------------------|----------
      • | Nordic Semiconductor | nRF24L01
      • | | nRF24L01+
      • | Beken Corporation | BK2401
      • | | BK2421
      • | | BK2491
      • | Hope Microelectronics | RFM70
      • | | RFM73
      • | Panchip Microelectronics | XN297
      • | Silicon Labs(?) | SI24R1
      • @{
      posted in Hardware
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Favorite hand solderable radio chip?

      @monte said in Favorite hand solderable radio chip?:

      @NeverDie stencil would help, for sure. But I am talking bare minimum. You tin the pads a little, so they are like bumps, then apply gel flux, put the IC aligned to the pins and reflow it with hot-air gun. That may be not the best practice, but it works, if you need to solder few IC's.

      I confirm it works, if you don't put too much solder. I do like this with TSOP style packages too, because it's way easier than using a soldering iron.

      posted in Hardware
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Next generation dust sensor for MySensors

      @skywatch here you go :
      https://github.com/Nca78/NcaPMSensorLight

      @Sebex in case you're still looking for a code, you might be interested.

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Next generation dust sensor for MySensors

      Hello @skywatch, I will put a library online today. Sorry for the long delay.

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: A tiny BME node - BME280 on ATtiny85

      @fabyte said in A tiny BME node - BME280 on ATtiny85:

      (used 5V instead of 3.3V).

      Usually after doing that the radio still seems to work, but it's not reliable anymore and it is gobbling a lot of power. It is quite vicious as you think it is still working, but the sensor dies quickly...

      posted in My Project
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: What's the best PIR sensor?

      @NeverDie AM612 has been improved with BS612: down to 2.2V instead of 2.7V, and max 11uA working current compared to 14.
      There's also a HM612 which is supposed to be "long range" and has a higher sensibility, other specs seem to be the same. I've not tested them, not using any pir sensors here it's too hot to be usable ๐Ÿ™‚

      posted in Hardware
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: ๐Ÿ’ฌ Micro (nano) ampere meter (double)

      @metceyn said in ๐Ÿ’ฌ Micro (nano) ampere meter (double):

      @mfalkvidd If you have something related to this project, can you share it? (circuit schema or something)

      Hello, I will try to work again on this project in the coming days, I have made one years ago but reused (then broke !) the screen so it's not fonctional now. I will use another screen and make a functional one again as I will need it for some project.

      posted in OpenHardware.io
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: nRF5 action!

      @NeverDie said in nRF5 action!:

      A Version 2 of the micro:bit is due to be released this month: https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/products/bus-systems-sbcs/microbit-version-2-educational-computer-now-runs-ai-gets-loudspeaker-2020-10/

      It's based around the 64Mhz, 128Kbyte RAM nRF52833: https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/Low-power-short-range-wireless/nRF52833

      Version 2 will include a speaker and a microphone and will apparently make use of bluetooth for wireless communication. The EW article also says it will support a "microbit-radio protocol". Also, the EW article says that Javascript will run on it.

      By itself it's not that interesting, but for someone looking to get started, it's another way in.

      No revolution on the radio sidde, bluetooth and microbit-radio were already here in first version of micro:bit. But use of speaker and microphone in addition to much larger memory is quite nice for students learning with it, it will open a lot of possibilities. Open source schematic and programs can also be a great base to make open source sound-related sensors and actuators compatible with MySensors.

      posted in My Project
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Help with multiple servos

      @bsmtdweller said in Help with multiple servos:

      myservo.attach(SERVO_DIGITAL_OUT_PIN);
      

      Hello, isn't the problem on this line ? You need to change the pin that will control the wanted servo based on the sensor id in the message.

      posted in Troubleshooting
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Anyone cleaning the flux off using an ultrasonic cleaner?

      @NeverDie said in Anyone cleaning the flux off using an ultrasonic cleaner?:

      By the way, how did 60C become the goldilocks number?

      No idea, just suggested to try at the same temperature than the ultrasonic cleaner.

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Anyone cleaning the flux off using an ultrasonic cleaner?

      @orhanyor interesting thank you.
      Have you try to put your board on a hotplate at 60ยฐC and brush with ethanol or IPA ?

      While typing this it made me want to drink a locally made IPA, not sure if it would clean PCBs, I might try ๐Ÿ˜„
      f9c67446-4aaa-402d-a4eb-0fef47824905-image.png

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: nRF5 action!

      @Jokgi said in nRF5 action!:

      @Nca78 nRFgo Studio has been put to sleep. nRFgo studio does not have support for the newer Nordic devices. nRFconnect for Desktop has taken its place. I suggest when using the nRF52-DK (or any nRF52 based DK) that this newer utility be used.

      Thank you I updated !

      posted in My Project
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: nRF5 action!

      @nagelc said in nRF5 action!:

      I received a few of the Minew MS50SFB modules. They appear to need unlocking similar to the E73 modules. I have tried using instructions as for E73, but no luck so far with either
      gdb
      https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/9266/guide-nrf5-nrf51-nrf52-for-beginners/54?_=1598203470928
      acts like it is working, but doesn't really unlock the module.

      or J-link
      https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/9266/guide-nrf5-nrf51-nrf52-for-beginners/33?_=1598203470928
      returns error from nrfjprob. In J-Link application can not connect

      Did you try with nRFgo Studio ? I use that with NRF52 DK and it's simple. But I've not tried those modules though.

      posted in My Project
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: GUIDE - NRF5 / NRF51 / NRF52 for beginners

      @idanronen said in GUIDE - NRF5 / NRF51 / NRF52 for beginners:

      Does anyone know what settings I need to use for this development board with arduino ide?
      Ebyte E104-BT5032A-TB
      https://a.aliexpress.com/_dT5dMb8

      It has a cp2102 on board which I have the driver for. I've installed the arduino ide nrf52 board, but I can't find a programmer, board, or any other settings which will let me flash it without a Java exception or a timeout. Maybe I need to set the jumpers differently but there's no documentation on that.
      OTA works fine though.

      So, I have finally received mines, and I can program the SoftDevice on them using NRF52 DK and nRF Go Studio. The first time it tells be there is a readback protection and offers a "Recover" option that erases the chip and allows to use it as normal.
      Now I'll try to see what IOs the MOD, WKP, DISC, LINK, DATA, RX, TX, RTS, CTS pins are connected to and that will make a nice little module for modules with limited space and low io pins requirements.
      Great replacement for NRF51822-04 imho: similar surface, better chip, more IOs and similar low price.

      posted in Development
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: NRF NANO

      Hello @mntlvr,

      yes it has been use, see for example here :

      https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/10327/rf-nano-nano-nrf24-for-just-3-50-on-aliexpress

      posted in Hardware
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: GUIDE - NRF5 / NRF51 / NRF52 for beginners

      @idanronen this is a UART to BT module, and from what I understand in the documentation the CP2102 is only here to give you access to the serial port of the module, but not to program it ?

      To program it you will have to use the SWDIO/SWDCLK pins I suppose, and I'm interested to know if it can be reprogrammed because that would make a tiny NRF52832 module for boards that don't require many IOs.

      posted in Development
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Best options for a low current display for a battery operated node?

      @matheus-galvao said in Best options for a low current display for a battery operated node?:

      GYTN-2490

      Hello, I didn't do much for this one, I just used an existing PCF8576 arduino library. Are you using this exact same LCD driver, or another one ? They are not very difficult to make libraries for, I made a library for PCA9553 (much lower power) and it was easy, the annoying part is sometimes to convert the digits to "raw" data sent to the LCD driver when LCD driver designers and lcd manufacturer didn't have the same idea for segment mapping ๐Ÿ™‚

      posted in Hardware
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Unkown Touch switch PCB : How to make them push instead Toggle

      @helmuteke said in Unkown Touch switch PCB : How to make them push instead Toggle:

      ATMHK218

      From google this looks like a serial eeprom.
      For the other chip if it has no writing then it's impossible to help, especially when the picture is in such low resolution.

      My guess is the HTTM sensors have no resistance soldered so there is no way to change it unless you remove them, add the resistance and put them back...

      posted in Hardware
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: ๐Ÿ’ฌ NModule

      @zmatokan said in ๐Ÿ’ฌ NModule:

      @Nca78 Are you still working on this pcbs? i think it would be great to add a version that supports HiLink 220ac->5dc module on powerboard.

      No I'm not working on NModules anymore, I have a few old nodes using atmega/nrf24 but I switched to NRF5 for "basic" nodes now, and to ESP32 for more "advanced" stuff.
      NModule was designed for beginner and simple/riskless use, so I don't think adding high voltage option is a great idea, it's better to use an external power supply and connect the output to the powerboard.

      posted in OpenHardware.io
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: ๐Ÿ’ฌ NModule

      @zmatokan said in ๐Ÿ’ฌ NModule:

      @Nca78 Thanks man! I managed to make it work. Seems like the problem was with radio modules. Now it works fine!

      Happy to hear that, thank you for the feedback !

      posted in OpenHardware.io
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Coronavirus (way, way, off topic)

      @NeverDie said in Coronavirus (way, way, off topic):

      I'm just amazed that by now such basic, practical questions like this, which it should be fairly easy for science to answer, haven't been pinned down with certainty. Or, maybe it has, and we just need to find it somewhere in the scientific literature, unfiltered and undistorted by mass media?

      The only things they can detect are some specific DNA sequences that are specific to the virus. So the tests can either find those DNA sequences, or not. There are probably ways to check if there are indeed viable viruses in the samples taken, but it must be a very hard task and not worth the energy.
      For survival time of the virus I guess the most practical approach is to put live virus on different surfaces and check after x hours/days if the viruses are still "alive" and able to contaminate people, like the studies you quote earlier. Based on these studies, it doesn't seem credible that the traces found are still dangerous after 17 days.

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Coronavirus (way, way, off topic)

      @skywatch said in Coronavirus (way, way, off topic):

      See the full article here.....
      https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3080771/coronavirus-mutations-affect-deadliness-strains-chinese-study

      I would take this with a grain of salt, because of this: "The authors say their findings - based on just 11 patients - are the first to show the mutation could affect the severity of illness."

      You can't pretend to trace mutation and link them to different regions of the world with only 11 patients...

      They claim the strain in Europe is more deadly, but it's the one that arrived in Vietnam (vast majority of the 270 cases recorded here are linked to people arriving from Europe in March) and it doesn't seem to be that deadly: most people are now cured and no none died.

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Coronavirus (way, way, off topic)

      Thank @skywatch that's interesting, especially the nearly 18% of asymptomatic cases, it explains why the epidemic could progress silently in many places before beeing noticed.

      For the "surviving" that's not what I understand, they say "traces of SARS-CoV-2 RNA" it means they can still see it was there on some surfaces, but the virus is probably "dead". Looks more like a trace of blood that you see after a murder.

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: ๐Ÿ’ฌ NModule

      @ghiglie said in ๐Ÿ’ฌ NModule:

      Hi there! In these days I got some boards from my drawer - I spare quite a lot, I ordered 10 panelized one, so I have 40 NModules! ๐Ÿ˜ฎ ๐Ÿ˜ƒ
      4 sensors are yet running on battery (2 on CR2032 and 2 with with 2xAA). The fifth module had an accident and I need to program it via SPI. is it safe to flash it with the antenna still soldered?

      Haha that's a lot of boards. May I know what the accident was ? There was a case of a nmodule having a shortcut when manipulated, is it something similar ?
      The radio SPI pins can handle 5V but not it's power supply. So as you have no regulator on radio for these boards, I see 3 choices :

      1. best one = use a programmer running at 3.3V and you can power the board & radio with it. 100% safe. You can do this with the ArduinoISP sketch, a 3.3V pro mini and a ftdi adapter.
      2. if you only have a 5V powered programmer, power the board separately and connect only the SPI pins with the 5V programmer. But this is out of spec as the voltage on SPI pins will be higher than VCC + 0.5V
      3. open the JRDIO jumper so that the radio is not connected to VCC and use 5V programmer for SPI pins + power supply of the board. In that case to respect the datasheet of NRF24 you need to supply separately at least 3V to VCC radio, else you are in the same situation than point 2, but with the radio and that is I think a worse situation so in that case solution 2. is safer.
      posted in OpenHardware.io
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: ๐Ÿ’ฌ NModule

      @zmatokan said in ๐Ÿ’ฌ NModule:

      @Nca78

      If I would use:

      • 5v power supply
      • 5v arduino
      • 5v motion sensor

      i would need to

      • remove onboard arduino voltage regulator
      • connect RAW and GND to the 5v powersupply
      • add radio volt regulator and capacitor
      • soldier JPOWER

      Yes. If your sensor can work with the voltage drop of the arduino regulator (I think yes), you can also keep it and leave JPOWER open. Less risky and you might have a "cleaner" power for the motion sensor.

      @zmatokan said in ๐Ÿ’ฌ NModule:

      And if i use:

      5v power supply
      3,3v arduino
      3v sensor

      i would need to:

      • remove onboard arduino voltage regulator
      • connect RAW and GND to the 5v powersupply
      • add 3.3V AMS1117
      • add radio capacitor
      • soldier JRADIO

      No, with a normal SMD radio the onboard regulator of the promini will be enough to supply power to board + radio + i2C sensors. So keep the arduino regulator, don't add an AMS1117, leave JPOWER opened, solder JRADIO.

      posted in OpenHardware.io
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: ๐Ÿ’ฌ NModule

      @zmatokan yellow arrow is the right way. Connections between C6/C7 and C8/C9 is normal, I doubled the footprint but you can put only one capacitor on each of the pair of footprints, just make sure the values match the data sheet.

      12V might be too much if you have really cheap AMS1117 clones, but I have no problem with mine (I have a nmodule with the DC Fan/PWM shield running on 12V and it's been controlling the 12V fan for 2 years without problem).

      You can use a 5V power supply, and use a 3.3V AMS1117 for board, radio and sensors. That's what I do usually, a 8MHz arduino is enough for most sensor uses, 16MHz is only needed if you have a demanding user interface like a color LCD or some complicated calculations, but in that case it's a better idea to switch to ARM microcontrollers.

      So solution would be 5V source, 3.3V AMS1117, and no regulator for radio.

      Have you tried to unsolder the radio on one of the non-working module to see if you can at least program/run the arduino ? In that case it would narrow down the problem to the radio modules.
      Also, checking the voltage output of both of the regulators would help.

      posted in OpenHardware.io
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: ๐Ÿ’ฌ NModule

      @zmatokan sorry I complained about your missing pictures and didn't notice you had explained the problem in your initial message.
      A very hot regulator sounds like a short circuit on it's output. Is the red led on at full level or dimmed ? Can you confirm which regulator is getting very hot ?
      Burnt tantalum capacitor is either voltage higher than rated voltage or reverse polarity. This capacitor is I think connected between RAW and GND, so I don't see how this could happen, did you have 12V on terminal block when you connected the FTDI ?

      For the source of the short circuit (can you check resistance between VCC and GND, and radio VCC and GND ? Not a good idea to do that usually but it will easily confirm the problem here) I have no idea. I don't think it comes from the "power/battery" part of the board, it's pretty basic and it would short RAW not VCC. You could have a problem with radio footprint (but if it's the same module on the non 12V powered board, it's not the reason), or a short between some via on the radio module with the second radio footprint that is below it (red color on picture below)
      alt text

      You should have at least one capacitor for each couple of footprint for input (C6/C7) and output (C8/C9) of the AMS1117. It's not what is causing the problem now, but it will make the power more stable.

      posted in OpenHardware.io
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: What did you build today (Pictures) ?

      @sundberg84 said in What did you build today (Pictures) ?:

      Anyone knows why the battery % varies with the given temperature

      They don't like it when it's too cold. Check page 4 :
      https://data.energizer.com/pdfs/lithiumcoin_appman.pdf

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: ๐Ÿ’ฌ NModule

      @zmatokan said in ๐Ÿ’ฌ NModule:

      What jumpers are you referring to?

      JPOWER and JRDIO, they should be unsoldered if you are using regulators.
      I see JRDIO is not soldered, I can't see JPOWER as it's below the AMS1117, but I supposed you didn't solder it.

      Components seem ok, can you explain the problem ? Do you have 5V at the output of the AMS117 and 3.3V at the output of the XC6206 ?

      [edit] those "blob" modules are usually of very poor quality, so if you have the right voltages but can't make a radio connection, they might be the reason...

      posted in OpenHardware.io
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: ๐Ÿ’ฌ NModule

      @zmatokan said in ๐Ÿ’ฌ NModule:

      587488927515_IMG_3554.jpeg](Uploading 100%)

      Hello, I cannot see the picture, I think something went wrong during the upload...
      Can you confirm that you didn't solder the jumpers ? Did you solder the input/output capacitors for each regulator on the other side of the board ?

      posted in OpenHardware.io
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: ๐Ÿ’ฌ Easy/Newbie PCB for MySensors

      @Mr_sensor said in ๐Ÿ’ฌ Easy/Newbie PCB for MySensors:

      Can I have the pcb in the first shed also working as an extender, so the second pcb will be able to send out topics to the gateway as well? What to add to my code to achieve that?

      Hello,
      you must program it to be a repeater. Of course it will need to have radio on all the time, so it cannot be battery-powered.
      https://www.mysensors.org/download/sensor_api_20#create-repeating-nodes

      posted in OpenHardware.io
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Coronavirus (way, way, off topic)

      @tbowmo said in Coronavirus (way, way, off topic):

      I don't know if any of you have seen this before:

      https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6

      Yes it's famous, I used to watch it daily when there was mainly a big red dot over China, and a few tiny dots elsewhere. Now they had to reduce the size of dots, and it's red everywhere ๐Ÿ˜ž
      I find the table here https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ easier to see the trends, as the main info to know the progress of the epidemic in a place is the number of new cases / total cases and you can see it right away without clicking on each country.

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Next generation dust sensor for MySensors

      @Sebex said in Next generation dust sensor for MySensors:

      @NeverDie could you share your Honeywell code, I have trouble getting it to work. An example will help me a lot t learn from!

      I made a library for that, I'm updating it to autodetect some various PM, CO2, Formaldehyde UART sensors but I'll find the old version for Honeywell only tomorrow if you want. If I forget, harass me by MP ๐Ÿ˜„

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Anyone cleaning the flux off using an ultrasonic cleaner?

      @Jon-Raymond said in Anyone cleaning the flux off using an ultrasonic cleaner?:

      @NeverDie Here in Canada we can buy 99% ISA from our local pharmacy for a couple bucks a bottle so that's why I normally go that route. Question, have you tried the actually flux cleaner like this before?

      Haha off-topic but the French translations on this can look like they've been outsourced in China. Smells like Google Translate !

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Coronavirus (way, way, off topic)

      @giangired said in Coronavirus (way, way, off topic):

      but our doctors start to say that the last days people around 50 years old are now increasing in the intensive care units

      And yesterday a 16 y.o. girl died in France...

      Edit: no pre-existing condition known and no saturation of hospital/missing equipment involved...
      http://www.leparisien.fr/essonne-91/morsang-sur-orge-91390/julie-16-ans-decedee-du-coronavirus-personne-n-est-invincible-se-desole-sa-soeur-27-03-2020-8288850.php

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Anyone tried the stc15l204? It appears to be an inexpensive integrated mcu + NRF24L01+

      @NeverDie this is some kind of NRF24L01 to UART converter.
      It has no integrated radio, you have to plug an nrf24l01 in the connector.

      posted in Hardware
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Coronavirus (way, way, off topic)

      @NeverDie said in Coronavirus (way, way, off topic):

      the United States has tested approximately 313,000 people for the coronavirus

      A lot of tests return negative while people are still in incubation period, but also after symptoms, they seems to be far from 100% reliable. Yesterday they stated that a case currently treated at hospital was tested negative 3 times already, but she is still not considered "cured" in the official statistics.
      My building is still in quarantine, we were supposed to be released from quarantine if all direct contacts tested negative. They tested them all, twice, all negative, but they still maintain the quarantine until the end of the 14 days, and tested all the building yesterday.
      I think it shows how much they trust the tests...

      If you look at the study from Pr Raoult in France who claims chloroquine is an incredible cure, you can see the same patient can be positive one day, negative the next, and positive again on third day. And that's probably the best hospital in France, with the best equipment and very experienced doctors.

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Coronavirus (way, way, off topic)

      @zboblamont said in Coronavirus (way, way, off topic):

      Not sure what US media is like, but in the UK it is expert and eminent virologists such as Pierce Morgan, Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson's father they select to interview....

      I believe this is some kind of worldwide trend ๐Ÿคฆ

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Coronavirus (way, way, off topic)

      @NeverDie for point 2) it's not comparable to someone coughing, nebulizer makes really tiny droplet that can stay in suspension, when you cough/spit the droplets are much bigger and don't stay airborne for long. But still, I think wearing tissue or even paper masks can limit the spread by blocking the saliva droplets.

      For 3) it happened in Vietnam, a flight attendant was tested negative 4 times before testing positive. Some people have a long incubation period and it seems during part of this incubation period the test fails to detect the virus ๐Ÿ˜ž

      For the FDA unfortunately at some point they have to give recommendations to people, as raw scientific data "It might, it might not" is not enough for people&companies to take a decision. So they have to opt for the most probable situation, and take into account the price and feasibility of things too I guess. If transmission rate is possible but likely extremely low with food, it's not worth spending huge amounts of money to avoid the few cases that it will cause.

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Coronavirus (way, way, off topic)

      @skywatch you're missing the point of the mask. Here it's not worn to protect you, but to protect others if you are infected. So you don't need to have an efficient/medical one, a cloth mask is enough to block saliva spray if you cough or just when you speak. I everyone is wearing a mask, you don't need glasses because no one can project the virus in your face.

      @NeverDie most people starting to put food aside in February here, because with China next door people were afraid it would spread. It's the case for us we had plenty of food in stock and my wife was outside when the quarantine was enabled so she boughts fruits and other fresh food.
      But we can also get deliveries at the entrance of the building and guards will give us so we are not in direct contact with delivery people.

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: DIY Hand Sanitizer

      @hek we have plenty of hydro alcoholic gel available here in Vietnam, and they all contain ethanol and not IPA, which is a skin irritant and doesn't seem to be a good idea to use for hand sanitizer as you need high concentration for alcohol to be efficient on the virus. You should change the recipe of your "quick and easy" version, to use ethanol as recommended by WHO.

      @NeverDie
      For the survival of the virus new studies show a survival up to 3 days on some surfaces like inox. But that's the best case scenario for the virus, on most surfaces and in most conditions it seems it will just die in a matter of hours. So unless you have a very fast shipping (would be surprising with the number of international flights plummeting), you have nothing to fear.
      https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/03/200317150116.htm

      And now the main risk if you are in the US, EU etc is probably from the employees of the delivery company, as there are probably way more active cases in the US/EU than in China outside of the Hubei province. So when you receive a package, open it outside, get rid of the packaging, and if you're paranoid let it wait a few days in garage/storage room. Then wash your hands carefully, and you risk nothing.

      posted in My Project
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Coronavirus (way, way, off topic)

      @sundberg84 said in Coronavirus (way, way, off topic):

      Toilet paper out of stock everywhere

      Great thing in Vietnam about that is most people use a bidet shower aka "bum gun", so toilet paper is not seen as an interesting thing to hoard, and shelves are still full ๐Ÿ™‚

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Coronavirus (way, way, off topic)

      Here in Vietnam as a China neighbour they took things very seriously from the start. There is a very strict quarantine rule, where everyone in contact with sick people is quarantined or home-quarantined, and then all their contacts, and so on up to sometimes 4-5 levels.
      It helps but there are still people who are in the incubation period in the country, and this morning they announced there was one case in my building, a guy who came from UK 10 days ago. So they have quarantined the building and we can't go out for 2 weeks. The same will probably happen to all visitors (they know have to sign a register so it's easy to trace them), the people we have been in contact with, etc etc

      I was sceptical at first when seeing the extreme precautions they used as we had 3 weeks without any new case in the country but they still didn't want to reopen the schools (closed since early February, right after Tรชt = Vietnamese new year). But now we can see things in Europe, US etc, while here we have less than 80 cases for 100 millions pple, and less than 10 cases per day, most of them being fresh arrivals to the country, I realize they were one of the very few countries in the world to take enough precautions.

      They knew the limits of the medical system here, so they planned ahead and "sacrificed" tourism and economy earlier than the others, in the end it might prove less damaging to the economy. They started research early so now they can produce their own tests at a very low price to test people massively despite limited financial resources. Local companies started to produce a lot of alcohol too so hydroalcoholic gel is available everywhere at cheap price. Mask is mandatory in public places so it's not that easy to find some, but a lot of garment companies are already producing them in big quantities so they are more and more available.

      With the very hot weather here at the moment I hope it will be enough to contain the virus, we will know in the coming weeks now that the arrival of people from abroad is seriously limited and controlled with quarantine.

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Inventory webpage

      @rvendrame said in Inventory webpage:

      and you can link it with an Arduino + some addressable leds + (why not? ) my sensors, and do something like this...

      https://www.instructables.com/id/FindyBot3000-a-Voice-Controlled-Organizer/

      Haha that's gorgeous ! But not ideal for real inventory of parts I guess, if you need 30s discussion with Google each time you take one or more part, it will take forever to take parts for a complex board ๐Ÿ™‚

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: New sensors and Mozilla Webthings

      Hello @rmalbers, the first reason I see is if you want to make battery-powered sensors (for doors, PIR, temperature/humidity, etc etc), this is not possible with the webthings adaptor using wifi and needing constant connection.

      posted in Mozilla WebThings Gateway
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Highest efficiency LED?

      @NeverDie said in Highest efficiency LED?:

      flashing an LED for 5 mS to 10 mS is quite noticeable.

      I checked in an old sketch for a board that was using a 0603 green led (cheap one so not even bright light) and I had a 20ms on time. But this was producing quite a strong light flash, easily noticeable in daytime through 2mm of white PLA (battery was CR1632 and resistor I think around 2K).
      I think it's a combination on "on time" and the current the led receives, so you will need to experiment with the leds you buy, the "problem" is not really about a duration but of a quantity of light you manage to get from the LED compared to ambient light.

      I don't know if you saw the answers to this question, but the experiment is quite interesting.

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: How to power my sensors in a rental?

      @mirodin said in How to power my sensors in a rental?:

      using normally closed reed switches

      You can "convert" those by reverting the orientation of the magnet on your door, then adding another magnet (weaker or further away) inside the node enclosure to keep the reed switch closed when you open the door. When the door is closed the reversed magnet on the door will open the reed switch.

      To do even better you can use :

      • reed switches with 3 leads that work as both normally opened and normally closed switches, and wire them to the 2 interrupt pins. I used that on my first nodes and managed to get reeeeaaaally long battery life on a simple CR2032. When door status changes the node is woken up then you set pin low and current could run only a very short time, you send the message with new status then you activate the other interrupt pin and go back to sleep https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33028519094.html
      • if you're not afraid with SMD there are some ultra low power hall switches, using less than 1uA of current like the DRV5032.
      posted in Hardware
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Highest efficiency LED?

      @NeverDie said in Highest efficiency LED?:

      What it does is achieve 20.42 lumens at 20ma at 3.25v

      No it doesn't if I believe page 5.

      Range of Luminous Intensity*1
      *1 When three LED dies are operated simultaneously.

      IF=20mA*2
      *2 For each die.

      So my understanding is it's achieving a maximum of 20.xx lm at 20*3 = 60mA and it's just 10x lm/W so nothing extraordinary here.

      If you only just want a light signal visible by user, then go for a green led. It's the color the eye is the most sensible to, so it's the one you will be able to see the most for a specific input power.

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: ๐Ÿ’ฌ rayBeacon: nRF52 on-the-go Development Kit

      @Mishka said in ๐Ÿ’ฌ Raybeacon: nRF52 on-the-go Development Kit:

      A little update. The nRF52833 test boards assembly was just finished. Now waiting for delivery.

      Hello, who do you use to make the assembly ? Most PCB sellers who also do assembly have suspended the service at the moment.

      posted in OpenHardware.io
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: NRF serial to usb for gateway?

      @mfalkvidd said in NRF serial to usb for gateway?:

      With enough coding almost anything is possible. But wouldn't it be easier to build a serial gateway?

      I agree with that. A nano is 1/3 of the price of this adapter and will do the job with 0 effort.

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: What did you build today (Pictures) ?

      Today I finished to fix failed soldering (too old solder paste made a mess ๐Ÿ˜ข ) on the "motherboard" of my air quality sensor.
      It's based on ESP32, uses a charging IC with power path so it can run on batteries for around a day or stay plugged without destroying the battery, step down from USB/battery to get VCC, storage on I2C EEPROM, flash and/or ยตSD card (depending on use case), one SK6812 mini RGB led as indicator, a small 240*240 IPS LCD (backlight driven directly by ESP32 pin in high drive capability mode), a 3 way switch for basic user interface + footprint for PAJ7620 gesture recognition module, accelerometer and I2C IO expander to manage the 3 way switch and interrupts from sensor modules.
      Sensor modules will be added on top, connected using an FPC connector. At the moment I made only one sensor PCB able to manage usual PM, CO2 and formaldehyde sensors. Only one sensor per sensor board where an attiny841 manages the UART sensor and convert it to I2C, it also manages the 5V step up to power the sensor.
      On the main board I also added an NRF24 footprint so with the same PCB I will be able to make a gateway with integrated battery backup.

      I'm pretty happy with the relatively well aligned components (no, I don't have OCD ๐Ÿ˜„ ) , too bad I had to unsolder, clean and re-solder each component as it now looks botched up. But at least everything (except a missing connection on ยตSD card, hence the blue wire) is working,
      475bc52b-5bba-450f-aaa0-74eac94a1fb3-image.png

      LCD test showing jpgs from SD card
      c6334b2c-acf5-480f-aca3-c7ad5f191def-image.png

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Battery: pro mini @ 1mhz vs booster

      Hello @kiesel, 1MHz will take in theory 8 times more time to process, but it doesn't mean the wake-up time for your node will be 8 times longer because of :

      • the duration it takes to sensor(s) to return values
      • wait time with radio ON (most power hungry situation) while you get ACK after sending message (unless you use a passive node, never receiving anything)

      Also the power consumption is lower at a lower voltage, and lower at a lower frequency. If you boost at 3.3V it will need 3mA at 8MHz, while it's around (and even below) 1mA at 1MHz at 2.7V.

      So it will mostly depend on your duty cycle between sleep and wake-up time, but booster will consume waaaaaaaay more power in sleep mode and usually (except if you wake up really often) it means shorter battery life. Calculate an average processing time for you node when waking up and reporting data, it's power consumption when up, and use a calculator like this one to estimate the battery life
      https://oregonembedded.com/batterycalc.htm

      posted in Development
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: What did you build today (Pictures) ?

      Today, a 5uA always on display with a PCF8553 LCD driver and a GDC1038 LCD from GoodDisplay. Power consumption varies with voltage but mostly with what segments are on/off, but at 3.3V with segments on to display data on all parts of display (2*4 digit numbers and 3 letters) it's always below 6uA.

      cbcf188c-16f4-4b62-be82-a6aaab2cbade-image.png

      Not sure why the Youtube video won't integrate as it should, but here it is for a more animated version:
      Arduino ultra low power LCD (5uA) โ€“ 00:21
      โ€” NicolasVietnam

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Panasonic PIR sensor

      @electrik said in Panasonic PIR sensor:

      You can't just take the output from the sensor, a circuit is needed to amplify the signal. Is that circuit also in the sensor?

      This is an "in can" sensor, everything is included and it has a digital output.

      posted in Troubleshooting
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: wristwatches that invite development

      @NeverDie said in wristwatches that invite development:

      ESP32, ESP8266 appears to be black and white only:

      ESPs are not a decent option for smartwatches. They are only an easy solution because they are relatively easy to implement compared to a low power bluetooth chip, and their high speed make things like interfacing a color lcd (for ESP32, ESP8266 is lacking IOs) easy also even if the code is not optimized.
      But you want a smartwatch to survive more than a day, to be of reasonable size, and to interact in real time or seemingly in real time with your phone and as you would like here, with other smarthome devices. Not possible with wifi, keeping it enabled is eating way too much energy. And bluetooth on ESP32 is pretty bad also in term of energy use...

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: nRF5 action!

      @Jokgi said in nRF5 action!:

      Calvin, You cam buy a Nordic Development kit for about $50 dollars or less. It has the J-Link OB device on it for swd programming and debugging.

      Best solution imho, never had a problem with it programming the nrf5 modules, just drag & drop from Windows file explorer.

      posted in My Project
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Everything nRF52840

      @NeverDie said in Everything nRF52840:

      If you simply stagger the through-holes then a regular block of header pins will fit through and hold itself in place. No pogo pins required.

      I'm not so sure about the reliability of this ... It's not very difficult to make an adapter using pogo pins, you just need to use 2 similar pcbs to align them properly.

      Another option is to use smaller headers (2mm or better 1.27 mm) and an adapter from selected spacing to 2.54mm header: cheap and compact connector for the board, cheap adapter and reliable connection.
      For example on these adapters you can solder a SMD header on the 1.27mm spaced side and have 2.54mm connectors. You just need to have the opposite genre 1.27mm header on the board and you're done.
      https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32855731928.html

      posted in Hardware
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: What did you build today (Pictures) ?

      @maghac said in What did you build today (Pictures) ?:

      I now have to figure out how to deal with the fact that the alarm LED is blinking, which causes a stream of "alarm ON, alarm OFF, alarm ON, ... ." etc messages in Telegram There should be a way to fix this in Home Assistant I hope.

      You should fix it by using a flag for alarm led on and the last time the alarm led went on :

      • when led gets on, set the "alarm on" flag in your code, save the millis() of last alarm led on in a "last alarm led on" variable
      • in the loop, check status of the alarm led: if off and "alarm on" flag is on, compare millis() with "last alarm led on" time. If the difference is higher than the duration of a blink interval then your alarm is really off.
      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: IoT for retail & sensors

      Hello @jones87 there are some MP3 shields and modules on AliExpress with jack output, it feels easier to make a node that will trigger different mp3 files on an sd card based on activation of switches, than using those instead of relying on an old smartphone that doesn't get security updates anymore, an app etc...
      Search for VS1053 on AliExpress for some examples.

      posted in Hardware
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Everything nRF52840

      @NeverDie I think you are missing the point about the battery. Dave Jones was right as the energy produced by the watch over several years was similar to the one from a coin cell. And before those years pass we all know what happens to electronic devices: they get replaced. So the problem of battery change they pretended to fix was not a real "problem" as the product life is shorter than the battery life. It had very limited functionality and only manual synchronization with the smartphone, and a very basic app.

      It's probably a similar thing with the new version, solar panel increases the available power but it's still in the uA range and functionalities are very limited, the "full color" lcd has no backlight, GPS use must be limited to a few mins per day, same for heart rate monitoring etc. So in the end a watch with similar functions and a li-ion battery would be smaller, half the price and only need a charge every 6 months. 2h of charge twice a year is far from a constraint... In addition the battery powered watch would allow you to run constant heart rate monitoring, have long GPS sessions like 2 hours of running etc etc if you accept to charge more often.

      It's not as bad as before but it still feels like they made the watch because they needed a product to use the technology, and cut down the functionalities until power consumption was low enough to fit the technology. While it should be the opposite, technology should have been improved until it was able to power a smartwatch with "normal" functionalities.

      I'm pretty sure many users of the new version will end up removing the watch from their wrist to expose it to the sun, and that it will last way longer than the charging time of a typical smartwatch ๐Ÿ˜„

      posted in Hardware
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: What did you build today (Pictures) ?

      @NeverDie said in What did you build today (Pictures) ?:

      @Nca78 Looked at another way, once installed and sealed up it will also be a sort of time capsule. ๐Ÿ‘

      I said hidden and not sealed. Unless you have worked really hard on the FOTA for nrf52 ? ๐Ÿ˜›

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Looking for very simple rocker switch

      @alowhum said in Looking for very simple rocker switch:

      Thanks! How can you tell if their pins are thick enough to fit into a Duport connector snugly?

      I finally made and receive the order, I ordered this one and it's huge. So huge that the pins are in fact way too big (0.8*1.2mm section) to fit on a breadboard or in a Dupont connector ๐Ÿ˜ž

      posted in Hardware
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: PMS7003 dust sensor battery powered

      Hello @rozpruwacz, no there is no better solution...
      All the precision lies with the regularity of the air flow and you need to make sure the fan speed is stabilized. But probably you can measure before that, make some tests.
      Also, 80mA is the peak consumption when it lights up the led, but in real life I have less than that as peak (a bit over 60mA), and only for a short time, while most of the time it's way lower. So you can at least cut you average in half, and probably fan speed will be stable (or at least, stable enough for a decent precision) before the 30s seconds so you can save more.
      But to use that sensor on battery you have no choice but to use a good 18650 or 26650 if you want it to survive for at least a month at 1 measurement/mn.

      posted in My Project
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: What did you build today (Pictures) ?

      A relatively basic board, based on a cheap CDEByte module, some leftover iTead power supplies (with not so-well aligned footprint) and a PCA9555 to drive the SSRs directly. I have suspended ceiling with many light spots so I want to be able to control them either one by one (in small rooms with less than 8 spots) or by groups/area in bigger rooms. This will be hidden in the ceiling in an electric box so I have no size constraint and it was easy to respect the creepage/clearance distance and include slots.

      IMG_20200117_175606.jpg
      IMG_20200118_133010.jpg
      Resistors are the pullups for the I2C bus that I stupidely forgot ๐Ÿ˜Š (and yes I fixed that ugly solder point for the middle SSR)

      Result in Things Gateway:
      d328e764-5ddf-45ec-9fc6-b06efdee7788-image.png

      posted in General Discussion
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: A tiny BME node - BME280 on ATtiny85

      Great work shoehorning MySensors and BME280 lib in 8 K !

      But CR2032 is a bit over 200mAh so the battery life will be closer to 6 months. I don't advise to skip the capacitor, and I would even put a 100uF one. CR2032 has a high internal resistance and when you draw 20+mA for sending a message the capacitor will help supply enough power and help the battery so its voltage will not fall too low.

      posted in My Project
      Nca78
      Nca78
    • RE: Everything nRF52840

      @monte said in Everything nRF52840:

      Found this repo: https://github.com/xriss/nrfx

      Gone already ...

      @NeverDie said in Everything nRF52840:

      @monte Is PineTime the best of the currently available nRF52 watch options? If so, since it's offered at $24.99, I think I may want to order one.

      A very interesting project, too bad they are using NRF52832 and not NRF52840, the max SPI speed on ...32 is too low (8MHz) and I'm afraid the LCD refresh will be annoyingly slow ๐Ÿ˜ž

      posted in Hardware
      Nca78
      Nca78