CJ

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LCD with Arduino

I was able to have my Arduino UNO communicate with a 128x64 LCD
I'm pleased with these initial results but still have a ways to go before I finish my primary programs to control the pumps and use this display to make changes on the fly.



TECHNICAL NOTES
(things I needed to look up before I could get everything up and running)

LCD + Arduino purchased from eBay
http://bit.ly/mat6Vv


Datasheets (from CD) downloaded to:
C:\Users\globalloonan\Desktop\Data\Arduino with 12864 LCD


PINOUTs (from readme.txt)
ATmega168/328  uses configuration file: ks0108_Arduino.h
LCD ARDUINO
CSEL1 14 // CS1 Bit   // swap with CSEL2 if left/right is reversed
CSEL2 15 // CS2 Bit
R_W 16 // R/W Bit
D_I 17 // D/I Bit
EN 18 // EN Bit

LCD data 0-3 8-11
LCD data 4-7 4-7


Arduino LCD playground | KS0108 Graphics LCD library
http://www.arduino.cc/playground/Code/GLCDks0108
I have Pinout B

1. Read Me from CD
UNO Arduino

2. http://www.arduino.cc/playground/Code/GLCDks0108
I have Pinout B

3. Use this schematic but default to text (#2)
http://www.arduino.cc/playground/uploads/Code/KS0108_wiring.jpg

4. REMOVE the RESET (otherwise code wont load).  Just leave it dangle

5. This LCD board is KS0108-type and a GLCD (Graphical LCD) as opposed to textual (Character Mode)
http://www.instructables.com/id/ST7565-LCDs-Graphical-LCDs/#step1

Playa Gifting

I'd like to use my circular peg loom as a gift for the playa by making a few different products for my camp makes.  First I need to perfect the technique and then place an order (along with my Chasing El).  These are some rough ideas as well as approx materials needed

PEG LOOM
Hole		60	cm
Peg Diameter		13	mm
Distance between Pegs		10	mm
Peg Circumference		4.08	cm
Every other Peg Circum		11.31	cm
Number of Pegs		26
1 lap around every peg		1.66	cm
1 lap around every other		2.07	cm

PRESENTS
		Belt	Sheet	Creative
	Width	2	6	3
	Length	1	1	4
Total (meters) of El Wire
	Every Peg	3.32	9.97	19.94
	Every Other	4.14	12.42	24.84
MATERIALS
	12 presents	14.93	44.79	89.57
	(2x of each)
Total El Wire (in meters)		149.28	meters
	Total Inverters
	small	4
	large	8

Sequencer Working !

As a corollary to the Liquid Jacket ... the El Wire Jacket came to be (at least in theory)
The trade off for air/water flowing through the schlauch would either be sequenced El Wire (dividing the jacket into 8 or 16 sections) or Chasing El Wire. I finally got my hardware, time to play with it and got everything up and running in less than a night (thanks largely to Make)




A couple things I need to remember are:
Arduino Program
Tools -> Board -> Lilypad Arduino w/ ATmega328
Tools -> Serial Port -> COM13

Sequencier Board
Computer -> USB -> FTDI -> Sequencier
Flip Switch -> USB

MultiStrand El Wire Jacket

My new super great source for El Wire has 'chasing El Wire' too.  I'm thinking of picking up a few strings, my biggest questions are:

1. How do I want it sequenced? (with an 8 or 16 port sequencer)
2. Do I want to use Chasing El?
3. Who do I want to weave it?
• Evens with Chasing El, Odds being 'normal El' and Sequenced?
• The whole jacket in Chasing El plus every other loop being  'normal El' and Sequenced
• JUST every other one being  'normal El' and Sequenced

Air Compressor - Test 2

I bought this cheap/portable Air Compressor

Its powered with 12Volts, has an operating pressure of 7 bar but can max out up to 10 (compared to my pump which is 3).

Fun Facts:

1. It only uses 3 bar empty 20m of 5mm inner diameter tubing
2. 20m of 5mm tubing holds around 400ml of liquid
3. If you dont secure the output hose, the pump can spray blue dyed water over 3 meters high on the ceiling and over 6 meters across to the opposite wall

Air Compressor - Test 1

Its been a busy week ... supplies have finally started arriving (all at the same time) but another post on my newest toys soon to follow.  Included in my bag of goodies was an air compressor.  I've been playing around with using an aircompressor INSTEAD of a pump because they have much more power (10 bar instead of 3 bar/45psi for the pump).  HOWEVER, in order to use JUST an air compressor, at least part if the system would need to be pressurized and for the life of me, I can figure out how the return works.

1. I understand how to make a pressurized source which will push the liquid through the tubes
2. However how does fluid return?
• In an open reservoir to release the air pressure (but how to bring the fluid from the returned reservoir back to the source reservoir)
• If I make the source and return reservoir one in the same, wouldnt the air pressure be the same all the way around, thus water would NOT flow
• Ive thought about pressure release valves but that will effectively lower the entire systems pressure, not just one section

ANYWAY ... until I figure out how a closed system works, I'll keep playing around with my open systems.  As it stands right now, Ill use my pump to push the water and my air compressor to push the air (and the water behind it).

So the first conclusions involving the pump vs air compressor involving 20 meters of 5mm inner (9mm outter) schlauch are:

• Pump needs 14 seconds to fill the schlauch
• Pump needs 50 seconds to empty the schlauch
• Air Compressor needs 7 seconds to empty the schlauch !!!

Schlauch + El Wire Jacket

While wating for 205 meters more schlauch to arrive

• to see its performance
• see how it works with the loom
• determine how to make the straps
• to build the last 2x custom circular peg looms

I got the idea to play around with some El Wire.  You see, the original plan was to use blacklight LEDs to backlight tonic water (which highlighters soaked in overnight).  However it appears that literally NO ONE makes blacklight rope lights so I'd have to make my own blacklight LED vest (for my schlauch jacket).  However it appears that LEDs dont really do the blacklight spectrum very well (you can find some at 380 nm however they are very directional (20 degree view angle).

Thus I was hoping El Wire (intertwined with the schlauch) could provid the lighting necessary to see the air/water going through the tubes.  Next thing I know ... I've found a really cheap source of inverters/el wire/sequencers and am thinking about making some El Wire 'jackets' too. (that and my first bike in Berlin wannas to be playa-fied! )






The above video is from 20 meters of 3mm inner diameter schlauch (4mm outter diameter).  The El Wire was woven in every other loom (too much?  not enough?) At first we used the 4 meters of orange El Wire (2.2mm) but quickly went through that so we added another 4 meters of blue El too.

Its interesting to note how much more tall our structure is with using the thinner schlauch (the 20 meters of 3mm schlauch is nearly 60 cm tall while 4mm schlauch is only 25cm tall).

My first batch of EL WIRE I bought from "Thats Cool Wire".  Its a great website with great video tutorials on how to use the stuff.  However this time around, I'm going straight to the manufacturer (greater savings, when based in Europe and/or ordering large quantities).  Regardless, to give you a better idea of the EL WIRE I'm looking at:

Picture of Colors of El Wire
http://www.thatscoolwire.com/articleDetail.asp?articleID=21

Picture of Thickness of El Wire
http://www.thatscoolwire.com/articleDetail.asp?articleID=18

Names of Colors
http://www.thatscoolwire.com/store/item.asp?Category=168&SubCategoryID=106&GroupID=&SKU=S7-2%2E2-SPL-165

Knitting Win v1.2 (5mm)

I now have 2 'tube center pieces'
The first one I did yesterday was 20m of 4mm inner diameter (6mm outer)
I could tell it was pushing the limits of the pump so I decided to make another new one today: 20m of 5mm inner diameter (9mm outer).

The thickness of the tubing (9mm outer) made it VERY hard to knit with (the pegs only had 15mm spacing thus you couldnt have 2 tubes next to each other) however with the help of Sylwia we managed.  The 5mm inner made it MUCH easier on the pump.

Convinced enough of the tubing and technique I placed another order for tubes (4mm inner/6 outer and 5mm inner/7mm outer).  I'm hoping to get away with making a jacket using only 50 meters.  

Outstanding topics to work out include:

• open back or completely circular
• whether to add sleeves
• how to finish the ends
• how to add straps

Knitting Win v1.1 (4mm)

SUCCESS !
We (Andrea & I) successfully knitted a full 20 meters of 4mm using a double peg method (each loop went around 2 pegs) ! It seems as though were already pushing the pump to its limit with these loops (of this diameter) at 20 meters.

The good news is, originally I had estimated it would take about 100 meters to make a jacket however with the large loop size (due to the double peg) it looks like I'll be able to get away with less than 50m.

Now if only I can have Sylwia show me how to tie the knit off so I can try with the thicker tubing

Knitting Fail v1.0 (single peg stitch)

In the first 'test' we had the tubing 'wrapped' around the loom. This time we decided to actually KNITTED it using a basic looming techniques found on YouTube.

After knitting approx 3meters of the 4mm inner tubing we decided to see how it works. Keep in mind, we figure we need about 100m to make a full jacket so were only 3% of the way 'done'.

Unfortunately things did NOT work out. There were too many kinks restricting the flow causing the output to be all but a dribble however the air bubbles looked nice :S

We'll have to try a different technique or tubing or loom ...

The beginning

The 20m x 5mm (inner dimension) works great

so does the 20m x 4mm.

However the 3mm (inner dimension, 0.5mm wall) will kink too easy (same goes for the 2mm x 0.5mm and 1.5mm x 0.3mm wall).

Upon making our (shout out to Sylwia) first braid ... first observation (when using the 4mm inner x 6mm outter) is that the spacing on our prototype loom is too small (currently 14 mm, needs to be bigger ... perhaps around 18mm). Also ... each peg height is 5.5cm ... if it were longer (approx 8cm) the tubes would stay on easier

Final Facts:

5mm inner (@20m) took 40 seconds to empty

4mm inner (@20m) took 55 seconds to empty and 20 seconds to fill

Liquid Jacket

First blog in 6 years ... Liquid Jacket Edition.

Ive been working on this idea for a while. Naumann sent me this video

Its taken a couple months but Ive acquired all the materials and am ready to build.

During acquisition, it seems as quite a few others have jumped on the bandwagon like Robyn's Indestructible

I have a job !-!-!

I found a job !-!-! I found a job !-!-! Its been over three years since I last worked at Motorola. I went to Europe hoping to get some international exposure and get a job. We'll ... I got both, but ironically the job set me back to the US !

I work for a company called zanox ... they are in the online marketing business. Its rather high tech, surprisingly interesting and hard to explain : )

I was in the US for about two weeks by the time I had my first guest … Sarah from Valencia, Spain. I had been so busy with my new job that I hadn’t had any time to explore the city or my neighborhood … it was nice to have a chance to finally step away and show Sarah around. A few days later zanox packed up the things in the Chicago office to attend a convention in NYC. I volunteered to drive a rented SUV there to carry booth etc. I left a couple days early so I could visit the parents in Boston and pick up some things I dropped off at their house a few years back.

The convention was good but tiring. On the second day, coincidently, Ingrid had an overnight layover in NYC … on her way from Denmark to Colombia. She came in late at night, we ate some sushi in Manhattan and early the following morning she made her way to Colombia as I drove to Chicago.

Here is the month of February in pictures.

• Super Bowl with CEO Heiko and co-worker Helen.
• Baby Pooh at zanox, 21 floors high, with a window washer hanging by a string outside
• Me in a bluelight
• A German, Peruvian, Spaniard and American in an Irish bar in NYC speaking German
• zanox booth at adTech NYC
• Ingrid and all her suitcases in NYC with an overnight layover
• AskJeeves in carbonite
• Cousin-in-law Christina, Sarah from Spain and Brian from Motorola
• Erica and Nick at Old Town Tavern

Skiing the Alps in Innsbruck, Austria

I hadn’t even unpacked from my London trip when several of my friends and my friends friends were leaving for Innsbruck, Austria to go skiing. They rented this massive bus and wanted to make it a booze cruise all the way from Berlin to Central Austria.

The road trip got off the a comical start about an hour into the 20 hour drive, once the effects of a couple beers kicked in. To everyone’s horror the toilet on the bus was busted !-!-! To accommodate this we needed to make frequent stops adding to the road trip.



The city of Innsbruck was quite and quaint … but to be honest, I didn’t see much of it, I spent more time on the slopes. The highlight had to be a late night sled run down the mountain. Valerie (French, who I spent most of my time in Innsbruck with and have become closer to in the recent weeks), Annelise (Belgium/British, who I hit it off ever since we first met) and I were the last three down the hill. We only had two sleds for the three of us. We raced each other down the mountain resulting into countless crashes and wipe-outs SO MUCH FUN !-!-!

The next day we went skiing. Every once and a while the fog (which added mystique but detracted from the view) broke, revealing scenery that was unparalleled and breath taking. The slopes seems to go on endlessly. The lodges had fun restaurants with waitresses in ‘Heidi’ outfits serving delicious food.

London ... for the first time again.

I’m having a nice problem these days. Life is moving faster than I can type. I like when life moves so fast I have to sprint to catch up. At the same time I enjoy writing the details in a life that when I look back I am wholly taken up with reminiscences of past gaiety. Obviously the former explains my 3-month hiatus of this blog.

I spent Christmas and New Years with Ingrid traveling Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden and Copenhagen). I come back to Berlin, my home away from home, to find out I don’t have that either. Luckily I have good friends. Gabriele has been my Italian brother ever since I arrived to Berlin. We both get care packages from our parents. Mine usually includes peeps, candy corn or whatever the candy of the holiday is plus some other hard to find goodies like Cheese Whiz, dill pickles and what not. Meanwhile Gabriele gets huge vats of the newest olive oil or other such Sicilian produce. Anyway, I digress.

I was just looking for a place to sleep when Gabriele comes to give me that and a whole lot more. The couple weeks I stayed with him showed me just how great our bond was. He gave me so much clarity on my life … and I totally new perspective on live. I can’t thank him enough for all his support.

While staying with Gabriele I did some traveling. I had the perfect opportunity to meet Ingrid in London !-!-! Naturally when you mix 1 part Ingrid, 1 part Chris and a dash of adventure WATCH OUT !-!-! Even before we met Ingrid had an amazing story about her visa … but we’ll leave that for another day.

Ingrid arrived a couple hours before me. We met at our overpriced undersized room by the Thames. I got goose bumps every time I looked at the London map because of my ‘Mr. X’ flashbacks (just wanna give quick shout out to my peep’s Marcelo and Kerstin !).


I’ve been in / through London countless times, but hadn’t done the tourist circuit in a long while. Ingrid, Baby Pooh and I had such a good time! Despite seeing London before, its always so beautiful to see it through the eyes of Ingrid. She has such a unique and intriguing why of looking at things. New firsts included a visit to a flea market and various places seen in the movie ‘Notting Hill’

Our Scandinavian trip!!!

On the December 23rd: Chris arrived to Copenhagen, we stayed at Lucas’s house, made our little Christmas tree and put all our presents around it.

Xmas was just GREAT; Ingrid made an amazing Dinner (Chris helped too!) Then we opened presents and it was very cool that we both like our presents (nothing to change or give back…)

On the 25th we took an overnight cruise to OSLO where we stayed in a very nice hotel that we found on the Internet for less than a hostel. Norway is a very expensive country; we paid about 25 EUR ($30) for two basic Burger King ‘value meals’.

On the 27th we took a two hour OUTDOOR boat cruise along the breath-taking fjords in -5 C (20 F) weather. Afterwards we arrived to Bergen (amazing city) where we ate the famously stinky yet traditional lutefisk and the perplexing red meat of a whale! Views from atop Bergen’s funicular were spectacular.

The next day we traveled to Ålesund, which is the only Art Nouveau style city in Norway, the landscape on the way there was incredibly beautiful. However the city, despite being very unique from the rest of Norway was interesting, but nothing special. We decided to leave slightly ahead of schedule to make some time for Hellesylt, which was a great idea! We arrived to a very small town, surrounded by mountains and frozen waterfalls.

We caught an overnight bus to Oslo, and finally a plane back to Copenhagen on the 31st. We had to run to catch the Christmas cabaret in Tivoli Park followed by a nice dinner. New Years Eve was brought in at Copenhagen’s beautiful City Hall Square, but had flashbacks of a war when the fireworks started to get out of control.

On New Years day we took it easy and went to the movies.
The next day, we made a two-day trip all the way to Goteborg, Sweden Going over Europe’s longest and very new tunnel Bridge Oresund, which connects Copenhagen to Malmö.

We really had a great time!!!If you want to see some GREAT pics click HERE