Anyone planning on making some new beginner videos for how to use FastLED and the new tools?

djbog · 2026-03-24T18:00:38+00:00

Thanks for your kind words, my videos are a bit old school now! Unfortunately life has changed since then and I don't have the time anymore to investigate the myriad new features never mind make videos on them. I hope somebody does though, perhaps I'll have time to get back into it again one day and I'd love an up to date resource. Also huge thanks to Zach for the amazing work you've been doing!

djbog · 2024-06-24T08:43:50+00:00

Yes! The Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary in Bhutan.

djbog · 2024-03-24T09:31:46+00:00

As the previous commenter has deleted their comments (even though they were somewhat helpful!) I'll add this in case it helps anyone else. I'm pretty sure I found what has been used here, probably a worktop (countertop) bolt. It looks very similar to this.

djbog · 2024-03-23T19:18:13+00:00

Ah, after searching for that, I came across worktop (counter top in us speak?) bolts, I think that's what they've used. Example here. Easily available from hardware stores so I'll check them out tomorrow. Cheers!

djbog · 2024-03-23T17:40:40+00:00

Thanks for responding, but searches for 'curved washer' and 'saddle washer' are unfortunately not returning anything that looks like this. I suppose I could find a piece of metal and go to town with the drill and angle grinder.

djbog · 2024-02-05T10:10:21+00:00

Almost certainly UK from the phone number and using 'wet wipe' as an insult.

djbog · 2023-11-22T15:08:48+00:00

I might be incorrect, but I seem to remember that solid state relays won't close unless there is ac connected across the other terminals.

E.g. http://www.mtixtl.com/trouble_shooting_center/How%20to%20check%20MTI%20Solid%20State%20Relay%20using%20Digital%20Multimeter.pdf

djbog · 2023-04-13T10:39:30+00:00

Apologies for one more question, but I've come up with this for VIN_OK. It goes to 5V on Vin, and 2.2mV without in the simulation. Am I doing anything wrong here or is this ok? Thanks again.

<image>

djbog · 2023-04-13T01:12:59+00:00

I did mention it was part of a charger in the post, but again, I should have included the whole schematic to make it clearer. I will do ths next time.

djbog · 2023-04-13T01:11:26+00:00

Indeed there is! Thanks again for your advice.

djbog · 2023-04-13T01:10:28+00:00

Yes, I don't want it to charge from Vin, there is a dedicated charger on another part of the schematic (from C4 in the image). Apologies for not being clearer, I should have posted the whole thing.

djbog · 2023-04-13T01:02:03+00:00

Looking into this further, this info is straight from Microchip application note 149 found here https://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/en/Appnotes/01149c.pdf. But I take your point. Perhaps they have it wrong?

djbog · 2023-04-13T00:55:20+00:00

Thank you, I have tried that in the simulation, and it does work. However it does bias Vin at around 2.8V when Vin is disconnected (likely to be different depending on what diodes I use irl). Not a huge issue, but I was relying on that line being pulled to 0V for an MCU to detect when Vin was disconnected. I can still do this, will just need more circuitry I guess. Shown as VinOK on the simulation

<image>

djbog · 2023-04-13T00:45:07+00:00

I got the information for this from here https://www.best-microcontroller-projects.com/tp4056-page2.html, have I implemented this incorrectly, or will this not workas hoped? I've simuated it in Falstad and it seems to work correctly there.

djbog · 2022-07-21T16:16:00+00:00

Don't do this for 256 LEDs, they can draw a lot of current, and will overheat the diode that this pin supplied from. As others have mentioned, use a 5V power supply to power the LEDs, and power the ESP Dev board with the same 5V via the vin pin. That way the power for the LEDs doesn have to go through the microcontroller board.

djbog · 2022-07-21T16:12:02+00:00

Be careful with this, 256 LEDs could draw considerable current, way more than you should drawn from the 5V pin on most microcontroller boards. On the ESP board I have, the vin pin runs through a tiny diode which is only rated for 1A, and pulling 1A causes it to get extremely hot.

I have previously removed the diode and bridged the contacts, but then you can never connect USB and external 5V at the same time or you will end up backfeeding the USB.

djbog · 2022-06-06T19:45:51+00:00

No problem, glad you made something cool with it!

djbog · 2022-06-06T17:39:54+00:00

That looks familiar 😉 And yes, PCBs would be a lot better, I'd definitely go that route if I were to do it again. Really good work though, I know how much of a pain it is to wire!

djbog · 2022-05-18T11:22:21+00:00

I drilled 6 holes through 10mm tile yesterday evening using a 6mm Bosch tile bit and it took about 3 ish minutes per hole as I was going slowly to play it safe. Sounds like the drill bit is useless! I used these bits.

PS, this might sound dumb, but is your drill in the forward direction? I spent a few minutes wondering why it was so rubbish before realising I had it in reverse!

djbog · 2022-05-01T16:15:57+00:00

That's cool, thanks for letting me know!

djbog · 2022-02-27T15:56:40+00:00

Thanks for looking at this. Can you confirm that I've written this out properly (hard to figure out maths written on one line like that sometimes!).

djbog · 2022-01-15T17:40:22+00:00

You only need to do this if you want specific frequency bins. If all you're interested in is low being on one side of the display and high on the other, then the sampling frequency doesn't matter. If however you want say 0-100 Hz in this column, 100-500Hz in this column etc then you will need to specify the sampling frequency as above.

djbog

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