Arduino Connections Module Reworked

I reworked the Arduino Connections or Optocoupler Combo Board as I was not totally happy with how a lot of it was arranged. Chances are I'll probably rework it even more yet as my thought lately is to turn it into a "Hat" using header Pins. I have a couple of Proto-Shields on order from eBay but they will take their sweet time getting here for sure so I don't mind doing some experimenting with some Proto-Board to test out my ideas.

I reworked the schematic for my Proto-Board too just in case anyone has been following along and want to do the exact same thing. I find it handy to keep these diagrams around just so I have a record of my progress, what worked, what didn't work, what needed tweaking and just what the heck all the pin outs are for these little projects as they can get pretty complicated at times. ;)

Adafruit SFX Mini Flash Sound Board with TDA2030A Amplifier Module

I have put together the Adafruit Mini Flash SFX Sound Board along with the TDA2030A Amplifier module onto a piece of Protoboard. Took me a little while to solder out the pins and Speaker connection screw terminal block so I could solder the pins onto the back of the board and add some more pins for where the speaker connections go. I relocated the original screw terminal block from the Amplifier board to just the right of the module on the Protoboard and then connected the two with some jumper wires.

Right now I am powering the Adafruit SFX board with a USB cable but I have some LM7805 power regulators on order so I can just wire in 12V and split a portion of that off to power the Adafruit board with the 5V output from the LN7805.

I also started to make my Optocoupler board for the Sound Effects that will be generated from the Space Matt buttons. Some of the sound effects will be generated from the Switch Pods and I will not need the DTMF request wire that I have worked into this board as the Switch Pods already send a DTMF tone request. But I figure just incase I ever re-purpose these little boards for something different in the future it might be a good idea to have the ability already on the little boards. Here is a diagram of how I have the Optocoupler board wired (above left). Some other buttons I may need to get a little tricky with using that 555 timer board to request the Monitor Activation Sound when I turn on the lower console buttons for either the GPS or LCD screen as they are latching buttons and the Adafruit SFX board just needs momentary connections to activate any of the sounds on the pins.

The Birth of a PCB

In many ways I am leaning to both appreciate and hate Proto-Board. I can see where it has it's uses but it sure is kind of hard to work with for a newbie like me on more complex circuits, lol and this is hardly what most would probably call a complex circuit. ;) This kind of thing always looks better on a nice printed PCB board and it makes putting the components onto the board a lot easier too, I realized this when I made the simple two LED flasher circuit that came in the electronics starter kit I bought on eBay as it had a simple small printed PCB board and soldering in the parts following along with the instructions was child's play compared to this ugly mess you see here (above left).

One has to admit that the printed PCB boards are so much nicer, cleaner and professional looking, even knowing where to solder your components onto the board is much easier to determine with all the tracks on the board clearly traced onto the board.

I have to give very special thanks Andrea lannaccone one of my Knight Rider friends on Face Book for doing this very awesome printed PCB for me. Andrea walked me through the simple process of how he creates these very nice printed PCB's.

The drawing of the circuit diagram can be done in applications like EAGLE, (left). Once you have your circuit figured out you then print your design onto a transparency.

Andrea shows the transparency here (left) with the 555 timer I.C. just dropped into it's correct orientation just to check for accuracy in the circuit design. Sometimes two transparencies may be required if there are any areas that may not be completely solid black or may have holes where the printer miss printed, can happen with transparent film from what I understand.

Next the transparency is placed over top of the Copper coated PCB board, some people use a picture frame with glass to hold the film firmly against the PCB. Andrea uses a product called "Presensibilzed" which is a PCB board with a special Photo resist ink printed over top of the copper coating on the PCB. The transparency will mask the areas of the board that are to be kept.

The PCB is them blasted with Black Light in a dark room for a certain amount of time. 
Next you have to wash off the excess Photoresist with a solution of water and Caustic Soda.
 The next stage is the Etching Bath which will remove all of the areas affected by the Black Light (lower left).

What comes out of the etching solution after all the unwanted Copper has been etched away is your final beautifully printed PCB board (lower right). From this point all that is needed to be done is drill in your holes with a fine drill bit for your components, solder them carefully into place and then you are done, out side of giving it a test run ;)

Mini Relays Board For Space Matt Buttons

I started soldering my mini Songo 12V Relays to the piece of Proto-Board I had for my Space Matt buttons yesterday. It was a bit of a pain to get the relays to sit straight on the board because the pins on the relays don't match up well with the holes in the Proto-Board, so they look like they sit at a slight angle. But it works and that's the main thing. So once this assembly is done I'll be able to wire this up to my Space Matt buttons and use some of the relays on the board to request a DTMF tone from the Knight Rider World Voice Box.

Dummy Row Fixed

Well it was touch and go there for a while, I thought I was going to have to send my "Dummy" row board back to Knight Rider World for repairs or replacement. But with help from the fine folks over there at Knight Rider World we were able to figure out what was wrong with the board and even with my marginal electronics skills were able to fix the board and get it working. At first they thought it might have been a loose or broken solder joint on either one or a couple of the tiny components on the board. I did try re soldering them and then testing the board again only it still did not want to work in the middle display. So I pulled the board from my dash. Having it out of the dash I noticed that two of the pins on the chip were soldered together or "bridged", this it turns out sure enough was the culprit. Using some flux and a nice clean soldering iron tip I was able to remove the solder from between the two pins. I hooked the board up to my power supply and sure enough it worked like a dream. So thanks to the fine folks at Knight Rider World I was able to do the job myself with their guidance and save the hassle of having to ship the board back and wait for a replacement. Right on, I love when things like that get solved.

Aluminum Tabs Added To The S-1 Upper Console

I was trying over the last few days to figure out a good way to mount that small electronics board I made up that has the LED indicator light and Microphone on it that I relocated from the Annunciator sound board in order to make it install better into my S-1 Upper Console. I had originally thought of making up 2 or 4 "]" shaped brackets and bolt the board to the top of the bracket with small bolts. But I figured it's not all that big and it basically just need to be mounted in such a way that it's not going to move about all over the place so I came up with the very simple solution of making 4 small "L" shaped tabs with a hole in one end that a "Zip-tie" could be thread through and then through the hole in the corner of the circuit board, one "Zip-tie" for each corner hole. Just waiting for the fibreglass resin and matting to set but I'm pretty sure this will do a nice job of securing the small piece of board into position and still make it easy to take out at any future time that it should ever need maintenance.

On a separate note for todays accomplishments I got the rest of the switch power wires on my left hand Switch Pod connected to the Molex Connector that way they are not just flying around loose. I can attach wires to the other side of the Connector when I have a purpose for those other buttons. I'll need to pick up another 12 Pin Molex Connector for the right hand Switch Pod power wires, perhaps I'll do that this week just to get that little job out of the way and then those wires will have a connector and be well prepared for future use.