[HN Gopher] Project: Police Flasher and 7-Segment LED Clock Thro...
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Project: Police Flasher and 7-Segment LED Clock Through-Hole
Soldering Kits
Author : jandeboevrie
Score : 47 points
Date : 2023-08-06 10:13 UTC (12 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (goughlui.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (goughlui.com)
| 14 wrote:
| I wish the article had some links to these kits. I have been
| trying to find the police flasher one and all I seem to find is
| cheap ones with only a few leds. Anyone know where I can find the
| police flasher? Thanks
| ajsnigrutin wrote:
| Aliexpress has them, eg.:
| https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003457635092.html
|
| The pcb looks very similar, but is missing the holes to break
| the light parts away (probably saving money on the drilling).
| graton wrote:
| I too am interested in finding some kits as I recently started
| soldering and wanted to practice using some kits as it sounds
| more fun than just practicing on a breadboard.
|
| One site I found while watching a YouTube video was:
| https://www.electronickits.com/ but I haven't ordered anything
| yet and really don't know much about them besides they were
| listed in a video...
| sethhochberg wrote:
| I don't know the vendor you linked either, but Digikey (a
| huge electronics parts wholesaler) has an entire educational
| kits section on their site:
| https://www.digikey.com/en/products/filter/educational-
| kits/...
|
| Lots of microcontroller stuff in there, but also plenty of
| simpler hardware electronics projects
| wildekek wrote:
| I love the look of 7-segment displays. If you want one that is
| WiFi controlled via an ESP32, check out my blog post:
| https://willem.vooijs.eu/posts/cute-astronaut3/
| fit2rule wrote:
| [dead]
| waltwalther wrote:
| This brought back a great memory for me. When I was very young,
| less than ten years old, my dad would bring home little kits like
| this from work in a little cooler that was his lunchbox. He
| started with the most simple ones that did not require solder,
| and worked up to more elaborate kits. We would work on them in
| the basement shop together. He let me mess up, and let me explore
| and experiment. This was the early 80's, and we powered these
| little kits with a DC power supply that he had built...from a
| kit.
|
| Great memory that I had forgotten. My dad died in February of
| this year after a long struggle with pulmonary fibrosis. He could
| fix anything. He could build anything. With these little kits he
| taught me so much. Thanks for the memory!
| hyperman1 wrote:
| My 6 year old just got very interested in a very basic electric
| kit, but he more or less exhausted its possibilities. I am
| trying to forge a path forward, maybe with switches on a
| breadboard or something. What are electric kits that do not
| require solder?
| waltwalther wrote:
| The very first kit I remember was housed in a metal project
| box about the size of a large dictionary. This was the early
| 80's or possibly the late 70's. I was very young at the time,
| but I still remember it fairly well.
|
| The heavy box was open on the bottom, and contained a
| homemade DC power supply (transformer, voltage rectifier,
| etc) to power the "project area" on top of the box. The
| project area contained 3 different-sized breadboards, maybe
| two dozen red and green LED's, some sort of buzzer, a couple
| of toggle switches, and a push-button switch.
|
| Dad supplied me with some wire (with stripped ends). I could
| place one end of the wire into a slot on the breadboard, and
| connect it to another location, and then manipulate the
| switches/buttons to either light up an LED or cause the
| buzzer to buzz...or both. This may sound simple and boring,
| but to me it was pretty awesome.
|
| Years later, when I was in middle school, I made a homemade
| project that would deliver a harmless, but painful electric
| shock to my friends fingertips. It was nothing more than a
| transformer, a push-button switch, and a battery, mounted in
| a small box. On top of the box were two square metal pads
| that I had cut from an old Crisco can. My victim would place
| their index and middle fingers onto the two metal pads while
| I pressed and released the switch.
| jacquesm wrote:
| Ugh, condolences, but what a great dad you had!
| waltwalther wrote:
| Thank you.
| [deleted]
| de6u99er wrote:
| I remember the time when we only had red, green, and orange LEDs.
| Blue LEDs were a real game changer.
| huhtenberg wrote:
| https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2014/press-release...
| fragmede wrote:
| The police flasher, with a 555 timer and a decade counter to get
| the classic police effect, is a thing of the past. These days
| you'd put in a microcontroller and program in the desired
| sequence. I don't know which is better, but that's how the world
| is.
| eternauta3k wrote:
| Depends on your goal. If you really just want a blinking thing,
| maybe buying a ready-made one is better, or alternatively
| building the one you find easiest. If you want to make a
| product, whatever maximizes profit is better. If you want to
| learn about microcontrollers, build it with microcontrollers.
| If you want to understand how 555s and RC charge/discharge
| curves work, build it with a 555.
| jacquesm wrote:
| That requires two skillsets, the electronics part only one.
| 01100011 wrote:
| A friend asked me to make a brake and turn-signal controller
| for a custom motorcycle. I started with 555s until I realized I
| could get an ATTiny for less money and add more features at the
| same time.
| dragontamer wrote:
| > AT89C2051
|
| This damn chip will never die, will it?
|
| Both projects seem simple enough to make with your own KiCAD
| custom board, and with Digikey Red at just $5 for small boards,
| and with modern miniature parts (wow, lots of big through hole
| stuff in this kit), it's probably cheaper than you think to make
| your own custom parts.
|
| I think these days, I'd make a surface mount beginner board with
| SOIC (relatively large surface mount) chips and maybe 0805
| (imperial) resistors. Modern electronics are often with much
| smaller parts like BGA or VQFN leadless and 0201 resistors.
|
| But staying with larger SOIC (half the size of DIPs) is still
| fine enough for beginners and surface mount skills probably are
| more important today.
|
| -------------
|
| It probably should be noted that 4-character LED modules are
| cheap and common. This project uses 3x 2-character LED modules to
| display "hours:minutes:seconds", but I think the typical
| "hours:minutes" display is easier given off-the-shelf equipment.
| edrxty wrote:
| Lots of turn key manufacturers out there too. JLPCB will take
| your proto board files and mail you the whole thing soldered
| and ready to go in a few weeks. If you use relatively common
| parts you won't need to solder anything at all.
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