Out of touch
Posted by Squintz, Dec 22 2009, 04:03 PM
I've been out of touch with my friends from cocoontech. I just wanted to stop in and say high. I wish there were 48 hours in a day so I could spend more time in the chat rooms and on the forums but I just don't have the time like I use to. I started a new job recently making lots more money. Just so happens starting a hackerspace was a good move. I met my new boss at the hackerspace and I no longer shoot tanks and other big guns for a living. Instead I am officially a Senior Electronic Engineer and believe it or not it's more fun than blowing shit up.
My wife and kids are doing good also. My son lost his first tooth and lost a second about a week later. Very exciting stuff!
We have a temporary space
Posted by Squintz, Jun 8 2009, 02:54 PM
It has been a while since I wrote a blog post so I figured I would play catchup.
Last night the Harford Hackerspace members(6) visited the garage of our newest member and decided to make it our temporary place to play. It's a fairly large 2.5 car garage with suprisingly not too much clutter. Our first project to work on in that garage is a DIY CNC machine which will belong to the club for everyones use. So that's where I am at with that project.
The other day I came across this awesome site called www.css-tricks.com. It's loaded with tons of really well done videos of CSS and other web design related subjects. Each video is between 20 mintues to an hour long. That site is almost as cool as cocoontech is. It's worth checking out if you have any desire to design or program a website.
Videos show up at mother in-laws house, time for teddy camera!
Posted by Squintz, May 11 2009, 11:52 AM
Several months ago my wifes sister asked if she could stay at our house. She knew my wife and I were going to be away for the night and used the excuse that she was going to be driving from her other sisters house in PA late at night and did not want to drive late at night. Up until this point she had been very trustworthy but she had recently got a boyfriend. When I got home the next morning I noticed that most of my liquor was gone which would have been a lot for one person to drink. So I checked my video camera and sure enough she had brought her boyfriend over.
To me this is no big deal. I was a teenager only 8 years ago so I know how fun it can be to have an actual place to do whatever teenagers do when they are alone. However, later that day I also noticed I was missing $5 that was on my table in the living room. I figured she may have needed it for gas but after asking her she denied ever taking it. No big deal! It's only $5 and I can't prove anyone took it since I don't have cameras in the house.
....Fast Forward a few weeks....
I was with my wife and I opened our draw where we keep our "stuff" and I noticed that we have several DVD cases which were missing their "movies". I got a little worried that our oldest daughter (8 years old) may have stumbled across the collection. We were in the moment so I had quickly searched my kids rooms and did not find the movies and then returned and forgot all about it.
....Fast Foward to 2 weeks ago....
My wife gets a phone call from her mom and she asked if we were missing any "movies". "Well, actually we are" my wife said. Turns out our movies had made it 25 miles down the road and inside a coffee table draw at my mother in-laws house.
Our videos were scattered and not just in that one draw. So whoever took them went through multiple locations in our bedroom and removed 4 movies from about 3 different locations. This does not really sound like something a kid would do. Also, my oldest daughter rarely goes to her grandmothers house because she is usually with her biological father when we take the other kids.
So this basically leaves two people and they are both my wifes sisters. Of course both of them deny taking the movies. Last night the movies were returned to us and when I was alone with my wife I asked if she would allow me to setup a nany cam in the house to try and catch whoever is stealing from us. Amazingly she agreed!
So after that entire long blog all I was really trying to say is that I just purchased a teddy bear camera and while I was at it I purchased another camera for outdoors. I'll let you all know how it goes after I get it all hooked up.
After RobotFest 2009
Posted by Squintz, Apr 26 2009, 04:37 PM
Harford Hackerspace had a table at RobotFest 2009 and unexpectedly we were a hit at the show with our CNC Machine. I have posted a blog with Photos of the event. RobotFest www.robotfest.com is in its 9th year and takes place at the National Electronics Museum in Linthicum, MD. It's a very cool event and I highly recommend you attend if you are in the area next year.
Check out our photos: http://www.harfordhackerspace.org While you are there use your mouse and help us "Pay the bills".
Looking for Raffle Prize Donations
Posted by Squintz, Apr 20 2009, 01:16 PM
Harford Hackerspace (www.harfordhackerspace.org) is looking for prize donations that we can raffle. The proceeds will be used to help us with start up cost of our organization.
We are looking for items that will be desirable to everyone. I.E. LCD Television, Surround Sound System, Blue-Ray Player, Game Consoles, Gift Cards, ect. Individuals or companies who donate will be rewarded with their Name listed as a sponsor on our T-Shirts which will be worn at all events we attend. Events are typically science and technology related such as www.RobotFest.com. Also, we will display your logo and name on the wall of our hackerspace.
Harford Hackerspace is an educational non-profit organization whose goal is to provide community members with the resources needed to learn about science and technology through free classes and group projects. It's a place where community members will teach other community members. Visit www.harfordhackersapce.org for more information about our organization.
It's Official - I am a UPB user!
Posted by Squintz, Apr 10 2009, 05:04 PM
I just finished installing my first UPB device. It was the Simply Automated (SA) Receptacle (Model:URD). The installation had a little hicup but it was easily fixed. There are two sets of screw terminals on the Receptacle and for some reason you are only supposed to connect wires to the bottom set of terminals. I know from the instructions that ONE of the top terminals can be used to allow the displaying of an LED if you were to wire a remote switch (USR-40) to control the Top outlet. The bottom outlet is always hot. However, I don't know what the OTHER top terminal is for. You would think they would eliminate it if there was not a purpose. My guess is that it has a purpose and I just don't know what that purpose is.
I can see now that there is going to be a learning curve caused by me switching from Z-Wave to UPB. I have RF and Meshed networks burned into my head and terminology such as Inclusion, Exclusion, and Association. It seems that UPB uses different terms and the method for which devices communicate with each other is totally different.
Finally, I have to mention... Currently I am running both Z-Wave and UPB. Something just does not feel right. I almost feel like there is some domestic violence going on inside my walls. But it's just my imagination because the two protocols work perfectly fine with each other as they should.
Electric Field Proximity Sensor
Posted by Squintz, Mar 23 2009, 11:44 AM
One problem that has been difficult for us DIYers to solve is how do detect someone without motion. In other words how do we tell if someone is sleeping in a bed, siting on a toilet, laying on the couch, or taking a shower. During the first Harford Hackerspace meeting one of our members demonstrated an EF Proximity Sensor which he had hacked together using an old CB Radio, some custom electronics and the popular Arduino. When you placed your hand in the antennas field the speaker would ramp up. The closer you were the louder the sound from the speaker.
Naturally I wanted to build one of these awesome proximity sensors my self. He has been too busy since that meeting to go over the circuit in details with me so I started looking for the answer online. Take a look at the documentation which you can download from this site: http://www.bik.com/
This circuit design is adjustable from inches to 12 feet which makes it perfect for all the applications I listed above. Add the Arduino and you can interface it to any of your Home Automation controllers. Now all I have to do is actually build it. I'll let you know how it works out.
DimDim - Open Source Webinar Software that Rocks!
Posted by Squintz, Mar 19 2009, 07:19 PM
http://www.dimdim.com
I will give IVB credit for making Webinars popular in the home automation community with his CQC Webinars. http://www.dimdim.com is about to take that to a new level. This software simply rules. This is an open source Flash based, web browser based application that is FREE FREE FREE for up to 20 people at a time and ONLY $99/year for 100 people.
I setup an account and tested with one my hackerspace friends and I was highly impressed with the presentation quality and the live audio. The software allows you to easily record the webinar and stores it on Dimdim server. They provide you a link and you can share the webinar with everyone who missed it.
Just give it a try yourself and see what I mean. I can't begin to tell you how happy I am with it.
What, Squintz' is trying UPB?
Posted by Squintz, Mar 4 2009, 10:19 AM
If you know me then you know I have been Z-Wave's #2 Fanboy with probably Chris Walker being #1. I have to admit that ever since I met Martin from Automated Outlet at EHX 2007 there has been a piece of me that has wanted to try UPB. After doing a 60+ switch Z-Wave install for a customer, using all Levition Vizia RF, I quickly came to realise that although Z-Wave is a great protocol the installation process and amount of time to make it work 100% is not something a business owner has time to mess with and the cost of support to the customer is not worth the gamble. The word "Interoperability" is used too loosely amongst the alliance and the Z-Wave Speaks logo has lost its credibility. The only way a professional install is economically feasible is by using one manufactures product line and either crossing your fingers or spending hours replacing devices with weak transmitters and using sniffers and network anaylizers to detect problem spots. I'm must say though that once you have configured a Z-Wave Network using a reliable brand such as Leviton, the system simply works and is easy for anyone manage.
My thoughts for transitioning to UPB are as follows. UPB is a Powerline protocol which eliminates the weak RF transmitter signal problem that I had in my customers home. UPB has been tested by several professionals with very little negative to say about it. Unlike Z-Wave, UPB has an Open Protocol which allows it to be inexpensively adopted by manufactures and also allows techies like my self to write software for the computer interfaces. I understand that UPB is not a Hard Wired, stand alone system, but it's the next best thing. The deal breaker for me was the introduction of the Dual Load switch with interchangable face plate. That is a huge space saver!
So to be clear. I will still be following Z-Wave and I will still actively review z-wave products, here and on www.zwaveworld.com. However, I am officially resigning my title of Z-Wave Fanboy and picking up a new hat.
Kids!
Posted by Squintz, Feb 21 2009, 04:54 PM
I have 3 of the best kids anyone could ever ask for. My oldest daughter got straight A's on her very first graded report card. My youngest daughter is as sweet as pie, very smart, and polite. And then there is my son... He is just like me... Some of the stuff he has been doing recently is giving me flash backs. The other day my wife walked in his room to find that he took my phillips screwdriver and removed every screw from every battery operated toy he owned. When we asked why he did it his response was...."I wanted to know how it worked." Keep in mind this is coming from a 5yr old.
Now if I could just get him to put all his toys back together and clean his room!
on Out of touch