PComp – Week 8 – Transistor Lab
October 30, 2009Going through the lab currently, and I’m noticing a few things as I go along:
10:25 – I’m scared to death that I’m going to blow up my Arduino or lightbulb, cuz my DC power supply is 16V and not 12V. It’s probably fine, but I’d rather not blow up anything, so I’m going to ask. This is what happens when you don’t know enough about conductivity and how light bulbs work. I looked through the code and it doesn’t look like it even needs the larger power supply.
10:30 – Light bulb works without power supply! Not surprised.
10:40 – It’s not working. The code is the exactly the same…but it doesn’t make sense that you would rewrite the potValue if it’s a const. Is the code wrong?
10:50 – Alright, confirmation. Apparently, the labs are intentionally setup with errors and you have to figure out what’s wrong in them. This is comedy gold. Why, you ask? Cuz I don’t think I’ve had a problem until now. So, am I screwing up and just getting lucky? I definitely need to start doing my labs on my own. I learn WAY more. Time to get video proof.
11PM – Video proof done. The issue is now whether or not my 16V power supply will blow up the Arduino.
11:10 – Greg pointed out where the voltage regulator was and said to just look it up on the web. The voltage regulator is pre-built into the Arduino. Makes sense, but it was good to get verification. Sure enough, it only handles 7-12V. Greg let me borrow it. Getting video proof!
Alright, that was all good and done. I’ll mix the video and post it later. Can I get the next lab done in the next 40 minutes?
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