Perfesser

I assume he used the calculator and wiring schematic on the Freetrack website. I recall him saying they were wired in series as your drawing above.

Good tips on the resistor Gec. Didn't know that. Last night he said one LED has stopped working yet the others still work. Either it's fried and shorted internally or (more likely) 2 wires have touched and shorted, bypassing that LED. It just takes one strand of wire sticking out once the solder has hardened to poke through the shrink tubing on the wire beside it, especially when you're pulling them through a pen tube.

1: Using a USB cord as your power source only provides 5v of power. If you need 3 LEDs running at 3v per, how do you power them? Is it acceptable or even possible to use lower voltage LEDs? In this case you would wire the LED's in parallel and use a resistor over each LED to drop the voltage to 3v. 2: relating to question 1, will i need a resistor if my 5v of power are not exact to what the LEDs use? ie: 5v USB powering 3 1v LEDs. (2 volts remaining) will that over power and blow the LEDs? Mine just shut off when I applied an overvoltage but yeah you have to get the voltage right or you'll have troubles. The Freetrack website has a calculator. You plug in the values of your LED's and get a wiring diagram with resistor specs and even a resistor picture chart. 3: When wiring, Ive red the Red wire in USB is the hot (positive) and the Black is the neutral (ground) and the other shouldn't be needed. Is this accurate? Pin Name Cable color Description 1 VCC Red +5 VDC 2 D- White Data - 3 D+ Green Data + 4 GND Black Ground Yup, red is pos, black neg and you don't need the other two. Probably best to isolate them, dunno what would happen if they shorted out. And USE SHRINK TUBING, not electrical tape. These wires are too small for tape. LED's are polarity sensitive, they have a pos and a neg. Wire them properly. Btw: I read the default IR LED (OSRAM SFH485P) take 3volts to power. Im assuming that is the standard. Right? I used a different one on the very bottom of this page http://www.mainelectronics.com/KLInfraredEmitLED.htm The important thing is the viewing angle, determines how far you can turn your head before your camera looses the signal. 160 deg should be enough. The OSRAM ones above will work fine but you have to wire in parallel as per the Freetrack website. Parallel wiring has advantages - if one LED burns out you'll know right away because one won't work. Easy for anyone to troubleshoot. If you use 1.5v LED's and wire in series with a resistor if any one component fails the whole thing will just stop without a clue if it's the power supply or an LED or the resistor or even the USB hub inside the computer. Or (like Trout) a wire that overstressed and just broke. A lot more steps to track down the problem. Had a chat with Pappy last night on TS and gave him part numbers and some tips to get started. Shopping list: LED's resistor(s) thin solder shrink tubing Camera?

I recall some mobo's had bad capacitors. Look at the board carefully for swollen or deformed ones.

I flew by that church more than once and I'm sure it was lookin' at me kinda funny too.

What you can do is move to Canada, near Hamilton On. Then join the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum as a premium member and I think you get your choice of a ride in one of their projects. The Lanc being one of them. http://www.warplane.com/pages/services_rideprogram.html Flights are available in the following aircraft: + Boeing Stearman + North American Harvard + DC3 Dakota + Beech 18 + Chipmunk + Cornell + Tigermoth + PBY Canso + B25 Mitchell + Avro Lancaster Bomber

Oh man that is so sweet, you lucky dog.

Bah Didn't happen. I would have had a broken heart when I found out the Spit and 109 weren't based there. Cottage is near Mount Forest. Where highway #89 crosses #6.

For those of you in the services or just interested. Go to the archives tab to download MP3's of the shows. http://www.warnewsradio.org/

Canada needs long range maritime patrol aircraft and ships to patrol the North coast, not these. No worries, the order will be quietly canceled next year or something like that. They always do.

Are you in the station the whole weekend? We could buy you a steak and a cold one Saturday evening.

Wow! Trout and I are going to be at my cottage this weekend, less than an hour away ....... maybe we can do this......

There is a modern version called Metal Storm. Many shells stacked in one barrel, electronic firing. One moving part - the bullet. Theoretical firing rate of 1 million rpm. They just got their 3 shot 40mm grenade launcher approved. 3 shots in a single barrel. Or, a bunch of 40mm barrels stacked up with remote sensors and you have a minefield that you can move around or take with you to the next stop! http://www.gizmag.com/metal-storms-virtual-minefield-gets-a-patent/13986/picture/109488/ Scroll down for the other stuff.

For pure practicality I think you would be better off with a gyro copter. Takeoff is usually under 100 ft, landing is about 10 - 20 ft, less with practice. The rotor isn't powered, a pusher prop makes it go. Maybe $50K for a nice one. You would need a PTO system to disengage the prop and drive wheels if you didn't want to have a spinning prop at your back picking up debris. No more tailgaters though There is the road legality thing though. Maybe strap a Vespa on somewhere for the road trip. http://www.rafgyro.co.za/

I predict it will earn a new name - doctor killer. Good airplanes are light, good cars are heavy. This will be both a crappy car and a crappy plane. See the Russian trim system? Rope tied to steering wheel.

A shame really. They're going to deforest the whole continent eventually and we throw away twice the stuff needed to fix it. Simply because of the cultural rigidity. Still, you can't fault them for a lack of hospitality.

Damn, can people even survive in 40+ heat? Seems like a perfect place for solar water heaters and solar cookers. Old satellite dish? Point it at the sun (tin foil of course) and put a pan at the focal point. Hell even and old ammo box lined inside with tin foil and a glass lid would boil water in a tin cup(painted black). Even in Canada, if you put a coil of garden hose on plywood and cover it with clear plastic the water will boil. The big screen projection TV's have a fresnel lens in them as big as the screen. Think of a 3ft x 3ft magnifying glass. You can melt steel with that. If you could get the flies near that it would vaporize them. Sounds like a side business for you Trib.

I use the X52. I can get the mouse cursor across the screen and into the map to cycle the map scale but I doubt you would want to look around with it. I haven't played with sensitivity or anything though.

1. First you have to get off the ground so you need a stick. 2. Then you need to see the bad guy. Some kind of head tracking. TrackIR or Freetrack. 3. Then you need to shoot him down - rudder pedals make that much easier. The rest is just for comfort - fancy stick and throttle with all the buttons. In my opinion. Start with an OK stick. Next - Track IR Then - Rudder pedals Last - Throttle(or upgrade to a stick/throttle combo like an X52). If you're even the least bit handy (can handle soldering 3 LED's to wire) a Freetrack setup can be made for less than $50, possibly a lot less($10) if you have an old webcam lying around. That would save you enough $ to have a good stick like an X52 and maybe even rudder pedals too. I've had mine for almost 2 years and in some ways it's more capable than real TrackIR. We can do things with ours that the official can't like simulate raising your seat higher for a better view over the nose. If you just want to unpack the box and plug and play, Freetrack is NOT for you.

I just pushed that button for the first time ever.

You should see something in your task bar ... Logitech LCD manager that says it's running. Even when nothing is running mine says LCD screen saver. You can try the "identify" button as a test, it should flash. And you may have to go to Logitech in the start menu and "run as admin".

Ummm... you know it's a big rock, right? Our brain is an amazing thing, look how fast it adapts to TrackIR. Now you spent a few hours teaching it about a new relationship between your ear balance and visual cues. You get out of the chair and everything is out of whack till you reboot. Too cool man.

The really important thing is that it's built to last. I've used mine for at least 3 years, twice as long as any other keyboard(even expensive ones), long enough to wear the paint off a few keys.

You gotta hope he was at least on his way home because if he was just getting started ......