Actually, the preferred method of Identification for horses is now TATOOing on their inside lip, BMorse can probably take care of that for me too. (Some nice work by the way, is it a lot of custom designs?) But it may make the horses run a little faster to heat them up quick as they run through, HMM, there a thought for the super laser!!

Yes most of the TATTOO work I do is custom and most is free handed, some I used stencils to layout the outline just so people can see what it would look like before permanently putting it on..... Yes I could easily do the lip tattoo for the horses, I had done it a couple of times for a neighbor of mine who owns a riding stable....

 

I have another on topic discussion for this trigger and detector. I have downloaded a stopwatch program for my computer that uses the keyboard OR external inputs via com ports (either 9 pin or 25 pin) Its called XNote Stopwatch (freeware) and it works quite well on the computer. Would this trigger be suitable to make this program run?www.xnotestopwatch.com/download.html
what do you think?

 

Hello,

Why not use a real comparator in stead of the 741 wich is an opamp?
The LM311 will perform much better.

Greetings,
Bertus

what do you think about using the TL084 instead?? I have a few on hand...

I have successfully used those to create a retro-reflective IR object sensor for use in high speed counting of falling objects....

B. Morse

 

Hello,

The TL084 is a quad fet opamp.
The LM339 is a quad comparator, wich is more of use for the circuit.
Keep in mind that comparators have open collector outputs, a load to the powersupply is a must.

Greetings,
Bertus

 

Ok, I have spent most of the day on this, and from all the different setups I did with different CDS's and IR diodes, and PIN diodes, plus a few comparator circuits..... This is what I ended up with which I think is pretty good (IMHO) which I ended up using a 1/8" x 1/8" solar cell...



I tried a few setups with the comparator (LM339) but just couldn't get the circuit to perform as I wanted, so I scrapped the 339 idea....

I ended up putting together a current to voltage converter circuit based around the dreaded LM741 opamp (It is what I had on hand)... I know, no one really likes to use these, but for this circuit it is working like a charm ....



I had a couple of "lenses" that I had salvaged from some other laser equipment, I ended up having to heat the IC they had glued to the end of the glass "funnel" lens they had and the glue they used came right off, the original PIN diode I was going to use ended up being more sensitive to IR than the red laser, so I removed the lens from the original PIN diode and glued it onto the solar cell (This actually help to block out some ambient light... you can see the hot glue I used in the first pic....)

I ended up placing the "lens" assembly inside a 1" PVC "T", just so I had a way to hold it up to test, but then this could also work to make it attachable to a tripod stand by drilling a hole for the tripod mounting bolt to screw into an end cap. (If you drill the hole slightly smaller than the threads, you can thread it right on and it will "tap" its own threads in the PVC.).....


With this Funnel "lens" I salvaged, you do not have to be that accurate with the line up of the Laser and receiver unit, as long as you are hitting the surface of the lens, (Even with just half of the dot )...



Here is the inside of the receiver as it is being lit up with the laser @ 60', you can see the laser in the background of the pic....




and this is the laser guide/level I used, just a cheap "toolshop" brand that I picked up at Harbor Freight...





B. Morse

 

and I did try an assortment of lenses, sensors and all sorts of other stuff,



the setup I posted above seems to be the best out of all of them, the only downfall is the circuit needs 2 9 volt batteries to power the 741 circuit....

And if optics are used (lenses and such) the system seems to be more stable... and the lens I am using now seems to be the best out of all the ones I tried, because of the way it refracts the light inside the tube, even with some misalignment, the system still works pretty good once setup....

Here are a couple more shots once I got the circuit properly working for BarrelRacers Timer module.... basically when the laser is interrupted it will start / stop the counter...





I will be building the circuit and placing it into a housing so I could take it outdoors and do some further testing on the alignment......


B. Morse

 

Just got home, and how cool is that! The PVC tee idea is really ingenious, send me a parts list of lenses and stuff. What is the LED on the breadboard, I see it lights when the laser is not illuminated. Is that a test light for in place of a timer? An LED on top of the housing showing correct alignment (or illumination) would be really cool. Did you have to use a filter inside with the lenses to block out ambient light? Does the PIN lens focus the LAser light onto the Solar cell? I'm pretty pshyched about the cool development.

 

I looked at my laser levels tag and it says ≈5Mw at 650-670 nm. That should be enought laser light to fire this thing right?

 

Just got home, and how cool is that! The PVC tee idea is really ingenious, send me a parts list of lenses and stuff. What is the LED on the breadboard, I see it lights when the laser is not illuminated. Is that a test light for in place of a timer? An LED on top of the housing showing correct alignment (or illumination) would be really cool. Did you have to use a filter inside with the lenses to block out ambient light? Does the PIN lens focus the LAser light onto the Solar cell? I'm pretty pshyched about the cool development.

Yes the LED on the breadboard is just a test LED for the output to your counter module..... as a matter of fact, you can use the sensor itself as an alignment tool, since once the laser dot hits the lens, the whole assembly lights right up and you can see it from quite a distance... maybe better than an LED indicator, but we can still incorporate an LED too...

Yes I used the filter shown attached to the Solar cell in my last post (first picture)

The PIN lens is actually the filter for filtering ambient light, the whole unit inside the PVC is actually the lens assembly itself that is shaped with a taper inside to focus all the light onto the solar cell.... I will try to get some pictures of another one of those lenses so you can see it better....

Most likely, since I salvaged these lenses, I don't know where you would get one from (they were from some Metrologic Omnidirectional Laser Barcode Scanners, which they discontinued this particular model years ago.), so I was thinking of finishing the whole thing and just sending it to you to try out and use if it works for your needs..... basically by the time I am done, you should be able to plug it in, power it up and use it.....

I will have to finish it up and get some more testing done today, I will set it up outside (in 3 feet of snow!) to see if ambient light will affect its performance at all (since the snow is making everything blindingly white!).

And I want to see how easy it is to aim a 3mm dot onto a 1" target at 125 + feet .....

Also I am trying some other things, such as powering the 741 circuit from a single ended power source, so I can eliminate one of the 9 volt batteries.... It should work since we are not looking for any negative voltages to come from the sensor....

I will have more posted later on today....

B. Morse

 

I looked at my laser levels tag and it says ≈5Mw at 650-670 nm. That should be enought laser light to fire this thing right?

Definitely enough to trigger the detector....the one I used was only 3Mw so this one will be better

 

Hello,

About lenses and leds, take a look at the communication project Ronja:
http://ronja.twibright.com/
It uses leds to communicate at 1.4 km distance.
Take a look at the optics used.
The 125 m must be possible.

Greetings,
Bertus

 

I am going to take my son out and ride snowmobile today on all of our snow (we have about 3 feet on the level, but the sun is tearing it up) It really is blinding. I never get into the lower part of MI, do you get as much snow as the UP? By the way, I found a round, red, piece of plastic with a thicker rim to use as a diffuser last night when we went to a potluck dinner. After the dinner we played BINGO and what do the card sets come with for markers? You guessed. The dots are about 5/8" across and made of hard plastic, about 3/32" thick and the edge is 1/8". They are also Red and very clear. I am going to attempt to sand one now and foil the edge. Do you still need a light diffuser with your new set-up?

 

I am going to take my son out and ride snowmobile today on all of our snow (we have about 3 feet on the level, but the sun is tearing it up) It really is blinding. I never get into the lower part of MI, do you get as much snow as the UP?

We do not usually get as much snow here in the lower parts, but it seems we are this year.....

By the way, I found a round, red, piece of plastic with a thicker rim to use as a diffuser last night when we went to a potluck dinner. After the dinner we played BINGO and what do the card sets come with for markers? You guessed. The dots are about 5/8" across and made of hard plastic, about 3/32" thick and the edge is 1/8". They are also Red and very clear. I am going to attempt to sand one now and foil the edge. Do you still need a light diffuser with your new set-up?

Now your starting to sound like me ! Everywhere I go I see how to make use of things around me for other reasons than what they are meant for..... Some people see a slushy drink cup dome cover as trash, I see it as a clear dome for a small autonomous robot!

No, with the current setup the new lens I am using diffuses the light enough once the laser hits it....

 

Well just come back in from playing in the snow.... wow, it is bright out there!! Anyway, I ended up remounting the whole assembly in a different housing so I could house the 9 volt battery in it too.....

I just hot glued a 1/4-20 hex nut onto it to be able to attach it to a tripod...



I set up the laser level at the end of my drive (the snow was too deep anywhere else!!). My driveway is approx 140' to the road from where my truck sits....


I then set up the target behind my truck, I ended up having to use a white piece of construction paper, just so I could see the laser dot from where I was, (This may definitely be a 2 person setup...).



Once the laser was on the target it seemed to be very stable, as long as the dot stayed on the surface of the lens, the output stayed stable.....


I did run into a couple of issues, the laser I was using apparently only has so much of a range, and 130' exceeded it... and ambient light problems, as bright as the snow was, I was already expecting it, so now I have to find an extension shroud to put over the target, to shield it from some ambient light, and I will have to find a filter lens to block out most light except for the red laser light.... so be back again later after some more rummaging around my shop....

B. Morse

 

OK back again.... I got really lucky on my first search attempt, I managed to find a filter lens that was originally on another laser sensor.... I attached that along with another ambient light filter from another set of optics.....

I also just found another piece of PVC conduit and just kind of taped it onto the targets frontside to see if this kind of shield would help block some stray light from affecting the sensor....



It actually blocks out all unwanted light except for the RED Laser..... which is what we really want anyways.....
as you can see in the picture below, that the laser dot is not centered onto the target, as long as the dot hits any part of the surface it works, so it is not so finicky when setting up.... 1 word of advise though..... when lining up the devices, watch out for the laser beam!! It will reflect right back in your eyes if not careful, (ask me how I know! )...



I had shot a short video showing it in action outside in the blinding snow, even with the cover off the backside of the enclosure, the sunlight did not bother the circuit at all.....

In the Video you will see the 9 volt battery that powers the target, and I had a separate 4 AA power pack to power the circuit on the other side of the optocoupler, since this is the way it will be hooked up to the counter I wanted to make sure both circuits will work, I did get it to work on just 1 9 volt also.....

I will post a link here for the video as soon as Youtube refreshes my channel......



OK, here is the link for the short video, never mind my mumbling.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdmix6cups8

 

Brent, I took the time to look through some of your you-tube vid. I was pretty much blown apart. I have been tinkering with wind gen for a couple of months now (resurecting DC motors from old treadmills) I am getting about 16 volts out of a 3450 rpm 120v dc motor at 8-10 wind mph.(direct drive, my tinkering is still in its infancy) And as far as Hydrogen generators go, I have found a very economical build, (if you keep them cool) using a very high quality 3/16" 7/7 stainless cable (316) This cable is made for Hog barn applications where the cable has to run through the caustic manure. The cable being 7/7 is very soft and pliable, and has tremendous surface area for bubble formation. For casings I use a 4" PVC Thinwall (SChedule 40 is too good of an insulator, too much heat) and the cores are a piece of 1 1/2" Shed 40 cut in half and SS bolted back to back (I cut 1/8" grooves into the leading edges 1/4" OC to wind cable around) My results have been spotty at best, maybe on another forum we can discuss what I have done. Best tank was 43 MPG for 60 miles (Staight trip, then I stopped and refilled)on a 99 Bonneville w/3800 V6, w/map enhancer and eife controlling O2 sensors. Then the computer locked out all sensors, drat!)

 

In my last comment I talked a little of HHO stuff, maybe we should start a new thread for a controller. I want to be able to switch polarity on my generators very fast, pulsing both the pos and neg at the same time and switching them, so I get even production from both leads. Any thoughts?

 

Brent, I took the time to look through some of your you-tube vid. I was pretty much blown apart. I have been tinkering with wind gen for a couple of months now (resurecting DC motors from old treadmills) I am getting about 16 volts out of a 3450 rpm 120v dc motor at 8-10 wind mph.(direct drive, my tinkering is still in its infancy)

Yeah, me and me 11 year old son Zack were just tinkering with that last spring, have not gotten much use out of it since my only batteries I have available only add up to about 21 amp hours, so not much to do anything with, I did keep it up just to test my charge controller's functions, and so far even in some of this frigid weather outside (everything is outside, I have the charge controller in a waterproof container, then inside another along with the batteries, best to charge batteries outdoors if you don't have proper ventilation inside...), I have a load on the battery to drain the power from them when the batteries are fully charged.... you should see how much snow a handful of 25w, 5 ohm sandbar resistors can melt .....

And as far as Hydrogen generators go, I have found a very economical build, (if you keep them cool) using a very high quality 3/16" 7/7 stainless cable (316) This cable is made for Hog barn applications where the cable has to run through the caustic manure. The cable being 7/7 is very soft and pliable, and has tremendous surface area for bubble formation. For casings I use a 4" PVC Thinwall (SChedule 40 is too good of an insulator, too much heat) and the cores are a piece of 1 1/2" Shed 40 cut in half and SS bolted back to back (I cut 1/8" grooves into the leading edges 1/4" OC to wind cable around) My results have been spotty at best, maybe on another forum we can discuss what I have done. Best tank was 43 MPG for 60 miles (Staight trip, then I stopped and refilled)on a 99 Bonneville w/3800 V6, w/map enhancer and eife controlling O2 sensors. Then the computer locked out all sensors, drat!)

As for this HHO, Hydroxy or Browns Gas, shhhh ! you don't want your thread locked now do you???

But yeah, I have a pretty good generator design that doesn't produce hardly any heat, it is basically a six cell generator with #304 Stainless Steel plates custom cut from my cnc Plasma cuter, the only reason I built mine was to make an HHO blow torch (Plus, I love it when things go kaboooom!! I'm sure you have seen the videos..)..... but I guess it could be used as a fuel supplement source if someone wanted to.

B. Morse

 

In my last comment I talked a little of HHO stuff, maybe we should start a new thread for a controller. I want to be able to switch polarity on my generators very fast, pulsing both the pos and neg at the same time and switching them, so I get even production from both leads. Any thoughts?

Well as long as the moderators see it as an electronic based project and not a discussion about HHO use and stuff, I don't see why not.... I would keep it strictly about the controller though, I have seen what happens when people start discussing their "beliefs" on here about that..... I'm sure if you search the forums you will find some discussions relating to similar circuits....

B. Morse

 

I'm not a real believer, I just love to tinker with stuff I find interesting. The electronics control is the part I need advice about.