by Matt Penna
March 28, 2011 in News by Matt Penna
Popular Mechanics DIY sub, illustration by Dogo
Holy smoke, this guy is either really brave or should be nominated for a Darwin Award. Check out this short article at Popular Mechanics.
Kudos for the double breasted overcoat, just needs a tricorne hat to complete the Admiral look. How would you like to roll up to school in that thing? Assuming you attended school adjacent to a body of water, of course.
by Matt Penna
March 28, 2011 in Beginners, News by Matt Penna
Structure of an H bridge (highlighted in red) by Cyril BUTTAY c/o Wikimedia.org CC
What’s an h-bridge? Why did it burn? People want to know. Thanks to the knowledgeable folks at Wikipedia, I found an answer, which naturally lead me to new and more obscure questions… but first the h-bridge. According to Wikipedia, it is used as a way to change voltage direction. I see where this would be handy with regards to our sub. It allows both forward and backward motion in the motor connected to the propellers. James was testing the new fancy propulsion system a la bilge pump disassemble when something started a-smoking. Turns out our little h-bridge got a bit too excited and decided to not be of use to us anymore. Poof!
Oh well, it was our only one on hand on Saturday, so we moved on to other things. I’m sure we can acquire a new one soon enough.
On a side note, if anyone else besides me is interested in learning more about how this works, I found a nice $20.00 kit on Adafruit. Not exactly the same, but I’m sure it can bestow some tangential nuggets of wisdom. Who could ask for anything more… than nuggets?
