I’m on the train to Den Bosch to meet my tailor and finish the fabric side of the vest. At least, I hope so because the deadline is fixed. This weekend, weather permitting, I’ll be shooting the video. The demo version of the vest must be working then.
The last couple of weeks I’ve been working on the displays. Trying to figure out why some of the rings wouldn’t light up properly. I’ve discovered that it’s a power issue. The engineer now has another theory: by forcing the power to make a circle the whole ring will light up. I’ll be picking up the new print boards he has etched and the displays and I will have to restart testing the times and power needed. Also I’ll have to work on the rings, cutting them in two and soldering at new points.
In the mean time I’ll have to finish the software driving the displays. Its’ function is to display a fake low and high pollution for all three gasses using random numbers in every occasion after the wearer pushes a hidden button. Putting it down in one line of text it looks so simple but I’ve been working on it for a week. Trying to grasp the concept of shift registers and working with a row of LEDs as stand-in for the displays. I’ve got the random low and high working for one gas. I’m rather proud of my solution for bridging the difference in times between the small and the big rings.
if (millis() – previous_millis >= co_times_array[l]-co_times_array[l-1] ){
Serial.println(“array time “);
Serial.println(co_times_array[l]-co_times_array[l-1]);
// update l
l–;
// turn on next LED
data += data_array[l]; // increment the bytes
my_shiftout(data);
// reset
previous_millis = millis();
}
With this code the outer most rings, with the longest heating time, get power first. The program counts backwards so that in the end all rings are lit up and are switched of simultaneously. The final step is driving all three displays simultaneously, each with their own random amount of rings and timing. I’m working on that at the moment. All times should be corrected depending on the temperature. I’ll probably work on that after the video shoot.
I’m on my way back from Den Bosch. Michael, my tailor, worked very hard all day. We’re nearly finished. It’s looking very nice, although a bit big for me. Right now the decorations are very prominent, pushing the displays to the background a bit. I’m very curious to see how this balance will be once the displays work.
But it’s just so good to see it coming together. Thursday we’ll be finishing the sewing and put the wiring together. Some tests will be necessary too. Then the finishing touches on Friday and then the video in the weekend. I keep my fingers crossed for the weather…