I wasn’t feeling well but as I had so much to discuss I just had to go to last Saturdays’ workshop. A tailor was coming and Paul would also be there to help me build my shopping list so I could move on. My head was exploding with all the things that I was still uncertain about going through my mind.
I don’t know anything about tailoring or sewing so it was quite a relief to pose all my question to Michael. He had some nice solutions: I’ll make the fastenings asymmetrical so I can preserve the circles and I’ll sew a box to the outside of the vest where my sensors will be. It will give a nice sci-fi feel to it and it’s very practical because the sensors need fresh air anyway. He also cut a pattern so things are getting more concrete and (best of all) he’s going to make the vest 🙂
My meeting with Paul was also very calming for my brain. He immediately started drawing two nice schemes (called architecture), one for all the Arduino in and out pins and one for the power supply. Why didn’t I think of that… There are enough i/o pins on the Arduino to fit my project. I’m going to work with the Arduino Mini Pro and the BlueSMiRF Gold Bluetooth module.
As for the power we’ll need 7+ volts to power everything. So six AA batteries should suffice. All that’s needed is a set of amplifiers to boost the Ampere value for heating the conductive fabric. I’ll make a test with the largest circle so Paul has an indication and can start working on a design. These amplifiers should be placed as close a possible to the display to prevent energy loss.
Finally we’ll have to organize the sensor tangle and make it easy to plug in and out. I want to separate the display and the sensor part so I can wash the display if that’s needed.