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GPIO 2 Inverter

I figured out a way to turn our inverter on and off with a Pi so I can leave it off when Winter forces us to be frugal. It takes a little more than an amp hour just sitting there doing nothing, so I do like to turn it off. This capability will serve to automate the fridge in the future, before I do that though, I need to figure out a way to bring cold air from the outside into it. The idea is to have a logic which looks at outside temperature, solar status, and fridge temperature to decide if we just turn it on or if we can simply (and for less electricity) fan in cold air from the outside.

Running a fridge on the coldest months, when solar power is scarce, is doubly absurd.

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Plotter Trials

I’m getting closer to a very usable plotter, for now the prototype is serving all my plotting needs. Another prototype is in the works, this way I’ll be able to work on a plotter and keep another one for drawing. I keep finding ideas for really cool videos which I’m certain will make splashes online. I want to have my next steps figured out before I try to do just that. I know that at least the plotter build will be documented as a DYI project.

I found my birthday presents for the next 10 years

First trial with paint, I coded for “ink refill” capabilities for all instruments which require it. Obviously I’ve learned a few lessons here 🙂

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Learning about Cartesian coordinate systems to control the plotter

He did surprisingly well for something as abstract as this. The reward was to watch the robot execute his instructions which was very exiting to him.

I’ve been doing a lot of interesting development on the plotter front. Yesterday I finally put behind me the dreaded “live link to Mandalagaba” feature. The idea is that I would like the plotter to reproduce in real time, the intricate geometries produced on Mandalagaba. I’m bubbling with ideas for features to implement and plots to draw. I’ve tested some here are home and they’ll make for videos which I’m sure will give the plotter its 5 minutes of internet fame. I need to get quite a few more ducks in a row though before I draw attention to what is most likely going to be called “Plottybot”.