Its Football Time!!!

So, I am a proficient college football fan. I don't watch much NFL, but boy do I love NCAA football. Tonight was the first group of games of the season and I am watching them on my xbox 360. The ESPN app, which you have to have a compatible ISP, has so many grate features for sports fans. Not only can you re-watch games and and events that you missed, but now you can watch two events at once. I am currently watching the Rutgers game and the Syracuse game. The Syracuse game is the best one of the night. If you have an xbox and you missed the game I would go watch it or at least check out the highlights tonight or in the morning. But as another season rolls along I look forward to how my Dawgs are going to do. Go UGA.

Nintendo 3DS Ambassador Program

Nintendo 3DS Ambassador Program. Big news if you bought a 3DS when it was the substantial cost of like 250$ you can right now go download some free games on Nintendo. If you haven't heard the news the 3DS is only 169.99$ now. Personally, I will pass, but there are some good games that are going to be released within the next year. I don't buy into 3d technology; it gives me migraines and just doesn't impress me. But if you love Nintendo or 3d you should check it out. For those with the ambassador program you will be getting...Metroid, Super Mario Bros., Ice Climber, The Legend of Zelda, Zelda II : The Adventure of Link, Balloon Fight, Donkey Kong Jr., NES Open Tournament Golf, Wrecking Crew and Yoshi.
These are some of my favorite classic Nintendo games so congratulations to everyone who gets them for free.

Been a while since last post

Hey guys, sorry it has been a while been busy with classes and homework. I have learned a lot though. I think I am going to dedicate this post to Borderlands 2 which seems so far away. I enjoyed raiding bosses and farming that giant crab for weapons, but the game needed more back story. According to an article in the recent Game Informer magazine that is exactly what they plan to deliver with the sequel. Every thing that I have heard about the game makes me want to play it. So here is to gearbox and their dedication to making improvements and an actual sequel to Borderlands.

Battlefield 3 Info

So, I'm really excited about battlefield 3. And today while looking through my G4 app, I saw glorious new information. They released information about what guns, maps, and vehicles are going to be in the game.
So here is what my predicted favorite load out will be.

Primary Weapon: G36C I am so glad they added this weapon.

Secondary Weapon:  M1911  This had always and probably will always be my favorite pistol

Favorite Vehicle: AH-6J Littlebird I love scout choppers and this one is probably my favorite.


Check out the weapons list here and the vehicle list here.

What do you think. Do you have a preferred class, weapon, or vehicle.

NEW CLASSES :)

So I love electronics and hardware, today was my first day of classes this semester and I am looking forward to my classes for once. I am getting into major related courses. This semester I get to take drum roll please... sensors and transducers, digital design, golf, and linear systems (along with two classes I am not looking forward to). So what are my readers taking this semester if y'all are even in college anymore or not yet. Any advice on these classes if you know what they are? Leave me some feedback. (because thats what im going to be reading all semester "smirks and giggles")

Failed Attempt

So, today I began construction on my Nuka Cola Quantum lamp. I finally had my blue led, a switch, and resistors. I began trying to assemble  my project and i broke my switch :(. Then I got upset and broke my bottle. It was not a good day for me. So, I think I am going to retire this project for now until I can get another coke bottle and some more switches( next time I order a bunch of parts). I also had a problem with how to hold the coin cell battery. This project will be on the list of things to complete later :( as much as I hate not completing a project class will be starting soon and I do not want to deal with this frustration of the stupid set up. I will eventually get back to this but not any time soon. If you want an easy way to build this go buy a slyvania dot it led, and use a hot clue gun to glue the bottle to the plastic part. Then fill the bottle up with colored fluid and you have an led lamp. Just push down on the top.


On another note, I am trying to start an indoor garden. I would like to grow herbs inside to save money at the store. I have done some research on growing plants inside and have stumbled across information about growing plants under led light. This information states that plants produce leaves under blue light and flower under red light. It also went on to say that most white led lights have a blue tinge which means it gives off most of the blue spectrum. So my current project is going to be to design and build (assuming I don't break something) an led green house to grow basil, mint, chives, and other herbs in my bedroom. I will probably conduct this as an experiment to see whether my bedroom window (west facing) or my led lights produce better plants from seeds. More information on this in my next post

An Actual Update

I am finally all moved in and got to sit down yesterday and start on this project. I went and got out all of my tools, parts, and breadboard. Then when I went to get my blue led, I realized that I had left them at home (parents' house). I did however have green leds and my resistors. My green leds have the same properties as my blue ones so I was able to build a "prototype". My goal is to stuff the circuit into a bottle cap but this could be kind of hard to do. So here are some pictures.

 These are the two batteries that I plan on using. I do not currently have anything to hold them :/.

 This is the test circuit on a proto/breadboard. It is a 6v supply, 150 ohm resistor, and a bright green led rated at 3.2 volts.

 This is another shot.

This is the Coke bottle I plan on using. The only problem i have with the soda bottle is the fact that its label does not come off so I have to just slap the label on top of it. Also I currently do not own a color printer which poses a problem with printing the label.

This is how far I am as of today. I will not make much progress until after this weekend because I need to go home to get the rest of my parts. Thanks for following.

UPDATE number 1

There is no update. I have been packing so I have not spent much time working on my lamp. However, I have had one thought in my head, which is, what am I going to put into the bottle? I have been contemplating this all day should i go out and buy some blue soda, like mountain dew voltage, or should I make a water dye mix, or even concoct up my own soda for this? I am going to put up a poll to get some input in the mean time check out http://www.instructables.com/index. This site has some of the best hacks out there.

Nuka Cola Quantum

So I love the fallout series. I love electronics as well. Today I am going to start work on a project. It will be a simple project, but a project none the less. This project has been done before and I take no credit fore the idea, but I am going to make a Nuka Cola Quantum Lamp. This is a simple project that will require a power source (battery), a switch, an led, and a resistor.

So now I am going to describe each element in this circuit.

First lets start out with the LED. Nuka Cola Quantum is blue so naturally we would want to use a blue led. I ordered a grab bag of LEDs off of Sparkfun.com. They don't have the best prices but I like to support them over there. Other places I have bought from are ebay.com and Digikey.com. There are however plenty of other places.

An LED, or Light Emitting Diode, comes in different colors. Just about every color in the rainbow. Each color had a different forward voltage. A forward voltage is the voltage required for the LED to light up. For the bright blue LED the minimum forward voltage is 3.2 volts and the maximum is 3.4 volts at 20mA. This data can be fount on a datasheet. The LED can only handle so much current so we have to add a resistor to limit the current flowing to the LED.

IMPORTANT NOTE: An Led has an anode and a cathode which means that current can only flow in one direction the current must enter the Anode and leave the Cathode. (assuming current leaves from positive to negative)

Here is a basic led circuit similar to the one that I will use.

To determine the resistor value I will derive the equation for finding out the value of the resistor to use in the circuit using KVL. V=6 volts, The forward voltage is 3.2 Volts, and the current is 20milla amps.


so drawing a loop starting above the LED and the current enters the positive terminal of the resistor we get:(Vled is the forward Voltage)
                                  Vled+Vresistor-Vsource=0
solve for Vresistor
                                  Vresistor=Vsource-Vled
substitute Ohms Law
                                   IxR=Vsource-Vled
divide by I(in amps)  R=(Vsource-Vled)/I
This is the equation to find the resistor value you need. Not all values are sold in stores however there is a 5% vary in most carbon resistors so you can round to the closest resistor value.

For My project I will use two 3v coin batteries connected in series for a total V source of 6Volts, My led forward voltage is 3.2v and my current needed is 20mA.

So plugging into the formula we get (6-3.2)V/0.020A=140ohms this is not a standard value you could make this by combining resistors in series or parallel but the 150ohm resistor will work just fine for this project.

So I plan on starting construction over the next couple of days and will be posting but I am in the middle of moving so this project is not a top priority. Also just gave you a quick lesson on LED basics :)

Part Two

So last post I told ya'll that I would discuss KCL and KVL in this post.

First off KCL stands for Kirchhoff Current Law and KVL stands for Kirchhoff Voltage Law.

These laws are named after a German university professor, Gustav Kirchhoff, from 1824-1887.

First let's start with KCL. KCL is the sum of the currents entering a node is equal to the sum of the currents leaving the node.
 Here is an example:

the arrows indicate the direction of flow. So 4A+ab=4.5A+4A+2A Then use basic algebra to solve for ab.

Next We have KVL which is the sum of the Voltages in a loop is equal to zero. This is where the passive sign convention and polarity of an element is important.


Here is an Example: V1 is unknown, V2=2 volt, V3=4 volt, and V4=1 volt

When you add the voltages you add them by the terminal the loop enters. So this example would be V4-V1-V2+V3=0 so you enter the numbers from above and solve using algebra.

For a more in depth explanation of these examples check out
 http://www.facstaff.bucknell.edu/mastascu/elessonshtml/Basic/Basic5Kv.html

And remember the more you practice the better you will get.

Intro into Electronics Part 1 DC

I had a friend who called me crazy for pursuing a engineering degree emphasized on electronics. He was pursuing an engineering degree focused on metallurgy. He claimed that the way circuits work is magic. I claim that it is not that hard. So in this blog post, I will give a basic intro into the theory behind circuits.

First we should go over some definitions:
Voltage-V it is  energy per unit charge measured in volts
Current- I it is the rate of flow of charge measured in amperes/amps
Resistance- R it is the property of the material that hinders the current measured in ohms

If you have ever taken a class in electronics you will recognize this next image it is the water analogy.

This image pretty much explains Voltage resistance and current. So now, lets go over a couple of equations.
1. Ohm's Law V=IR so Voltage = Current x Resistance. This is the most basic equation in electronics. So for a given wire size (with known resistance), if the voltage is increased then the current must also be increased.
2. Power P=IV or Power = Current x Voltage. You can substitute Ohm's law and get P=I^2 R and so on. Power is either absorbed by an element or delivered by an element. Whether Power is delivered or absorbed depends on the passive sign convention.

THE PASSIVE SIGN CONVENTION

The passive sign convention is very important in circuit analysis. If you do not follow it you will get wrong voltages and currents and ect... in your calculations.
The passive sign law states: When current enters the positive terminal then the element absorbs power. If the current leaves the positive terminal then the element delivers power.

That is all I am going to cover for now. Next time I will go over some basic ways to analyze simple circuits. (preview KCL and KVL) and I may also throw in a introduction to a component. Always open for questions and corrections I am a student and not perfect but would like to share what I have learned

Battlefield 3 vs Modern Warfare 3

I am a full supported of battlefield over the call of duty series. That said, I do not troll the call of duty series previews reviews and hypes. Why is this a problem with the gaming community? We are consumers we have a right to pick what we want to play why bash a successful series. It happens on both sides, it happens with consoles but why? Does anyone out there have any insight on this? Also check out http://www.offdutygamers.com/ they breakdown the uniforms and weapons used by games. I prefer battlefield over cod because battlefield is more tactical, there are less lone ranger acts. You must rely on you teammates. That being said the game is not as enjoyable when you are alone. So what game will you be playing come fall/winter of this year?

Hacking Every Day

I don't know how many people out there enjoy disassembling things, finding out how they work, and reassembling them. I know I enjoy this and that is why I check out Hackaday.com on a daily basis. They have thousands of posts on cool mods, inventions, and crazy creations. I hope to one day be a mad scientist playing with Tesla coils, plasma speakers, and Jacob's ladders. They have several posts on the basics on soldering and leds. They also recommend a book called "There are No Electrons: Electronics for Earthlings" which I could not tell if they were serious or not, but I bought it on amazon and read it. The book is good at explaining the basics of electronics with out a lot of jargon. So check out a copy if you are interested in learning about electronics because every day our world community's technology dependance evolves and the technology we use evolve. What do ya'll think about electronics, projects, and repairs? Do ya'll do this sort of thing or is it for the engineering nerds?

My Favorite Game

To all the gamers out there, we all have a favorite game. My favorite game is... Fallout New Vegas. For those who don't know what fallout is all about, where have you been in a Vault? For information about Fallout New Vegas you should check out the fallout wiki and Bethesda's website. I play New Vegas on xbox 360 however if you are a pc gamer you should check out G.E.C.K. GECK is Bethesda's mod tool it allows users to create mods for the game. So next time you are thinking what should I play, think about Fallout New Vegas. It offers a ton of hours of game play (107 for me after 3 of the dlcs), a unique game play experience, and vasts amounts of exploration.