Health & Fitness
The Lilypad: The Simple, and not so Simple
The Lilypad, it's petals and conductive thread. How much more friendly can electronics be? Continuing the exploration into e-Textiles, while making do with what I already have.
I'm trying to make the Turn Signal Biking Jacket, but I don't have all the right parts. Here's a comparison of . Close, but not quite. So... what now? Why, the Right Turn Biking Jacket, of course!
Already we leave the beaten path.
Now what? Well, there's a difference between the Lilypad board used in the Turn Signal Biking Jacket (The Lilypad Mainboard) and the Lilypad that I got in the LilyPad Beginner's kit. (The Lilypad Simple Board). I need to know whether I can follow the instructions provided with the Turn Signal Biking Jacket, or if I need to adapt them to this new, (different) hardware. After all, it's electronics! I don't know what sort of lightning bolt might come out of the equipment if I connect two parts together in the wrong way. It's only $20., but I don't want to wait for a replacement.
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Two days of staring blankly at the schematics for the Mainboard and comparing them to the schematics for the Simple board didn't help any. I was at risk of accomplishing nothing because of my fear of the lightning. I exercised my powers again and did a video conference with someone I thought might help. Joe the Bro. I explained my concern about the lightning. Emailed links were reviewed, and I got the information I needed.
Summarized:
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- The main features are the same for both boards.
- The Simple Board (simply) exposes fewer "pinouts" than the Mainboard. Upon closer inspection, I could see that too! (and so can you if you look at the traces drawn from the central rectangle, which represents the micro-processor, in each diagram. Not all are labelled in the Simple Board. E.g. look for A0 and A1 - not there on the simple board)
- If all of the pins needed for the Turn Signal Biking Jacket are defined on the Simple board, then we're good to go
- If the pins are not all defined, then the software might not work (because a message is being sent into outer space and there's no one out there to respond to it) It might need to be tweaked. This, I expected.
- BUT, most importantly, there should be no risk of lightning.
Hooray!
Trish is very excited about her impending visit to the Bay Area Makerfaire in May.
Trish writes as for Patch and as Handmade Penguin for the Handmade Penguin blog