Good Morning Thread - Come say good morning, tell us what you've got on today. :)

We have this thread on TilersForums.com and it's just been restarted because the old thread had 20,000 replies and 500,000 views. And there were 700 pages. Started to lag a bit on slow connections.

I think we had a bash of this before, but I can't find the thread, so thought I'd start another one off.

If you have time in the mornings, come post in the thread before you head off to work, let us know what you've got on and what the weather is like in your area etc. Anything at all is fine.

Posts and likes get counted towards your total stats in this thread.

So GOOOD MORNING PEOPLE - WEATHER IS NICE TODAY IN STOKE. I'M THANKFUL IT'S FRIDAY, HAD A RUBBISH WEEK. THANK GOD IT'S OVER.

View attachment 53708

 

[Mike Johnson]

Oh you always end up with heard immunity.

The question is how much of the heard is lost first...

Does the Darwin principle apply?

 

[marconi]

The chap I help(?) occasionally with his HNC has his latest design project - to convert a 4 digit Gray code output from a photo optic sensor on a motorised valve and display it as two digits on two 7 segment displays which represent its valve position. So for the fun of it I thought I would have a go at it too. The first task for me was to produce a Gray Code generator. Don't worry he will be having the fun and frustrations of doing it all himself - just like I had over three days. It uses a 555 clock, two 2 bit JK flipflops and 10 quad NANDS.

 

[DPG]

The chap I help(?) occasionally with his HNC has his latest design project - to convert a 4 digit Gray code output from a photo optic sensor on a motorised valve and display it as two digits on two 7 segment displays which represent its valve position. So for the fun of it I thought I would have a go at it too. The first task for me was to produce a Gray Code generator. Don't worry he will be having the fun and frustrations of doing it all himself - just like I had over three days. It uses a 555 clock, two 2 bit JK flipflops and 9 quad NANDS.

I remember using gray code when doing my HND. Wonder how many people know the reason for using it instead of normal binary coding? (Without googling it!).

 

[brianmoooore]

I remember using gray code when doing my HND. Wonder how many people know the reason for using it instead of normal binary coding? (Without googling it!).

All I know now is that I did once.

 

[DPG]

All I know now is that I did once.

Remember the way each bit changed in relation the the others?

 

[James]

I remember using gray code when doing my HND. Wonder how many people know the reason for using it instead of normal binary coding? (Without googling it!).

I learnt all about it when I hooked up an encoder to a plc and got some very unexpected result's
thankfully when researching it, I found a readymade conversion block for my plc.
win win!

 

[littlespark]

just like I had over three days. It uses a 555 clock, two 2 bit JK flipflops and 10 quad NANDS.

Is it sad to admit I know what all that means

 

[DPG]

Is it sad to admit I know what all that means

Good man. What about an S/R flip flip though?

 

[littlespark]

Good man. What about an S/R flip flip though?

You mean L/R flip flops…. For the beach? Left and right….

So, did you all miss me?

Been up in aviemore for a week and the daughters have managed to swallow up all my mobile data, so I was limited to when I could access the internet. Just read through 20- odd notifications…

Weather was poor. Rain, sleet and snow. Diesel price was 179.9, and they run out on Thursday. Next nearest petrol station is Inverness.

A quick round up of photos…

Red squirrel on a bird table, taken through a telescope….

Cardboard cutouts in the sites “fun forest”…. Animals, cartoon characters… Star Wars characters to spot….
And this fella….

Finally. Drove up the Cairngorms just to find some lying snow.

 

[marconi]

Further to my #812 - a little more progress. I only decode Gray code states 0 to 12 because the connector strips on the bottom veroboard only had 12 positions.

Next step is to adapt the design to show the Gray code encoded valve position state using one 8 x 5 led matrix and include the option of selecting one of four character sets.
5 x 7 0.7" (18mm) White Dot Matrix Display - Forge Europa - https://www.forge.co.uk/products/dot-matrix/5x7-0-7-18mm-white-dot-matrix-display

This design project is the latest one which has been set to the young electrician doing an hnc in EE. I thought I ought to do it in order to more helpfully be his mentor by understanding it practically myself.

 

[pc1966]

Yesterday helping a friend - she is renting out her old home and complaint of shower not getting hot. So she bought a new electric shower and I was volunteered to help replace it. Try shower, push button and water comes out cold as they said. Though I would see what happened with power off - same.

Odd, I had assumed such showers needed power to operate at all. Having checked the MCB had not tripped then looked for any isolator switch but could not find one. The couple renting had already looked any they could not find anything either.

Open CU to see if cable had come loose and see the T&E going to an unmarked black metal switch above the CU - the missing isolator! So working again without having to get my wet pants on - result

My friend and her late husband had been in that property for over 15 years and no idea there was a shower switch!

 

[DPG]

Yesterday helping a friend - she is renting out her old home and complaint of shower not getting hot. So she bought a new electric shower and I was volunteered to help replace it. Try shower, push button and water comes out cold as they said. Though I would see what happened with power off - same.

Odd, I had assumed such showers needed power to operate at all. Having checked the MCB had not tripped then looked for any isolator switch but could not find one. The couple renting had already looked any they could not find anything either.

Open CU to see if cable had come loose and see the T&E going to an unmarked black metal switch above the CU - the missing isolator! So working again without having to get my wet pants on - result

My friend and her late husband had been in that property for over 15 years and no idea there was a shower switch!

Wonder who switched it off?

 

[nicebutdim]

Wonder who switched it off?

Thinking the same as that circuit certainly didn't isolate itself.

 

[pc1966]

Thinking the same as that circuit certainly didn't isolate itself.

I have my suspicions...

 

[marconi]

My brother in law gets married again next week with a reception at their home. The garden lights trip the RCD; could I take a look and fix them before the happy day?