Anyone mess about with electronics?

[FlightRisk]

Think this starter kit is good value?
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/171512232342?_trksid=p2060778.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

There are a lot of rainy days lately so I need some rainy day projects. Since I'm starting to understand bike electrics I was thinking of making a few little things like a PWM controller for the heated grips to replace the Off/Melt/Sort-of-Off-Again Daytona one, and a low voltage cut-off accessory circuit and some LED and audio toys.
Maybe work my way up to an Arduino.
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Honda CB500S

[Quornholio]

You can buy most/all of that from Maplins/The Range. Price it up, see if it's any cheaper
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[WD Forte]

That kit looks much of a muchness with others and easier than buying seperates
If you can wait you'll get it cheaper from China sellers
I would suggest you get more breadboard space by getting a couple
of these for instance
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Full-Prototype-Breadboard-for-Arduino-830-Tie-Point-Solderless-Modular-Board-/301220798837?pt=UK_BOI_Electrical_Components_Supplies_ET&hash=item462228a175

You'll find when you start plugging stuff in and connecting it all up
with jumpers, a wee BB gets crowded on even fairly simple circuits

I'd also suggest you get an Arduino or PICAXE kit right away anyway
as it will go hand in hand nicely with the components you have
and they come with example progs ready to go to get you
up and running quickly plus tutorials galore.

Years ago I found some books by Forrest Mimms III
help get me started. Still have most of them now.
I think they're still downloadable if you know where to look
https://www.meme-italia.it/wiki/images/b/b1/Iyn.jpg
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bikers smell of wee

[stinkwheel]

I'd say if you want to have a mess about with electronics. Get a decent stabilised, overload protected power supply as a start off.

CPC do umpteen educational electronics kits and stock all the parts you could want to add to it. Lots of arduino/pi/beaglebone programmable systems too.
https://cpc.farnell.com/educational
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[smegballs]

Don't give money to Maplins for the love of christ!

I bulk buy staples like resistors and capacitors from chinese ebay sellers. You can get packs of 5000 resistors for about 7 quid for every standard value between 1 and 10M for example, it just takes a month or so to arrive.

All the rest of my stuff I either get from spiratronics.com who are cheap, helpful on the phone, and very fast delivery for a flat rate of £1.50. Or I buy from the club sales section of the GQRP club.

[chrisw]

[WD Forte]

DIY Heated grips eh?
One of my early projects that was
Hit a few snags but you've got to expect these things
when pushing the boundaries of science.

https://www.globetrotter.photography/usa/images/usa1297.jpg
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bikers smell of wee

[stinkwheel]

[FlightRisk]

[WD Forte]

My beemer had heated grips and it was done quite simply really.
Low and mid settings had series resistors to limit the supply current
The high setting had no resistor so gave full heat.

This worked just fine and I rather liked the keep it simple approach
and saw no need for pwm or sensor feedback control.
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bikers smell of wee

[Ribenapigeon]

[FlightRisk]

[stinkwheel]

And this is where electronics teaching lets people down. They'll use a microprocessor where a flip-flop would do the trick, a flip-flop where a relay would do and a relay where you only need a switch. And that's why my fecking combi boiler never works for more than two months at a time.

See, they guy wanted a basic electronics set and post 2 hits him with an arduino.

Nobody bothers with a clock pulse anymore, they reach straight for the 555.... Op-amps where a transistor would do. Mutter, mutter.
[/RANT]

The simplest way to get off, low and high settings on your heated grips is to have a three position switch so they can be off, in series and in paralell. But who gets paid for designing a system with only 3 componants and one moving part?
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[WD Forte]

The original post mentioned
a PWM controller for the heated grips
this invited some sort of micro suggestion to me.
I'm great believer in the KISS principle, but sometimes a micro can give added
flexibilty and control by just changing code and not firing the soldering iron up.
Its knowing what's really useful and practical and what's not. Horses for courses

When I dumped the mech fan on the CX for an electric one
(Simple: thermo switch,relay, fan - Job done)
There was one guy who kept banging on about how he designed a
'more efficient' pwm fan, coding it in assembler and all manner of
overcomplicated features and bollocks.
Mine's been in and working faultlessly for 6 years now and I've never felt the need for
added complexity ( I did add a fan on led tho')
His never saw the light of day.

Dont knock the 555 ! that's a classic.
My homebrew MOSfet flasher relays use em.
Sure you can build an astable using two transistors, but that's making it
more work than it needs to be.
KISS !
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bikers smell of wee

[wodge]

As it goes ive just ordered one of these from fleabay..

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/121336389431?_trksid=p2060778.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

I used to dabble with electronics projects years ago and thought I would update a bit.. At a boot fair this year I bought one of these for a fiver which rekindled my interest.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/500-Electronic-Project-Lab-Kit/dp/B000LR9E4A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1416251417&sr=8-1&keywords=500+in+1+electronics

No way would I pay full price for one but don't pooh pooh something like this because its for kids. It will teach the basics. Well worth getting one from a charity shop..
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nolidge iz pouwur.
Yamaha RXS100 RS100

[FlightRisk]

To be fair, I did mention Arduino in my original post, but I didn't mean for the hot-grips! That might be overkill alright...

[fatjames]

Whatever WD Forte said is what I'd go with! (ok ok, so I do I have one of his magic flasher relays on my bike and 12v bulbs and 6v LEDs live in perfect harmony without 100 degree resistors living under my seat!)