@cda@malt.social
@cda@malt.social avatar

cda

@cda@malt.social

space engineering, embedded systems, sensor networks | he/him | CS/EE | Will mentor freely via DMs | Center for Advancing Chronotype Awareness | Unresolved marching band issues

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chris_gammell, to random
@chris_gammell@chaos.social avatar

Oh right, Mastodon

cda,
@cda@malt.social avatar

@chris_gammell trying to avoid the jokes, but partially on the real, there are fewer-to-no slot-machine mechanics making us come back for for irregularly delivered dopamine. It's a little slower, but more focussed... not sure drinking from the fire hose was very healthy in the end there on the blue bird site of horrors, heheh.

MLE_online, to random
@MLE_online@social.afront.org avatar

I attempted to help my brother with a confounding problem with his car this afternoon, and after a few hours of work, we were no closer to an answer than when we started.

Recently, his battery has been draining down overnight. He thought maybe he had a bad battery, so he got a new one. Same problem.

I went over there today and found that the car is drawing 1.6 amps from the battery even when turned off.

We started troubleshooting by pulling fuses. The car kept drawing 1.6 amps through all of them.

I pulled the main fuse, and the car still drew 1.6 amps.

For a while, we thought it was maybe the alternator rectifier, but that wasn't it.

We unwrapped the sheath from the main bundle of wires coming off the battery and found no shorts.

We disconnected the wiring to the starter and that wasn't it.

The car still draws 1.6 amps! We can't figure out what's doing it!

cda,
@cda@malt.social avatar

@MLE_online from both fuse boxes (the one inside too)? Generally the only thing not on a fuse is the starter motor. Haven't had a subi in a minute. busaru dot com might have the wiring diagram for it which could maybe help.

cda,
@cda@malt.social avatar

@MLE_online whoa. Maybe check the main ground leads from the batt to the chassis? I don't know if newer cars stopped doing it, but a grip of stuff uses the chassis for return and if that lead isn't secure components can end up finding weird snake circuits back (a stretch as it probably wouldn't start if this were it). Last thought would be to pull the ignition relay (or other interesting relays heh). Could be a wedged relay keeping something on like the ignition coil circuit?

cda,
@cda@malt.social avatar

@MLE_online 1.6A is a suspicious amount for a continuous short. Seems more like a "stuck on" amount of current. Have a thermal camera? ~19 watts might show up (at night).

cda, to random
@cda@malt.social avatar

Here's a pretty good overview of one of the most dangerous types of rocket engines ever conceived of, the hypergolic tripropellant lithium+hydrogen+flourine engine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX-0Xw6kkrc Material hazard bingo! If you don't want the rocket engine primer, skip ahead 10-15ish minutes. Also, I can recommend the book mentioned in this video, Ignition (a "classic").

cda,
@cda@malt.social avatar

@azonenberg Oh, it has a biohazard because hydrogen and flourine combine with oxygen (from various molecules in the atmosphere) to create hydroflouric acid which is highly poisonous. It penetrates any and all body tissue and doesn't activate nerve endings, it then basically removes the calcium from your bones (creating flourite and leaving you with, not bones).

cda,
@cda@malt.social avatar

@azonenberg Ah I see. I feel like cesium-137 would improve the inverse safety factor over tritium. Future generations will have to figure out the last card. Perhaps if it could emit prions...

cda, to random
@cda@malt.social avatar

Whooops https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/03/after-astra-loses-99-percent-of-its-value-founders-take-rocket-firm-private/ (Astra co-founders and a few investors taking Astra back to private)

azonenberg, to random
@azonenberg@ioc.exchange avatar

Assembling the trigger crossbar board over lunch.

Not thrilled with the paste print quality, very inconsistent. the top left corner was way too thick as the board flexed during printing, the middle BGA skipped some pads, and the WLCSP in the bottom right was near perfect.

These big boards bend too much in my paste fixture, I need to find a way to prevent that before I do any more boards of this scale.

cda,
@cda@malt.social avatar

@azonenberg at this point, I practically assume jtag/swd pins are un-re-assignable...even when not an actual silicon bug, it seems 50/50 on whether it will turn into a hassle of some kind. (Obviously this doesn't hold if I actually need to squeeze a design)

MLE_online, to random
@MLE_online@social.afront.org avatar

I'm signing up

cda,
@cda@malt.social avatar

@stoneymonster @MLE_online what in the ...
"This is not any form of energetic implant or seal and this is not part of the soul, it is part of the body."
Also TIL there are "energy parasites" and this explains so much...pretty sure I have one hahah.

image/png

cda,
@cda@malt.social avatar

@MLE_online @stoneymonster I...bet so. I mean... at the end of the day when you buy a candy bar or ice cream you are really just buying a feeling... so this is the same? 🤔

swetland, to random
@swetland@chaos.social avatar

So, I am forced to wonder, having accidentally shipped a package to someone's previous address due to a stale ups.com contact... is there really no way to edit or delete a contact on ups.com, or is this feature just hidden incredibly well?

I thought, aha, I'll just create a new contact with (2024) in the nickname to help avoid this issue in the future. It appears you can only do that as the side effect of creating a new shipment, and it's only saved upon completion and payment. Amazing.

cda,
@cda@malt.social avatar

@swetland I was just on the other side of this galaxy brain software. I made a new shipment with a new contact and it created a new contact but completely unlinked the actual shipment (as if not logged in) and I didn't notice this nonsense until I tried to get the receipt which didn't exist. No record of a shipment to the contact (even though actually printed, shipped, and received). Whatever is going on over there is truly amazing.

azonenberg, to random
@azonenberg@ioc.exchange avatar

Fine pitch BGA breakout is an important life skill that you should teach your kids at the earliest age possible.

cda,
@cda@malt.social avatar

@azonenberg Hah! Is this the Pfeil book?

gsuberland, to random
@gsuberland@chaos.social avatar

there's a saying in electronics that there are two types of PCB designers: people who make antennas on purpose and people who make antennas by accident.

and having looked at a bunch of designs made by big companies recently, I think more PCB designers should go be antenna designers instead, because they've clearly got some innate skill at it which is currently untapped.

cda,
@cda@malt.social avatar

@gsuberland The Bogatin book Signal and Power Integrity -- Simplified is worth every cent.

foone, to random
@foone@digipres.club avatar

I wonder what the upper limit on battery density is, not from an electrochemical/physics perspective, but on a simple practical level based on collateral damage?

Like, we're already at the point where your cellphone battery isn't more than a few orders of magnitude away from the energy density of a hand grenade, making a tesla catching on fire a minor crisis for a fire department.

At what point do batteries stop getting more dense, to limit the damage when they fail?

cda,
@cda@malt.social avatar

@foone the theoretical run time of a modern, readily available low power microcontroller on a semi truck tractor battery is over 75,000 years. That truck battery could probably fit in R2D2 and can also put out 1,300 short-circuit amps. But, you just can't release that chemical energy fast enough to be explodey. The sci-fi parameter at hand is perhaps not total power density but self-discharge rate / degradation rate of batteries.

toxi, to random
@toxi@mastodon.thi.ng avatar

deleted_by_author

    •
    cda,
    @cda@malt.social avatar

    @toxi I recently de-googled including for small business and it has largely been a non-issue. Free and/or alternate tools have come a long way.

    MLE_online, to random
    @MLE_online@social.afront.org avatar

    It's a cold day, so I think I will bake some bread today

    cda,
    @cda@malt.social avatar

    @MLE_online @dizzy yeah could be something like this. The flip side of no-knead is often they need a bit more work to get into a taut boulle. In general I find they need a little more work than a lot of recipes imply. It's not much, but it's also not "just plop it out and shape it".

    If you still aren't happy with the structure, could look at using a higher gluten/protein flour (or mixing something like durum in).

    mjg59, to random
    @mjg59@nondeterministic.computer avatar

    https://mm.icann.org/pipermail/tz/2023-December/033317.html really feels like Old Internet (read the entire thread, it's amazing)

    cda,
    @cda@malt.social avatar

    @mjg59 This is hilarious. This has Jon Postel vibes, "hey can you change those text files that control everything? cool thanks."

    chris_gammell, to random
    @chris_gammell@chaos.social avatar

    I like turning down a bunch of the transparency on the sides (but not the lines) in and getting a see-through, quasi isometric drawing of assemblies

    cda,
    @cda@malt.social avatar

    @chris_gammell yupps! there are also a few decent cross-section plugins now too.

    cda, to random
    @cda@malt.social avatar

    I have a soft spot for Sun stuff. And, I forgot how good the console font was. I had forgotten about the xscreensaver that used it... it's included with the source as a TTF (gallant12x22). https://www.jwz.org/xscreensaver/download.html https://github.com/Zygo/xscreensaver/tree/0c43268adc2e7a932ca5427db7b18d37ef53f7ad/hacks/fonts

    MLE_online, to random
    @MLE_online@social.afront.org avatar

    How do people maintain dwellings that look like they've been created as a showcase for a furniture retailer? Like, everything is perfectly arranged and without a speck of dust or any clutter that isn't carefully curated.

    Don't these people live in their spaces? Living is messy!

    cda,
    @cda@malt.social avatar

    @MLE_online Right? Do these people just have 5X the storage I have hidden somewhere? I would love some modern, austere room to read a book in, but the few rooms that exist have to serve like twelve different roles.

    There's also a whole youtuber vlogger aesthetic that seems to imply a normal person might only own seven things, total??

    image/png

    azonenberg, to random
    @azonenberg@ioc.exchange avatar

    Components for the 48V IBC came in today. Will be assembling after work!

    cda,
    @cda@malt.social avatar

    @azonenberg I wonder sometimes if they just have a big novelty gameshow wheel they spin to determine how something will be packaged. click click click... click.......click NORMAL BUT WITH FIVE TIMES THE TAPE

    cda,
    @cda@malt.social avatar

    @azonenberg Where will the desiccant be this time? You'll never guess!

    cda, to random
    @cda@malt.social avatar

    Purchasing the fairly expensive crimp tool from the connector vendor seems annoying generally, but the repeatably perfect crimps and time saved pays for itself almost immediately. It still seems annoying somehow.

    cda, to embedded
    @cda@malt.social avatar

    Embedded systems pro-tip: The correct number of times to beep is three.

    Devices that beep three times: Ah, what a normal amount of beeping, I am now aware of the thing it wanted me to be aware of.

    Devices that beep four times: OMG, what is this CHAOS? Why on earth is this infernal P-O-S beeping so fracking much? Cast it into the ocean! Come on, Pookie, let's burn this MF down!

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