Re: IR sensors

[Joyce Poon <poonj@ecf.utoronto.ca>]

On Tue, 21 Mar 2000, Tim Vanderhoek wrote:

> 2) Joyce, I understand you have an essay due.  That's fine.  But I should
> not have to argue with you in order to be able to walk out of your room
> with the tools I need to do _my_ job and to fixup problems with circuits
> not specifically mine when those problems arise.  When I plugged in the
> +12V power for the IR sensors, the 7805 started getting very hot.  My
> first guess is that it's broken, although it could be a simple short
> somewhere else.  I don't have a 7805 to replace it with.  So now I have
> to pull one off the motor board power supply.  This means I can't test
> the drive system.  It also means the motor supply 7805 needs to be
> replaced later. 

I checked the connections in the lab.  The 7805 is not shorted.  Watch
where you are connecting things.

 Other than this, there is a stunning lack of wire should

I don't have any wires either.  I thought you took them.  I had a bag of
wires, but it was gone at the end of the lab period.  I figure you took
them along with the box.

> I need any, and I don't know whether the velcro that's supposed to hold
> the computer box together is lost or whether you have it.  

It's in the shoppers drug mart bag that I gave you.  You left it lying
around in the lab, and I picked it up at the end.  

I should
> _not_ have to argue with you in order to be able to take components that
> have been paid for 33% with my money.  

Why would you need 20 resistors?  20 caps?  20 LEDs?  You'll just mess my
stuff up.

I know you have an essay due,
> but we also have a robot due _very_ soon and finishing that robot is
> _not_ as simple as just throwing the parts together ("well, the IR sensors
> work when I test them").  

Strangely enough, the essay is worth more than the rest of design.

Finish the essay, but realize that if you
> prevent me from also doing my work that I need to do (namely testing
> the damn IR sensors with the computer), then _I_ _need_ _to_ _have_
> either a) you present or b) the components to fix the sensors myself.

What do you need?  I would hate to prevent you from doing your job.

Joyce