Has anyone on here played with pummer circuits?

[ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org]

@bytex64 @MLE_online Typically something that turns on and off will do so by charging/discharging (resistor and capacitor). But, I haven't look at these kind of circuits. (it probably suffers, like many circuits do, on bad Internet schematics! On the plus side, AI has ingested a lot of bad Internet schematics, lol)

[bytex64@awesome.garden]

@MLE_online @ai6yr Yeah that sounds right to me. I only glanced at the circuit in Make magazine but it definitely looked like a traditional inverter oscillator, just tuned very slow.

[mle_online@social.afront.org]

@bytex64 @ai6yr touching pins in the right places partially makes it behave like it should

[ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org]

@MLE_online @bytex64 AHA!

It's the capacitance ratio which sets the blinking

[bytex64@awesome.garden]

@ai6yr @MLE_online Oh that’s interesting. I wonder if that’s a missing connection or if you’re acting like a capacitor.

[ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org]

@bytex64 @MLE_online Looks like you're going to have to put your finger on there all night LOL

(yes, that sounds right -- human capacitor!)

[mle_online@social.afront.org]

@ai6yr @bytex64 the thing is it never decays. The brightness fades up like it should, but then it just stays bright unless i poke around. I will have to inspect more tomorrow

[ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org]

@MLE_online @bytex64

I have my doubts on that capacitor there. I have never seen one with the two colors... looks questionable to me.

Also, diodes are pretty heat sensitive, I used to destroy a lot of them by overheating them while soldering (until someone told me to use hemostats to heat sink between the diode and the solder).

Anyway, good luck! I'm sure the circuit works (if it's in MAKE), just something cross wired. If I get inspired I will try building one here, although I will have to poke around for a solar cell...

[ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org]

@MLE_online @bytex64 "Never decays" also would make me check R3, as that is what drains the LED charge to make it fade. Also R2 as it is draining charge off the timing capacitors...

R1 is just used to flip the pummer into "on" when the solar panel is off.

Ah heck, going to have to check it all anyway lol. Good luck.

[roseen@mastodon.nu]

@MLE_online If anyone else was just as confused as i regarding BEAM and pummers, here's a nice writeup:
https://sp4ee.github.io/build-log/fell-in-love-with-pummers/

[mle_online@social.afront.org]

@ai6yr this second pummer was much easier to build because i did it deadbug style. Unfortunately it also doesn't work! In fact, it works even less than the last one

[quixoticgeek@social.v.st]

@MLE_online @ai6yr what's a pummer ? It looks interesting.

[stepheneb@ruby.social]

@quixoticgeek @MLE_online @ai6yr

I didn’t know and was curious.

This link is to a pdf of a Make Magazine article:

“Part robotic plant life, part techno-sculpture,
these desktop toys are easy and fun to make”

https://cdn.makezine.com/make/08/pummer.pdf

[quixoticgeek@social.v.st]

@stepheneb @MLE_online @ai6yr oh. It's beam robotics. Haven't seen that talked about in decades. Awesome.

[mle_online@social.afront.org]

@ai6yr fixed it!i had the diode the wrong way around

[mle_online@social.afront.org]

@ai6yr Now that this works, I just need my ceramic luminary to come out of the kiln so I can install this in it

[bosquebill@techhub.social]

@MLE_online @ai6yr Yeah, diodes are picky about that! Glad it's working.

[mle_online@social.afront.org]

@ai6yr And now that I have one built. I think I can build a couple more -- if I can find more schottky diodes in my stuff. I was lucky to find one

[ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org]

@MLE_online YAY! Glad you figured it out!!! That's fabulous!

[ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org]

@MLE_online I love that deadbug style makes it appear to be a spaceship, lol!