Posted by Kris Krieger on May 24, 2008, 12:41 pm
INsu;ltfesters notwithstanding, I'm, still looking for soem instructions
re: building simple solar lights, because I want to make solar-piowered
stained-glass sculpture-lights.
((Yes, I know it's not as "hot" as converting my whole house, so let's not
bother with those denegrations.))
I have an electroncs book, and soem online instructions, but ther eare a
lot of steps that they all skip over. I've tried looking for "working
plans", "DIY", "step by step", and so on, but to no avail - most of it is
selling pre-made lights such as Malibu. I have several parts lists, but
nothing to illustrate the basic assembly. THe electronics diagrams also
don't mention how/where to solder the wires for the LED assamble and the
Battery-Solar Cell assembly.
Is there any manual, book, or ANY resource that can just show how to
assemble the basic parts?
I know, I know, I'm an idiot, retard, whatever, so spare me (and everyone
else, too) the name-calling/insult-fests that clog most of this NG and wast
ethe electricity it takes to type in and post that stupid useless dumbass
crap. But I'd appreciate any sort of REAL reference for absolute
beginners. I mean ABSOLUTE beginners. We all have to start somewhere...
Thank you in advance for any REAL information...
- Kris K.
Posted by Morris Dovey on May 24, 2008, 1:13 pm
Kris Krieger wrote:
> INsu;ltfesters notwithstanding, I'm, still looking for soem instructions
> re: building simple solar lights, because I want to make solar-piowered
> stained-glass sculpture-lights.
>
> ((Yes, I know it's not as "hot" as converting my whole house, so let's not
> bother with those denegrations.))
It's usenet - defensiveness doesn't help you get the info you want.
I just googled "how to solder" and got good enough results that I think
you'd benefit by doing the same
> I have an electroncs book, and soem online instructions, but ther eare a
> lot of steps that they all skip over. I've tried looking for "working
> plans", "DIY", "step by step", and so on, but to no avail - most of it is
> selling pre-made lights such as Malibu. I have several parts lists, but
> nothing to illustrate the basic assembly. THe electronics diagrams also
> don't mention how/where to solder the wires for the LED assamble and the
> Battery-Solar Cell assembly.
Interesting - I tried "DIY solar LED" and struck gold. Give it another
try. There are people building some interesting stuff out there - and
some of 'em seem willing to share what they know.
> Is there any manual, book, or ANY resource that can just show how to
> assemble the basic parts?
Radio Shack used to have little how-to pamphlets describing how to put
stuff together. The basic skills involve soldering and bending component
leads with a small pair of chain nose or needle nose pliers. It's not
exactly rocket surgery. Go to your local RS store and by a small pencil
soldering iron, a spool of their thinnest resin-flux solder, a cheap
prototype board and a handful of cheap resistors and capacitors to
practice with. Keep a small damp sponge handy to clean the tip of your
hot soldering iron - you'll be able so see when that's needed. Try
soldering all of your parts so that they're exactly 1/16" above the
board. If you need to - print this out and hand it to the RS clerk with
a "please help me".
You'll make a mess of at least the first few - 's ok. Take your time and
try to get a feel for how much heat is needed and how far from the
soldering iron you need to keep your fingers. You should disqualify
yourself only if you actually solder a finger to the board.
> I know, I know, I'm an idiot, retard, whatever, so spare me (and everyone
> else, too) the name-calling/insult-fests that clog most of this NG and wast
> ethe electricity it takes to type in and post that stupid useless dumbass
> crap. But I'd appreciate any sort of REAL reference for absolute
> beginners. I mean ABSOLUTE beginners. We all have to start somewhere...
Yada, yada, yada - if you don't want people to treat you like a dumbass,
then not treating them (me) that way would be a good start.
> Thank you in advance for any REAL information...
You're welcome. If you really need your hand held, then find a local
radio amateur and offer to return with a sixpack at a time of his/her
choosing for a bit of coaching. I've never met a ham that couldn't bend
wire and solder, nor one who didn't enjoy helping someone who wanted to
learn.
Do the two Google searches I gave you.
--
Morris Dovey
DeSoto Solar
DeSoto, Iowa USA
http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/
Posted by Morris Dovey on May 24, 2008, 2:14 pm
Morris Dovey wrote:
> Do the two Google searches I gave you.
Here's an article I found using "make your own LED light".
http://www.dansdata.com/caselight.htm
It's not your exact project, but it shows the stuff I suggested and
provides good info about circuits using LEDs.
--
Morris Dovey
DeSoto Solar
DeSoto, Iowa USA
http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/
Posted by daestrom on May 24, 2008, 3:19 pm
> Kris Krieger wrote:
>> INsu;ltfesters notwithstanding, I'm, still looking for soem instructions
>> re: building simple solar lights, because I want to make solar-piowered
>> stained-glass sculpture-lights.
>>
>> ((Yes, I know it's not as "hot" as converting my whole house, so let's
>> not bother with those denegrations.))
> It's usenet - defensiveness doesn't help you get the info you want.
> I just googled "how to solder" and got good enough results that I think
> you'd benefit by doing the same
>> I have an electroncs book, and soem online instructions, but ther eare a
>> lot of steps that they all skip over. I've tried looking for "working
>> plans", "DIY", "step by step", and so on, but to no avail - most of it is
>> selling pre-made lights such as Malibu. I have several parts lists, but
>> nothing to illustrate the basic assembly. THe electronics diagrams also
>> don't mention how/where to solder the wires for the LED assamble and the
>> Battery-Solar Cell assembly.
> Interesting - I tried "DIY solar LED" and struck gold. Give it another
> try. There are people building some interesting stuff out there - and some
> of 'em seem willing to share what they know.
>> Is there any manual, book, or ANY resource that can just show how to
>> assemble the basic parts?
> Radio Shack used to have little how-to pamphlets describing how to put
> stuff together. The basic skills involve soldering and bending component
> leads with a small pair of chain nose or needle nose pliers. It's not
> exactly rocket surgery. Go to your local RS store and by a small pencil
> soldering iron, a spool of their thinnest resin-flux solder, a cheap
> prototype board and a handful of cheap resistors and capacitors to
> practice with. Keep a small damp sponge handy to clean the tip of your hot
> soldering iron - you'll be able so see when that's needed. Try soldering
> all of your parts so that they're exactly 1/16" above the board. If you
> need to - print this out and hand it to the RS clerk with a "please help
> me".
> You'll make a mess of at least the first few - 's ok. Take your time and
> try to get a feel for how much heat is needed and how far from the
> soldering iron you need to keep your fingers. You should disqualify
> yourself only if you actually solder a finger to the board.
You may laugh, but I learned some things from a "Material Science" class
about soldering even though I've been doing it for nigh onto 50 years.
Solder is an alloy of two metals (tin and lead usually) that has a lower
melting point than either alone. Tin and lead of course have different
melting points, so when it starts to solidify you can end up with most of
the tin hardening before the lead, and that creates some wierd
inclusions/crystals. This is at its worst if they cool slowly but isn't too
bad with normal hand soldering. 'Eutectic solder' is 63% /37% and that's
the ratio of lowest melting point. Look for that or at least 60/40. 50/50
solder can be used for a lot of things, but it's a bit harder to get nice
joints if you have to keep the heating time short for the component's sake
(semiconductors, plastic boards/parts like LEDs, etc...)
But IMHO the primary things to keep in mind are: 1) Heat the parts with the
iron, don't try to just heat the solder and 'drip' it on. 2)
Notwithstanding #1, put a tiny dot of solder on the iron and touch the dot
of solder to the parts. This forms a sort of 'bridge' to carry the heat
from the iron to the parts. 3) If the solder 'balls up' and doesn't 'soak
in' to the joint, the parts are colder than the molten solder and that's
called a 'cold solder' joint. It's not mechanically strong and will allow
air/moisture in between the parts and the joint will mysteriously 'open'
some day. Sometimes you can fix these by heating it up longer and letting
the solder 'flow'. 4) Problem with re-heating to fix #3 is that some parts
(plastic, the wire insulation, semiconductors) don't like getting too hot
for very long so you can't just heat the joint up forever. 5) Clean the tip
often. A wet sponge-like pad, or one of those brass 'brillo-pad' looking
things work well. 6)Get some solder-wick and/or a solder-sucker. Sooner or
later you'll end up with too much and have to *remove* some solder and these
both work well.
daestrom
Posted by Kris Krieger on May 24, 2008, 9:59 pm
>
>> Kris Krieger wrote:
>>> INsu;ltfesters notwithstanding, I'm, still looking for soem
>>> instructions re: building simple solar lights, because I want to
>>> make solar-piowered stained-glass sculpture-lights.
>>>
>>> ((Yes, I know it's not as "hot" as converting my whole house, so
>>> let's not bother with those denegrations.))
>>
>> It's usenet - defensiveness doesn't help you get the info you want.
>>
>> I just googled "how to solder" and got good enough results that I
>> think you'd benefit by doing the same
>>
>>> I have an electroncs book, and soem online instructions, but ther
>>> eare a lot of steps that they all skip over. I've tried looking for
>>> "working plans", "DIY", "step by step", and so on, but to no avail -
>>> most of it is selling pre-made lights such as Malibu. I have
>>> several parts lists, but nothing to illustrate the basic assembly.
>>> THe electronics diagrams also don't mention how/where to solder the
>>> wires for the LED assamble and the Battery-Solar Cell assembly.
>>
>> Interesting - I tried "DIY solar LED" and struck gold. Give it
>> another try. There are people building some interesting stuff out
>> there - and some of 'em seem willing to share what they know.
>>
>>> Is there any manual, book, or ANY resource that can just show how to
>>> assemble the basic parts?
>>
>> Radio Shack used to have little how-to pamphlets describing how to
>> put stuff together. The basic skills involve soldering and bending
>> component leads with a small pair of chain nose or needle nose
>> pliers. It's not exactly rocket surgery. Go to your local RS store
>> and by a small pencil soldering iron, a spool of their thinnest
>> resin-flux solder, a cheap prototype board and a handful of cheap
>> resistors and capacitors to practice with. Keep a small damp sponge
>> handy to clean the tip of your hot soldering iron - you'll be able so
>> see when that's needed. Try soldering all of your parts so that
>> they're exactly 1/16" above the board. If you need to - print this
>> out and hand it to the RS clerk with a "please help me".
>>
>> You'll make a mess of at least the first few - 's ok. Take your time
>> and try to get a feel for how much heat is needed and how far from
>> the soldering iron you need to keep your fingers. You should
>> disqualify yourself only if you actually solder a finger to the
>> board.
>>
>
> You may laugh, but I learned some things from a "Material Science"
> class about soldering even though I've been doing it for nigh onto 50
> years. Solder is an alloy of two metals (tin and lead usually) that
> has a lower melting point than either alone. Tin and lead of course
> have different melting points, so when it starts to solidify you can
> end up with most of the tin hardening before the lead, and that
> creates some wierd inclusions/crystals. This is at its worst if they
> cool slowly but isn't too bad with normal hand soldering. 'Eutectic
> solder' is 63% /37% and that's the ratio of lowest melting point.
> Look for that or at least 60/40. 50/50 solder can be used for a lot
> of things, but it's a bit harder to get nice joints if you have to
> keep the heating time short for the component's sake (semiconductors,
> plastic boards/parts like LEDs, etc...)
THat's good actually, since 60:40 is what I use for the stained glass
work (copper foil), so I have it on hand.
>
> But IMHO the primary things to keep in mind are: 1) Heat the parts
> with the iron, don't try to just heat the solder and 'drip' it on. 2)
> Notwithstanding #1, put a tiny dot of solder on the iron and touch the
> dot of solder to the parts. This forms a sort of 'bridge' to carry
> the heat from the iron to the parts. 3) If the solder 'balls up' and
> doesn't 'soak in' to the joint, the parts are colder than the molten
> solder and that's called a 'cold solder' joint. It's not mechanically
> strong and will allow air/moisture in between the parts and the joint
> will mysteriously 'open' some day. Sometimes you can fix these by
> heating it up longer and letting the solder 'flow'. 4) Problem with
> re-heating to fix #3 is that some parts (plastic, the wire insulation,
> semiconductors) don't like getting too hot for very long so you can't
> just heat the joint up forever. 5) Clean the tip often. A wet
> sponge-like pad, or one of those brass 'brillo-pad' looking things
> work well. 6)Get some solder-wick and/or a solder-sucker. Sooner or
> later you'll end up with too much and have to *remove* some solder and
> these both work well.
>
> daestrom
>
THanks for the details, they'er useful and informative, I didn't know all
of that :)
XML site map
> re: building simple solar lights, because I want to make solar-piowered
> stained-glass sculpture-lights.
>
> ((Yes, I know it's not as "hot" as converting my whole house, so let's not
> bother with those denegrations.))