gluckc

Wow, they look delicious

This is a really in depth instructable. I wouldn't know where to begin without this great guide. I have a question that I think I can get around, it's just that I don't quite get it. In Fritzing I pulled in some resistors. I assumed that they would essentially be represented by 2 holes spaced a reasonable distance apart - so that you could solder the resistor on to your pcb board at the end. I didn't realize until I brought it into FlatCAM that the resistors are just drawn as two squares without a hole spaced some distance apart. Why? How would you solder the resistor on to the pcb without holes? I also have some photocells in my project -- and these seem to be represented as I would expect -- two holes some distance apart that I can solder the legs of the photocell into. I …

This is a really in depth instructable. I wouldn't know where to begin without this great guide. I have a question that I think I can get around, it's just that I don't quite get it. In Fritzing I pulled in some resistors. I assumed that they would essentially be represented by 2 holes spaced a reasonable distance apart - so that you could solder the resistor on to your pcb board at the end. I didn't realize until I brought it into FlatCAM that the resistors are just drawn as two squares without a hole spaced some distance apart. Why? How would you solder the resistor on to the pcb without holes? I also have some photocells in my project -- and these seem to be represented as I would expect -- two holes some distance apart that I can solder the legs of the photocell into. I suppose I could use the photocell object instead of the resistor object in order to get the holes that I'm expecting, but it doesn't make sense to me.

Yes, it's an invacare. Can you tell from the picture if it is the correct plug? I'm excited to try this. Let me know if I can get one of your extra boards and how much you'd like for it. If I get it working with Alexa I'll let you know. I guess I'll need to get the photon particle and the cable as well. I've never used the particle before -- I assume I can use the arduino ide to program it and it works the same as any other esp8266 board? I just looked it up - it appears to be more expensive -- is there a reason you chose it?

Actually, maybe I understand... do you plug the cord from the bed-remote into one of the ports on your PCB board, then plug a separate cord (that I guess you'd need to purchase) from the other port on the PCB board to the bed? If that's the case -- I would love to get the PCB board from you. I think I could program it using my method to talk with Alexa.

I would love to make this for my son -- but I don't quite understand all the steps. I made something similar-ish. I have Alexa controlling our elevator button that you can see here...https://www.instructables.com/Alexa-Enabled-El.. . You're missing the connection in your video between IFTT and Google Assistant - I used a WEMO microcontroller and something called SINRIC that I found pretty easy in order to speak with Alexa. But, I am not following from your instructable how to connect the relays to the hospital bed motor. If I could understand that - then maybe I could use my same WEMO/SINRIC solution to drive the relays to drive the bed.

Yes, 3D printing allows you to design/print just what you need pretty easily and for not much money. The technology at our fingertips is amazing and so helpful for special needs!

I don't know why you can't see it. Try going here...https://jenmadeit.com/make-your-own-walker/

PDF? There's no PDF in this project. Were you trying to comment on a different project - like maybe the zipper pants?

We also played that game growing up... Nicely done.

Yep, I'm hoping it will be as fabulous for others as it has been for us.

I really couldn't say. This was supporting a 50lb kid -- and it worked well for several years. I think you'd have to beef it up for a 250lb adult. Maybe you could use a similar concept, but make sure you had enough bracing for the weight you're talking about.

Since publishing this, the connection with Alexa got flaky. So I found another method that still used the WEMO. If you go to sinric.com, there are instructions for downloading some code from github and modifying to what you want in order to connect your microcontroller with alexa. It's pretty similar to what I posted here. Since using sinric, I've been able to use voice-activation for the elevator for about a year now with no issues. It still is using "Alexa turn on elevator in kitchen' to activate it -- which is cumbersome -- but it works, so I am happy.

Thanks very much. I think I didn't explain it very well. The button is supposed to control the temperature, and the way it works is that when you press the button -- it turns on and provides full power to the carbon fiber strips. If you keep it at this level, it will both stay hot and drain the battery. If you press the button again, it changes color to let you know what level you are on. It then starts to cycle so that the power goes on/off to the carbon fiber. This actually will help the battery last a little longer -- and the carbon fiber cools down a bit between cycles. Does that make sense? I think you can press the button 5 times. I measured the temp on the lowest level and I think it hovered around 85 degrees or so inside my house with an ambient temperature of 73 or so.So…

Thanks very much. I think I didn't explain it very well. The button is supposed to control the temperature, and the way it works is that when you press the button -- it turns on and provides full power to the carbon fiber strips. If you keep it at this level, it will both stay hot and drain the battery. If you press the button again, it changes color to let you know what level you are on. It then starts to cycle so that the power goes on/off to the carbon fiber. This actually will help the battery last a little longer -- and the carbon fiber cools down a bit between cycles. Does that make sense? I think you can press the button 5 times. I measured the temp on the lowest level and I think it hovered around 85 degrees or so inside my house with an ambient temperature of 73 or so.So long as the battery is powering the carbon fiber strips, it is draining. It wouldn't matter if you kept the carbon fiber insulated. But, you are definitely right... when I layer this with a jacket, then the heat stays in and I can put it on a lower setting to save some battery.Thanks for the flap suggestion. :)

Thanks for your help--I was able to take your instructable and morph it to do what I needed. I was very excited to discover this :)

Looked forward to trying this... went through all the steps. Then realized that I accidentally bought a WEMO D1 mini LITE. I'll go ahead and get the D1 mini, but do you know if the LITE version can be used in the same way? I'm guessing it uses different drivers at least, since it wasn't recognized by the arduino IDE. I'm bummed. Now I have to wait to try again.

This is exactly what I want to do, but with a solenoid. It seems pretty easy. I just wish your Step 7 "After programming with the code" was expanded :). You have several .cpp files included. How do you get these on the wemo? Is it possible to just copy/paste the routines in these files directly in the .ino? In my limited experience, I've only programmed through the *.ino file.

I thought of another thing I want to do with this. Here is an older post of mine that after looking at this project, I hope I can upgrade my project ...https://www.instructables.com/Voice-Activated-R...

Thanks.... I am too :)

Thanks downunder -- real helpful. Why did you even bother to reply --WHY???

Thank you !

Arrgghh -- I'm following along your very easy to follow instructable. I'm using windows, though. You say that windows will have no problem recognizing it when I plug it in. Maybe that's true -- but in Windows 10, even though it recognizes it, it gives a driver error. Apparently prolific-usb-to-serial-comm-port-windows is not supported in Windows 10. Supposedly you can try to load an older driver to get it to work, but I haven't had success with that yet.

This is great, I like how it's low to the ground so you can be near the water -- I wish I could add an engine/joystick so my son could use it independently. I've posted some ideas, too, for building adaptive equipment with PVC. Do a search on Accessible Scooter with Putt-Putt Attachment.