DANGER: This project deals with mains voltages which, among other things, can KILL you DEAD. If you choose to replicate any portion of this project I am in no way responsible for any adverse consistences that may result.
So, I have this vapor tight light fixture that I’ve been wanting to make blink on and off, like a radio or cell phone tower signal light but was having a hard time coming up with a practical way to do it.
The main problem is that the light fixture runs off of 120 volts and I was not finding a practical cheep a way to control a mains voltage light. Sure I could use a DMX controller but that’s expensive and overkill. I found light socket flasher buttons (insert the “button” between the bulb and the socket and heat change makes the light blink) but those are old school, hard to find, wear out over time, and the flash rate is not customizable.
Of course I thought about using a microcontroller like my Arduino to control the light, but interfacing mains voltage devices with low voltage microcontrollers seems to be something a lot of people steer away from (the Arduino forums seem to be particularly against it). So, I was having difficulty finding circuit designs that would put me on the right path.
I’m a bit uneasy about labels… at least when it comes to applying them to people. Labels can cause us to think too narrowly of people. We slap labels on people and it’s assumed that they will always fall strictly within that label and we don’t like it when they diverge from their labeling.
I have been labeled an introvert all my life and for the longest time I hated it. The label itself isn’t bad; it’s simply describing a personality type. The problem is that the label ‘introvert’ comes with all kinds of negative connotations. Continue reading “On Labels”
This is another time-lapse video of my drive to work. This time the camera is positioned in the back seat, centered with the windshield, so you can see out the whole windshield. I placed my iPhone on the dash and ran the stop watch so you can get an idea about how long the trip takes.
The interval between shots on this video was 3 seconds (every 3 seconds a picture was taken) and the pictures are played back at 24 frames per seconds (standard film rate) but the video was slowed down just a smidgen to get it to end where I wanted it to with the song.
