Want a MOD with super powers? PICAXE!

[Mark Linehan]

I do not own one of these PICAXE micro-controllers. I have only been exposed to this sort of device in literature. What I have learned was gleaned on-line on their website and forums over the past couple of days. This is another one of those finds that have gotten me all excited and jammering on and on about them to my wife who frankly could care less about my e-cigarettes or my electronics.

So, anyoine out there who has worked with these, please give us any tid bits of information that might be left off of the website. CONS, drawbacks, etc. Reasons they won't work well with mods?

...but in the meantime...

Someone mentioned these in another post and I am sorry for the life of me I can not find the post again to give credit where credit is due. That being said, I did not know about these puppies until someone else mentioned them in a post so I get no points for originality. I just wanted to be sure and get some more attention on these. Why? Because they are not too expensive. They can be programmed with BASIC (I am old school basic programmer .. back in the day I knew basic inside out, upside down and backwards. I still use basic in the form of DarkBASIC for some fun game programming). ANYWAYS..

These bad boys seem to have a myriad of possibilities, and I can imagine just scads of features we can add to our mods with these suckers. Here is a list of things you could use these PICAXE micro-controllers for in an e-cig mod. (with some simple coding and a few extra pieces of hardware at least).

** A Pressure Sensor
** A Touch Sensor
** Monitor MOD for temperature
** Monitor MOD for voltage of battery
** Monitor MOD for voltage at ATTY
** Monitor MOD for resistance
** Variable Voltage controls with a choice of methods (wheels, buttons, computer, etc)
** You could build a MOD with pretty much any feature that any of those 150 dollar MODS have except it would be a lot easier with a PICAXE mico-controller apparently.

So, taking note that I do not have one of these (YET) take a look at this website, and you will see what I mean. Endless possibilities with e-cig MODS as well as a million other things you could do with these guys. This has become another spectacular reason I am glad to have found e-cigarettes. My E-cigarette got me back on the electronics bandwagon and now that I found these I am being mentally flooded with ideas for projects with and without MOD involvement.

Ya know.. I've always wanted to build a battle bot, like the ones from TV a few years ago. These little "ONE CHIP COMPUTERS" will make that sort of project a breeze!

So please anyone who is interested, check out this website and let me know what you think. Is it correct in how many e-cigarette advanced features we can pull off using the PICAXE? If I get some mods built with this sort of setup, my friends and family will mess themselves!

 

[breaktru]

Sounds interesting.

 

[AttyPops]

We've had several discussions about using MCUs in e-cigs. A few links to get you started:

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...nyone-built-pwm-style-vv-mod.html#post2484280
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/battery-mods/149538-digital-potentiometer.html#post2404772

I'm sure others have mentioned stuff too... those are just recent postings I was involved in.

Some fun thoughts on CNC for making your own boards and some small parts:
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/battery-mods/153145-pv6-switch.html#post2489290 - put a guard around it tho... you don't want to get hit from flying material.

It's a fun project..... I just use MCUs (I use the standard PICs... not a PICAXE) for other stuff, not e-cigs (yet).

Remember the K.I.S.S. principal....... Digital POTs let you have vv - with buttons. One of the things I was considering was AUTOMATIC-VV where you set a target wattage and the e-cig adjusts the PWM depending on what atomizer you put on. But a dial or digital pot would be even more simple. Sometimes we modders get too hung up in numbers.... it's experiential performance that counts. Want more oomph? Turn the dial up. Want less, turn it down. Think about it... You use a volume control every day. How many decibels is your TV at right now (assuming it's on)? Can you state the number? Do you need to? lol.

 

[sgtdisturbed47]

One of the things I was considering was AUTOMATIC-VV where you set a target wattage and the e-cig adjusts the PWM depending on what atomizer you put on.

There's a mod called the Darwin that does exactly that. You adjust the wattage with the digital readout as your guide, and the wattage stays the same regardless of the atty, so if you toss on a LR atty or an HV atty, the controller adjusts the volts and amps to suit the atty, keeping it at whatever watts you select.

 

[breaktru]

I can't afford the Darwin. It's mentioned in the youtube video as maybe selling for $300
YouTube - The Darwin

ECF post:
Darwin

 

[Mark Linehan]

I have not gotten into making my own PCB's yet, possibly someday. For now though, I am going to learn everything I can about working with the micro-controllers. Once I have them fairly mastered I will look into putting one into a MOD. It looks like one should be able to make a MOD with any feature that these highly advanced programmable MOD's are coming out with. I like that CNC idea as well. and that PV6 switch is a truly beautiful switch! I might have to get a couple someday. For now I am looking at a darlington pair touch switch or maybe just using a membrane switch with a mosfet.

 

[pailpoe]

Why use basic.
I program in c with a low cost 12f1822 (less than 1 $).

 

[AttyPops]

I have not gotten into making my own PCB's yet, possibly someday. For now though, I am going to learn everything I can about working with the micro-controllers. Once I have them fairly mastered I will look into putting one into a MOD. It looks like one should be able to make a MOD with any feature that these highly advanced programmable MOD's are coming out with. I like that CNC idea as well. and that PV6 switch is a truly beautiful switch! I might have to get a couple someday. For now I am looking at a darlington pair touch switch or maybe just using a membrane switch with a mosfet.

I like your optimism Mark. FWIW Myke Predko wrote a series of books the the PIC controllers...(there are other controllers out there).... that are very approachable. The programming is discussed as well as the electronics. I haven't looked at the current book offerings, so this is somewhat dated. However, there's a TON of PIC links on the web too.

Some suggest other MCUs (like AVR)... but pic controllers are real popular with the hobby crowd. Lots of robot, battle-bot stuff too. lol.

There's a lot of different PIC MCUs, with different pin counts and features. Software to program them is free (assembly and small C) however larger projects required purchasing a compiler. Check the current specs.

You'll need to build a programmer, or buy one. It is the interface between your computer and the chip to store the code on the chip.

Some suggestions:
A) Bread board everything you can to try options. Or get a "dev board"... often less than $50.00 that you can use to test stuff out with. It's a chip, power supply, circuits (usually POTs and LEDs) and an eternal header that allows you to connect it to a bread board. You use it to "bread-board-prototype" new ideas without having to build a new circuit constantly. You can build one too. Probably too builky for the final result, but once you get the circuit worked out and the software, you can move into final design. Saves a lot of wasted time and components.

B) I suggest that you learn C also, but it is not really a requirement for this. It all gets compiled down to PIC machine code. I code in C and assembly for the PICs and it's not that bad. Even the assembly language is not that bad. The new chips have more features/instructions, but you probably would want to stay in the 8/16 bit range of MCUs anyway. This could vary depending on desired features, but you don't need a lot of on-board RAM memory for most e-cig applications.

C) K.I.S.S. Most e-cig stuff can be done without an MCU. But, once you add one, you have it so why not make the best of it! However, just for fun, while you draw out the feature list and design, see if you could easily implement it without an MCU 1st. This will tell you what is the the critical component/feature list. Now, leverage the MCU by implementing as much as possible in the MCU and avoiding external circuits (digital pots, external PWM, LCD controllers, etc).

D) Have fun! These things are fun to just play with. Start simple. Hook up a speaker and have it play "Happy Birthday", go beep-boop, etc. Blink some LEDs 1st. Do a sample Analog-to-digital conversion reading a POT (probably built into the dev board). Also, make a stand alone board with just a blinking LED to ensure that you get the battery/power supply working, the programming working, the chip booting properly, etc. This can be bread boarded, but I suggest soldering it as a mock-up proof-of-concept (but use a chip socket). Once you know the chip works and you can program it, add features.

Sounds like you plan to have some fun. Let us know how it goes!

 

[AttyPops]

Oh yeah, the other thing.... Dang it Linehan.....

I have an RGB LED, and I want to drive it as a PWM voltage indicator. The easiest way to do this is with an MCU...... So now you got me thinking about the mcu e-cig again.

Dang. It just keeps circling back. The discrete circuits for RGB drivers are a mess. I really wanted to avoid the MCU, but I can't get the cool vv color indicator I want without using one. Dang again.

Anyone know of a good way to drive varying RGB color from varying voltage other than an MCU?

 

[pailpoe]

Use a MCU with 3 pwm for each color

 

[AttyPops]

Use a MCU with 3 pwm for each color

évidemment.....I already know that.... what I asked was if there were any OTHER options without using an MCU. Anyone know?

(options sans MCU .... Je sais déjà comment utiliser le MCU.) - Thanks google translate (I wanted to play with GT)

 

[candre23]

I started a similarly ambitious project a while back, but never got past the design and basic experimentation phase. Microcontroller projects are interesting, but require more than a little dedication to get working. I had been thinking about going back to it, but with switching power supply mods like the Darwin available now, it's probably not worth the hassle.

If you think you can do this for less money than something like the Darwin, think again. There's a lot of trial and error involved in finding the right parts, and having custom PCBs etched, while not ruinously expensive, isn't exactly cheap either. If you're looking to get into microcontrollers and want to use this as a learning experience, then by all means give it a go. But don't think you'll just throw together a darwin-class mod for $50 in parts in a couple days. This is a project. I had about 20 hours and well over $100 into it when I gave up, and all I had to show was a minimally functional prototype on a solderless breadboard.

 

[AttyPops]

I started a similarly ambitious project a while back, but never got past the design and basic experimentation phase. Microcontroller projects are interesting, but require more than a little dedication to get working. I had been thinking about going back to it, but with switching power supply mods like the Darwin available now, it's probably not worth the hassle.

If you think you can do this for less money than something like the Darwin, think again. There's a lot of trial and error involved in finding the right parts, and having custom PCBs etched, while not ruinously expensive, isn't exactly cheap either. If you're looking to get into microcontrollers and want to use this as a learning experience, then by all means give it a go. But don't think you'll just throw together a darwin-class mod for $50 in parts in a couple days. This is a project. I had about 20 hours and well over $100 into it when I gave up, and all I had to show was a minimally functional prototype on a solderless breadboard.

LOL. I already have all the stuff I need, plus, I build other PIC circuits. This one is fairly simple. Just a power MOSFET to fire the atty that's new. The real point is.......why? Just so I can use my cool tri-color LED and PWM the colors for the voltage? No return on the effort investment. No reason for a Darwin either, IMHO. Lipstick on a pig. It goes back to the original point... why?

But yes... I could throw together a Darwin class (e.g. MCU based) e-cig in a couple of days with no more than $50.00 since I already have the programmer, computer, soldering station, some PICs, etc. Just no reason to. The best e-cigs are the simple ones.

OTOH, I think Linehan is learning about microcontrollers, so ... it's a project.

Cheers!

P.S. What caused you to give up?