solve the mess that is wall plugs, voltages and connectors that never fit your project by introducing yet another standard
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This project aims to be simple, easy to replicate and easy to extend as the main intend is to get other projects off the ground faster. You will not see any custom logic boards, everything is off the shelf.
Once the project is finished all parts can be lent out to other temporary projects and new connectors can be added easily.
First things first: Thanks to exco most the small dc-dc converter have a case which protects their sensitive insides from swetty hacker fingers. The designs can be found on Thingiverse and of course on the shack Standard github page.
Yesterday each shack Standard AC-DC and DC-DC converter received a dedicated label. Each label has two primary uses:
1. Identify the converter as a part of the Standard
2. Show the parameters in which range these devices can operate (in and out Voltage / max Wattage).
In addition to that the DC-DC converter have a sticker attached which try to explain how to change the voltage and what the buttons mean. Because the 80V Step-Up has an interface designed without User Experience (UX) in mind I also added a link to a video which shows how to operate the device.
Until now now plugs died because of misuse like pulling too much power which would lead to overheating. I hope it stays like this with the new labels.
In February makefu took the chance to give the audience of the shackspace thundertalks a short introduction about the project.
The whole presentation was no longer than 10 minutes but it was a lot of fun.
The slides can be viewed at https://shackspace.github.io/shackStandard/shack-standard_thundertalk-2017-02-18.html
After the thundertalks the hacker swim took action to also build a gender changer to charge his e-bike but somewhat failed in a fantastic way. Besides changing the gender, he also switched the polarity of the sources! Attaching two power sources with this ingenious device will result in a nice spark and possibly the release of some magic smoke.
Of course this device was tested once because not swim or makefu checked it :D before usage. The new "gender changer of doom" now hangs prestigious left of the shack-standard shelve.
The shack Standard finally has a logo. Without further ado, here it is:
Big thanks goes to misa who designed the logo on a lazy afternoon!
The step-up is able to generate voltages up to 80V and therefore is able to kill you - a case is therefore a hard requirement anyway.
First thing is to generate a box with an online box maker ( http://boxdesigner.connectionlab.org/ ).
Next step is to add all the required Holes for actually using the step up and print on paper them for testing.
After checking everything we cut the whole case out of plexi glass:
Case In the laser cutter
Gluing the case
Final Product:
Now nobody can die anymore (that easily)!
Today i finished labeling all the parts of the first set of the shack Standard. This means that now everybody in the hackerspace can use the plugs as intended as there is now a variety of different plugs and cables for immediate use.
In addition to that there are a couple of spare plugs as well as the XT60 connectors (thanks to exco, you will get new ones once they arrive from china) which can be used to extend the whole thing.
Thanks to momorientes the shack standard project now has a place to stay inside the shackspace.
We reordered our DVD collection and took the now-empty shelf for the project.
Use angles to secure the shelf
Next step will be to document the process and mark all the parts of the project.
Today exco brought both XT30 and XT60 plugs to the shackspace for comparsion. Initially I wanted to use the smaller XT30 plugs but this changed once i had them in the hands and played around with them.
The XT30 plugs do not seem to be usable in the hackerspace because if you press hard enough they can be inserted the wrong way around. The T60 feel sturdier and you cannot plug them wrongly. They also can be loosened easier with both hands simply because they are a bit bigger.
In the end the decision was made to use the XT60 plugs as shack-Standard instead of the XT30.
Felix Richter
Łukasz Przeniosło
alexander.j.vera
Frédéric Druppel
The Reverend