433MHz canon remote

• visual indicator - I was pretty unsure if it actually worked until I checked the pictures
• optocoupler for interfacing
• use an attiny instead of a full blown arduino
• [optional] build an antenna for 433MHz to extend the range
• intervalometer http://playground.arduino.cc/Deutsch/TimelapseDe

So when you start a new project and you don't have much time - start with the least amount of unknowns and only after it works and you still have he time, start shrinking it. Because anything will fit into a tictac / altoids box in the end! (Don't use altoid boxes for wireless stuff, btw - that should be a no brainer)

So here are the prototypes! If anyone has any cool remote designs in his mind, or movie props - I definitely want to come up with something looking more artsy fartsy. I love the zippo feeling of opening a tictac box though. And those switches that are "shielded" with a cap.

Kind of ;) 2 arduinos, what a waste - but with that short amount of time I went for easy/known stuff. I'll update this later with a "happy - it works" face. The transmitter even worked out of the oven :D

So I'm glad that at least the 2 Arduino setup works! Tomorrow I'll solder my 3rd and last pcb together, this time with an ATtiny85, as soon as I checked with a DIP package on a breadboard, that it actually works with one, since it's probably only maxed out. Sounds like a good idea. I might throw in a pullup for the reset line and a 100nF cap from VCC to GND as well. Should add that onto the pcb. Hm..

Off to bed now, happy hacking!

Here is my little "test program" to check if I'm sane or not. Turns out I am and the pins 2 and 3 are mangled up in the EAGLE library.

void setup() 
{
  pinMode(0, OUTPUT); // MOSI
  pinMode(1, OUTPUT); // MISO
  pinMode(2, OUTPUT); // SCK
  pinMode(3, OUTPUT); // focus
  pinMode(4, OUTPUT); // shutter  
}

void loop() 
{
  for (int i=0; i<5; i++)
  {
    digitalWrite(i, HIGH);
    delay(500);
    digitalWrite(i, LOW);
    delay(500);
  }
}

Now I can reprogram the Attiny45 board again and test it another time...

On saturday I will attend the wedding party of my boss and his wife and I joked that I would totally be able to come up with something that I could take a picture with myself on the picture, without running from the first floor down to the group of guests. She said "oh well something with a raspberry pi, I guess?" - well not really, but an arduino/attiny will do.

The first idea I had was using some of the #Snail Mail Notifier pcbs, but I wasn't sure about the parts (no labels). So I figured I could totally use my AttinyX5 timelapse board which I designed to hack into a keyfob camera. I had to solder one together because I gave away the first prototyepe to @Stefan-Xp at the #Hackaday Munich: Hot Irons and Crunching Compilers - and he send me a trigger remote cable once - thanks again for that! By the way, there is a little design issue!

There is no common ground on the transistors and they are not connected to the ground pin of the board. Sounds stupid? Meh - it worked for the application I had in mind, since the tiny and the keyfob camera would have shared the battery. But not the canon camera. With a ground cable flying around that was fixed in an instant.

Next stop was finding a library that works for arduino and 433MHz - easy thing with google, here is what I found [german] http://fluuux.de/2013/12/einfuhrung-in-umgang-mit-einem-433mhz-funkmodul/ I had to download the VirtualWire from [http://www.airspayce.com/mikem/arduino/VirtualWire/] library as well. Copy, pasting and running the script gave me this:

In function 'void vw_setup(uint16_t)':
error: 'TCCR1A' was not declared in this scope
error: 'TCCR1B' was not declared in this scope
error: 'WGM12' was not declared in this scope

Turns out that the Attiny85 is covered in the VirtualWire, but not the Attiny45 (because reasons). So after a while I found out how I could fix it.

// look for __AVR_ATtiny85__ and add or replace with
#if defined (__AVR_ATtiny85__) || defined(__AVR_ATtiny45__) 
#if  __AVR_ATtiny85__ || __AVR_ATtiny45__

When I finally had it compiling - felt good - it was 32byte to big - but with some restrictions to my code I got it compiling and uploading! But now I really don't know how to debug the ATtiny45, if I can't add any line of code - D'oh! Seems like I have to jump to the Attiny85, where I thought myself safe using "only" a tiny45. Maybe I should go back a little more and use arduinos first, since I got so many anyways.. ah well. Murphy get's you every time.

I wrote that with the wonderful voice of Dave Jones from the EEVblog in my head... watched him a lot again lately! Learned a lot and still had some fun with that so far!