Hunkerin' down

Well, like much of the world, we're trying to "sequester in place" and, when out on "essential" errands, maintaining "social distance" with others.  Tomorrow may be a bit of a different story.

The pantry is becoming somewhat depleted.  So, we plan (you know how planning goes) to get up before sunrise and drive to the near Walmart.  They have "seniors-only" hour from 6 a.m. until store opening at 7 a.m.  We've never tried that before.  And, I have trouble going to sleep, usually after 1 a.m.  It'll be interesting.

On a more cheerful note, I've got the PICAXE micro-controller + L298 h-bridge wired on a breadboard, and have done preliminary power application to it.  So far, so good.

Now, I need to make a good, solid bench supply for +5v.  The h-bridge board has a +5v regulator on it, so it can source a little, more than enough to run the PICAXE and IR detector boards. But, ...

There's always a "but."  The high voltage input (up to 15v or so) that feeds the regulator is also needing to be variable, down to 0v, to control the train speed in my application.  So, I need a separate 5v feed to power things such as the micro, the IR boards and the control logic on the h-bridge board.  So, I'll make that (no problem, I have all the parts) (I hope).  It'll need to be small so it can be built under a train module with the micro.

Since the tracks involved cross multiple modules, it'll need a five-wire interface: two for track power and three for the IR sensor cards.  I haven't decided on exactly where to mount the electronics, but that's a minor item at this point.  

Otherwise, the isolation party roars on with the wife, the dog, and me.  yippee.

After waiting for the seemingly endless winter to end, now it's wait for the end of spring and the virus. Hopefully.  2020 is turning into almost a lost year.  With three grandkids ~50 miles and a new one in Florida, having to stay home is punishment.

Time to turn back to the work bench.  Everyone keep safe and healthy!