Close

Recieved the PCBs

A project log for Decoration Control

An Arduino shield designed to turn on and off small holiday decorations.

kody-alan-rogersKody Alan Rogers 10/17/2021 at 01:260 Comments

I got my first look at the PCBs that I had ordered from Osh Park. I recorded myself assembling the circuit for the first time ever, but I had an embarrassing mixup when I used the wrong resistor as my current limiter. Instead of a 220 Ohm resistor, I used a 220K Ohm resistor and the relay needed at least 15mA to turn on so the given the 5V outputted by the Arduino 5V/220000 Ohm = 0.0227mA is not enough current to turn on the relay.

Once I realized my mistake I used side cutters to cut out the 220K ohm resistor and then I soldered on 220 Ohm resistors. It was not pretty but this was only my first time doing it and I do have another 2 boards still to build.

The board did work as expected once the 220 Ohm resistors were installed so that was good.

I did record almost all of this ordeal, but my head was in the way when I was soldering sometimes. Given the poor placement of my head in the video I plan to assemble another one tomorrow without my head in the picture and after that, I will add instructions, photos, and other fun things to this project.

Discussions