Started Dome & Sound Circuit

The mystery circuit is a mystery no more.

This circuit will allow the dome to rotate and sounds to play in a random, natural way, so that R2 can look alive without requiring me to man the transmitter at all times. Perfect for parade floats, or when R2 just needs to stay still for a while, but show some signs of life. R2's foot motors will not move under program control, this will control only the dome and sounds. It will be activated by a new switch. Again, this is all courtesy of Mike's design and code, I did not invent this in any way, shape or form.

The last of the parts I need for the circuit arrived today. These are the 18-pin DIP sockets, and some 18-pin ULN2803A transistor arrays. I ordered extras of everything, as they were relatively cheap and I'm horrible at soldering and prone to destroying parts.



First, I soldered down the one of the two DIP sockets. This one will host a Microchip PIC16F628 chip, that holds the program that controls the dome rotation and sound trigger.



Next, I added a 10KOhm resistor.

No, this board was not in a fire. I wasn't kidding when I said I was horrible at soldering. Obviously I need to dial down the temperature on the soldering iron a few thousand degrees. Despite the horrendous appearance, I think the copper pads that I'm actually using on the perf board are okay, believe it or not.



Lastly, I soldered down the other DIP socket that will host the ULN2803A transistor array. I posed the two DIPs on top of their sockets, but they haven't really been inserted into them yet.



Thirty-eight pins total was enough for this novice for one night. Hopefully tomorrow I can pick up where I left off and start soldering wires and connections.