Re: Electronic firing - your thoughs?

Hi Mr Gizmo,

Thanks for your input.

I'm not actually going to design the hardware myself, I plan on getting a
student to do this as part of their their electrical engineering degree. I
will establish the requirements, fund the project and meet all the
requirements set out by the tertiary institution, as well as work on the
software side of things myself. I also plan to check all code going in to
the system.

A clear list of requirements needs to be outlined before February, which is
why I am asking for the input of those who post here.

My primary goals are to design a system that is -
- Low cost
- Expandable
- Simple
- Reliable
- Able to function without a computer attached

I have been doing some research and believe all of these goals are possible,
even at a cost even an amateur can afford.

If you have any other suggestions, or anyone else does, please post and let
me know.

Thanks,

The Other Guy



"mrgizmo" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> I'm not too sure on the software, but for the hardware you can use a pic
to
> interface to the computer and using RS-232 to 485 trancievers you can get
> many channels and achieve long distances between transmitter and reciever.
> Programming the pics will be the real pain.
>
> "The Other Guy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > Hi,
> >
> > I am looking for input from the pyro community in to what features are
> > desirable from a computer-controlled electronic firing system. I would
> like
> > to create a firing system that could potentially scale to all levels of
> the
> > industry, but targeted particularly at the amateur who perhaps only
would
> > need the system for one or two shows each year. These users can't
justify
> a
> > large investment in hardware, or spend thousands of dollars on software
> that
> > will rarely be used.
> >
> > I hope to be able to make the hardware design available on the Internet,
> and
> > perhaps sell complete systems to interested individuals to cover costs.
> >
> > What would you like to see in terms of both hardware and software?
> >
> > What would the amateur consider a reasonable investment in electronic
> firing
> > equipment? (Right now the plan is not to profit from this, only cover
> > costs - making the software open source is an option).
> >
> > What have your experiences been with existing systems, such as
> reliability,
> > and practicality?
> >
> > How can they be improved upon?
> >
> > Thanks for your input. If there is sufficient interest I will
investigate
> > the this further.
> >
> > The Other Guy
> >
> >
>
>