Today I wanted to make and test a new reverse loop controller. I ran out of certain parts so yet another visit to Jaycar was needed.
That's the test track.
My new controller works better than the previous one but I'm not 100% convinced of it's proper functioning. Even though I made about 20 test runs with it and it didn't fail once. There was one occasion where the relay sounded a bit dodgy when it switched. I have a feeling there is still something about the circuit not completely right...
In the morning I started putting together a reverse loop controller that I designed. The tests went well so why not give it a go.
The day flew by and by the time I left the house for the first time it was dark. We went to the bank to get cash out.
After we went to Cafe de Vili's. I hadn't had dinner yet.
The Rundle Lantern was broken. It wasn't moving and it was only displaying half.
On the way back we drove through town.
This is the finished proto type of my reverse loop controller. It is unfortunately not working. The relays heat up for some reason. Sounds like a short to me but I am yet to find out where...
Video.
Bakery.
Nicole at Woolies.
Electronic components at Jaycar.
More electronic components. I actually went twice today. Both times to buy fuses. The first time I bought fast ones. My power supply kept burning out every time I turned it off and on again. Fast ones in the primary circuit (the part that connects to the mains power) needs to be a slow one though so I went back. In the end I found a 1 Amp. slow fuse to stay alive.
Karin and Gavin have to move house this week. They started today. I went to see the empty and painted house for the first time today. It looks very, very good. I love the big windows every where that lets lots of light enter the whole house.
I spent a large part of the day experimenting with a little electronic circuit to drive a relay. I had to max. out my knowledge from uni but I managed to actually think of a working circuit. I put it together on a breadboard and it worked as expected. This is the top view.
This is the side view, kind of.
And then it was 
Use quantities to your liking. I'm still not sure how much to use of each. Mix is all up. Use your hand, it's more fun :-)
Make nice, round balls.
Melt a block of butter on high temperature.
When all the butter is melted, put in the meat balls and seal the outside.
When the outside is sealed, add half a litre of water, turn down the heat and let is simmer for 20-30 minutes.
The result should be nice yummy meat balls!
I put mine on a bun with some butter. Yummmmmmm :-)
While I was around I thought I photograph the contents of our fridge. Check out the milk supply. And the Nippy's. Good stuff. Everything else is Nicole's I think ;-)
And this is the freezer.
This are the fridge magnets on our fridge.
If I skip breakfast at home and have it in town, I can sleep 20 minutes longer which makes a BIG difference for me. Hence I got off a bit before my work to hop in to a deli to buy a little packet of cow juice. (You can take the dude out of Holland, but you can't take Holland out of the dude!)
Then I walked to Cibo to get a toasted croissant with ham and cheese. I started work around 8:20.
When I came back from lunch the neighbours had somehow magically set off their fire alarm this time so the firies had to do another use less drive by. Here's truck one.
And here's truck two. There's always two trucks. They might as well send a guy on a bicycle just to turn off the alarm.
Around 16:30 I went out to get a coke. I needed a break knowing that I was only just past half my working time for today. Lots of people were already waiting for the bus to go home.
Around 18:00 I went out to get some dinner. I couldn't focus anymore and needed a break badly. I walked past all these girls and they just kept looking at me. But they were all wearing very thick black eye-liner and i really don't like that. Yuck. I wonder if they are supposed to look sexy or cool or both. I think look trashy, especially the one in the middle with the holes in her jeans. I can't stand jeans with holes. I felt like taking them with me to Mc D.
Mc D. was booming. It's such a happening place.
I ordered a cheese burger plain (only bread+meat+cheese, no sauce), McNuggets with sweet and sour sauce and fries. And a medium coke.
At least it was nice and quiet and I had a good break. The food had lost it's freshness a bit though.
When I walked back I walked through this intriguing little street called "Twin Street". There was clothing shop for big men. It looked nice. Must have a look soon.
There was a side street with more intriguing buildings.
These are the "neglected" sides of buildings.
Before returning to work I also passed this car park entrance. I left work at 20:15 tonight.
This circuit is for Cyber_Tyger. I'm currently figuring out how the capacitors influence stuff.
I worked on some electronic part for my model trains.
It's a block occupancy detector. It will tell me if a certain stretch of track is occupied by a train. I need this information because I'm planning to let everything run automated in the future and then the controlling computer relies on information like this.
It was another hot day.
It was so hot I had to stay inside eating my lunch.
After work I waited for Nicole outside for 15 minutes and nearly melted.
That's my office.
When I came home my optocouplers had arrived.
This was my main event for today (picture in Dutch). I'm looking into different pieces of electronics that I will need for my model railroad. This particular piece is a block occupancy detector. It will send a signal to a computer or other controlling device to let it know the stretch of rail it's attached to is occupied by a train. That way you can prevent another train from entering that block (also called 'section').