Category Archives: Engineering

Carputer wiring.

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for the 9pin connector from the front of the car to the rear, this is the pinout in the carputer case :

Pin 1 should be the car 12v line that comes on when the car is on. (accessory line?) (bare wire)
Pin 3 & 5 are the power switch (white and blue).
Pin 2 & 4 NOT ASSIGNED (green and white wire)
Pin 6 & 7 HD LED (white and orange)
Pin 8 & 9 Power LED(white and green)

Enlightened Warrior Camp

Pin 1 should be the car 12v line that comes on when the car is on. (accessory line?) (bare wire)
Pin 3 & 5 are the power switch (red and black wire).
Pin 2 & 4 NOT ASSIGNED ()
Pin 6 & 7 HD LED ()
Pin 8 & 9 Power LED(white and green)

Rechargable batteries : where used?

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3 x Rayovac NiMh in Steering wheel toy

3 x Eneloop in Big baby Tad

4 x Eneloop in Flash

3 x Duracell NiMh in Leap Frog drum

3 x Duracell NiMh in Seen’n Say toy Toy donated

2 x AA Eneloop in Helen’s camera

3 x AAA Eneloop in LadyBug constelation bug

2 x AA Rechargebles in the Piano that has the dog, cat, +2 other animals on it. Toy donated

Hacking the Sigma EF-500 DG Super strobe : Extra head rotation

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The head of the Sigma EF-500 DG Super rotates 180degrees if rotated to the left (photographer’s view) but only 90deg to the right.

I always found that limiting, so since I had the guts spilled on my table trying to figure out the sync port, I decided to modify the head rotation of the flash at the same time.

What follows is my own documentation of what I did to my unit.I will not be responsible if you accidentally destroy your flash, or worse, hurt yourself: capacitors in the flash can hold their charge for a long time waiting for someone to poke them the wrong way.
WARNING: This hack will FOR SURE void your warranty. This hack also involves permanently modifying your unit.

Continue reading →

Hacking the Sigma EF-500 DG Super strobe : Sync port – part 2

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In part one I described how I tapped into the electronics of my Sigma EF-500 DG Super to provide me with an access point to trigger the flash from a sync port.

In this post I will discuss how I added the actual sync port: physical mounting, and lessons learned.

What follows is my own documentation of what I did to my unit.I will not be responsible if you accidentally destroy your flash, or worse, hurt yourself: capacitors in the flash can hold their charge for a long time waiting for someone to poke them the wrong way.
WARNING: This hack will FOR SURE void your warranty. This hack also involves permanently modifying your unit. This hack involves a little soldering.

Continue reading →

Hacking the Sigma EF-500 DG Super strobe : Sync port – part 1

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Recently I’ve been starting to learn more about flash photography compliments of The Strobist.
Then I bought a set of cheap ebay wireless flash triggers to alow me to trigger the flash remotely, but with the Sigma EF-500 DG Super flash, that was not possible.

UPDATE: Recently purchased a set set of Yongnuo RF- 602 2.4 Ghz wireless triggers from ebay (they’re quite cheap), and they work flawlessly with the Sigma flash, without any modifications. If you want a sync port, try the method below, but if all you want is to trigger the Sigma flash, buying a set of the RF-602 triggers is by far the simplest way of doing it.

Most other flashes out there can easily be triggered by shorting out the two main terminals on the hot-show. But not on this sigma. So I had to find another way to trigger the flash manually, which led to the decision to hack my flash to get a sync port.

What follows is my own documentation of what I did to my unit.I will not be responsible if you accidentally destroy your flash, or worse, hurt yourself: capacitors in the flash can hold their charge for a long time waiting for someone to poke them the wrong way.
WARNING: This hack will FOR SURE void your warranty. This hack also involves permanently modifying your unit. This hack involves a little soldering.
Continue reading →

Carputer

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Need to decide how what I need to do to finish my carputer.
For starters, I should secure/blot down the center console. I’m not running any more wires through there anytime soon.
I should buy a powered 7 port USB 2.0 hub. Hopefully one that runs off 12v, but if not, have to make a 12V to 5V(or whatever the hub runs at) converter.
Plugged into it will be the volume control, the screen, and the …

Get the front speakers hooked up. All it needs is the wiring sorted out at the back, and at the front.

I need to build a front panel to cover the mess behind the dash. In the cover, will be 2 USB slots, one PC on/off switch,… what else. to put there?