Getting started with IoT projects - part 3

Hello world

This post is part of a 3-part series.

Part 1 (here)
Part 2 (here)
Part 3 (this post)

Now that all the tinkering/research is done, you have to work towards your goal. But its absolutely okay if you do not reach this phase. As I said, the previous phase is the most enjoyable. But satisfying your project goal might present several challenges. And if executed with a proper plan in sight, it can be rewarding.

To this end you might need to do one or more things like:

Miniaturizing your project
Plan on how to install it
Enclosing it in a box

3d printing

making a custom printed circuit board

and, many more things.

All of these just transcend the IoT domain, but a project may be seldom complete, without them. But there are parts of the above "processes" I find enjoyable

1. Arranging things on a perforated board

This is really an art. The challenge here is arranging stuff in a confined area. You don't want to overlap  connections, and, still manage to keep all the components in that confined area. The area is usually defined by where you plan to finally install your project. It is further defined by giving clearances for installing screws, spacers, etc. 

However, this is not something a beginner should definitely dive into. It takes a lot of spatial thinking and imagination, and, practice. You could do this in software like kicad. But it will give you a rough idea only. The process is similar to designing printed circuit boards, but still not exactly the same.

 2. Soldering stuff onto a perforated board.

Frankly I don't enjoy this as much as I love prototyping. This is neck breaking. You may need a lot of soldering skills here. There are tricks I learned along the way. I generally find threading copper wires (0.4 mm to 0.6 mm) (non-enameled ones) wire useful. You can bend the wires, thread them through the perforations, so they run through the top side of the board, and thread them back, to reach a terminal of another component on the underside. The wires can be bent also to remain in the confines. And, when all else fails. I take a normal insulated copper wire and try to connect the remaining terminals. But the main challenge for me is soldering all of them. 

I use a lot of blu-tacks or re-usable mold-able adhesive (such as this or this) to fasten the copper wires if I need to join them to a terminal by soldering.

3. Mastering how to solder

Even today, this is something I am not proud to talk about. It takes a lot of practice, and, finger burns, and perhaps singing your friend's body parts too❗ There are a lot of videos to on how to solder various stuff. It may or may not give you confidence. It better to start off with this in the prototyping phase itself if you really anticipate doing this. 

You can get boards such as the wemos whose headers are normally not soldered. The wemos is relatively costly. You either learn soldering or brick the wemos. That is the hard-and-fast way.

4. Being complacent and shabby ✌

You may have to be complacent with whatever works for you. If you want to be shabby about the final look, there is nothing wrong. And I firmly believe that that captures the spirit of tinkering and IoT.

However for safety and security concerns you will most probably vie extra things such as mentioned before. But each of those deserves their own writeup. 

You may have to compromise a lot sometimes. For e.g. Say you have prototyped a way to automate your light/fan via wifi; you can now toggle your light via your mobile phone. But you may decide to keep it out of sight. The next choice is try to install inside the switch board. It might be a shock when you find that it doesn't fit. You will have to either scrap the project, redo, or, compromise - perhaps install it close to the switchboard by making a provision of running the wires out of the switchboard...and finally attract more eyes. 👀

Expect other people getting surprised or quizzical

As far as the above project is concerned, your spouse or mother or guardian might quizzically frown upon you when open up your switchboard and stare at it for no apparent reason. But remember, that just you, celebrating the IoT life...But be careful not to loose it to electrocution due to AC mains‼

Conclusion

There are a plethora I haven't mentioned like: 

devices talking to the cloud

communication protocols

sensors, analog, digital,

kicad, pcb etching, freecad,

etc, etc.

I can actually make a word cloud art out of it. 🤔 And that has to be your expectation moving forward. 

What we know is a drop. What's out there is an ocean.