Product development questions for HC-8+

[michilson]

And this is where your knowledge and expertise is helpful.

Channel 6 strobe I think shouldn't be to hard to do! Basically as DMX CH 6 goes from 0 - 255 the blink rate gets faster.

So the code would be something like 0-20 is no strobe (21 - 240) 20hz - 180 hz or slow blink to super fast blink.

Then DMX 7 is a dimming function that reduce the brightness across OUT3,4,5 equally to maintain the color that is created.

I believe this could be created by using a % of the Channels current brightness.

Could someone help me with this coding? Thanks Guys!

[JonnyMac]

I am happy to help you -- all I ask in return is that you write UNIFIED SPECIFICATION DOCUMENT. Remember that John and I have dozens of projects on our plates: tech support, custom development for EFX-TEK customers, new EFX-TEK products, and personal projects (we do this for fun, as well as for work). The piecemeal approach in the forums makes it very difficult for others to help you -- especially as you come up with new ideas (the term we use for this is "feature creep").

We know this is hard; in fact, it can be the hardest part of the product development process. That doesn't mean it can be skipped.

As Jerry said to Rod in the movie Jerry Maguire: "Help me help you."

Put your requirements (hardware, connections, software behaviors, etc.) into a document that you can attach to a post, that way the document can be printed. If you make changes later, change the name slightly before reposting (leave all versions posted). Internally, John and I use the date on files.  For example:

product_spec__2014-10-23.txt

...where "product" is replaced by the actual name of what we're working on. It can be a plain text file -- you don't have to worry about fancy presentation, what you do have to worry about it COMPLETE INFORMATION. If you do want to use a word processor and format the document, save it as a PDF (again, with updated name) so that it can be attached to a forums post.

That COMPLETE INFORMATION part is what makes spec writing tough. As humans, we have this habit of assuming that everyone knows and understands what we know and understand. This habit is what makes writing specification documents difficult. In a spec you have to EXPLAIN EVERYTHING.

Okay, get crackin' on that spec document and attach it. Once again, don't assume that I or anyone knows anything about your project. You should be able to hand that document to a stranger and have them explain the details of your product to you.  One of our customers uses his wife, a professional harpist [i.e., not into electroncis] to review his spec docs. Since he started that, the specs we get are much better and more complete.

[michilson]

6/23/15

Update for Unified Spec Programing Code request.

Changed the linear actuators out for Pumps (On/Off)

Please let me know if more detail is needed in this.

I'd also like to confirm when a HC-8 will be back in stock to order one? Thanks Guys.

[JonnyMac]

There is no indication of what strobe/blink rates are in terms of timing. We can't code "slow" or "fast" unless those are defined in units of time.

[michilson]

Updated for Strobe rates:

0-15 Hz

or

0 - 15 flashes per second.

Thanks please let me know if I need any other info to help in this.

[JonnyMac]

Thanks please let me know if I need any other info to help in this.

That kind of made me laugh. A proper specification document would be nice; something more than a list of bullets. Such a document would describe behaviors in details.

BTW... we know that Hz is the definition of cycles per second. :)

[michilson]

I'm not sure what other details your looking for can you send me a small sample spec. for a reference. I have never had to write a specification like this.

I thought it seemed fairly detailed in what I am looking for. All i need is the basic function to work with Text marking out the different features. I can then fine tune it if need be. As long as I understand the coding. I might have to ask questions for clarification on parts.

If you can share a good example of what your looking for I will try my best to rewrite the spec to fit your requirements.

Thanks Guys.

[JonnyMac]

This always the hard part -- I just had this conversation with one of our customers on the phone. The problem is human nature: what we understand we assume that everybody does.

This is an idea for a product, right? Okay, then, create a simple user's manual for it. That way I can see how it's supposed to behave in context.

To give you an example, today I whipped up a little syntax definition for the AP-8+ configuration file. I needed this so that I could get a couple friends to run my test code and create they're own files. Note that it's human-friendly, and explains things in user terms. My point is that it usually takes more than a simple bullet list to convey all the information needed to weave a group of features together.

[michilson]

To be honest I'm not ready to publish a manual on this this yet. I think it will give away to much info on this product.

If there is a way to send it directly to you I can do that. But I do not want to publicly share this yet as I have stated before I'm prototyping this with the thought to apply for patient and to sell this.

The strobe function I think is the only effect I am still needing help on.

[JonnyMac]

You can send it to my corporate email: jwilliams at efx-tek dot com.

[michilson]

I sent you the email with attachments. I hope that we can get this figured out as all the final parts will be coming together this weekend. And I'd like to do some tests.

I hope that we can get this squared away so I can not bug you anymore. And so i can continue on with the prototyping.

Anyways Thanks for all your help hopefully the manual and I/O configuration lists help to understand what it is I am up to.

thanks
Mike