Who knew?

Heard about Sugru (sugru.com)? It's one 'thing' that should join every maker's tool box. It's a kind of modeling paste that you can form in the same manner. The difference is that approx. 30 min after brought in contact with air it hardens. It stick's to most materials and stays flexible. Best is: it resists temperatures from -50 to +150 degrees celsius. So it's dishwasher, cooking and polar proof. 

Long story short: I love it and I came up with an idea that I sent to the sugru guys a couple of weeks ago. So I won the 'fix of the month' award. Thanks for that! 

Find out more by reading their blog and have a look at the video.

ARDUINO GOES NETIO

Has anybody of you ever had the idea to have an Arduino board remotly controlled!? If the answer is yes the good message is: there is an wonderful iPhone / iPad / Android App for that called NetIO. It's a very powerful and besides that generic solution (it's not just the App!!) to get your friends Arduino and iPhone connected. It communicates via a socket interface, http request will be supported soon. It comes along with a very nice webtool to design the iPhone App frontend and function. The outcome is a configuration file which will be loaded to the iPhone by using the simple fileshare mechanism of iTunes (in the Apple case of course).


I did a simple test setup to control a LED or whatsoever by using NetIO. 


First thing I did was to do a bit of Arduino coding on the IDE version 0022 based on the code examples on the NetIO website. The hardware that's needed is the Arduino board plus a connected ethernet shield (see setup below). I adapted a view parts an ended up with the following sketch:


DROBBOX LINK of IDE 0022 Arduino sketch for remotely control a LED via the iPhone

Then I thought of the following hardware setup:

circuit setup

...and ended up with this:

layout

Of course it's not necessary to use the opto device. But the secondary circuit can simply be removed and the output could be used to connect to e.g. a remote control. In that case both circuits will be completely separated. You need to connect the ethernet cable and the power source for the Arduino.

layout in detail

As soon as that's done you can log on the NetIO webpage and design your App as described on the website.

NetIO Configurator screenshot

You can download my default.json file here:


DROPBOX LINK of default.json


After that you can download the xxx.Json file and add it to your iTunes library in the App/NetIO section. As soon as it is transferred to the iPhone correctly, the App connects to the Arduino and that's it. I know there is a bit more than that, but honestly: as soon as you worked out the system it's easy to adapt.

NetIO iPhone App screenshot

The good thing is that you can connect to multiple sources, also PC connectivity is given. And as soon as http requests are available with the App version 1.4, you could possibly control everything.


My next step will be to control a bit of my power stuff via FS20, like turning the lights on and off. My final goal is to setup a home automation server. And I guess it will be controlled via NetIO.

MUNKMARSCH

...still nice weather, what else to say!?

@ the Fährhaus Munkmarsch

SUNNY SYLT

It has been sunny so far - but also cold and windy. Eastern winds make a strong cold. But the light is beautiful. There's nothing more to say.

One POI on Sylt

SYLT

Yes, it's cold outside. But it will get cozy since we have things in place to make it warm...

fireside

ANIMATED GIF

animated gif with 4 pictures and 50ms pause

SUNSHINE

After all there is sunhine.

at the harbour

EQUIPMENT IMPROVEMENTS - 4

The next one: the headlamp. We discovered that we did not very often had a real need to use a headlamp. It helps if you have to step out the tent during the night, and only once we really needed a light to secure our tent during a storm at night. Therefore some guys take a very minimalist lamp with them which of course does not weight much. But my requirement still is to carry a lamp with me that can be used for signaling in emergency cases. Therefore I'm not fine in stripping down the whole thing that much. Furthermore it should be able to give me at least a couple of hours of light. And as always: it shouldn't be too heavy.


After doing a bit of market research I ended up with the MAMMUT S-LITE headlamp. From my point of view it comes along with a couple of good features:

1. It's cheap. It's about 20€, enough evidence that light trekking does not necessarily mean high pricing.
2. It's weight is just 48g with battery, 22g without it.
3. It uses 1x AA battery. I like using the rechargeable eneloop batteries.
4. Flood light range: 18m
5. Duration: 80hrs in flood-light low
6. 3 flood light modes, 1 additional signal mode

So I replaced my current headlamp with it and I'm more than satisfied after testing it for a couple of weeks now. And the result is: another 26g saved!

Downsizing the headlamp

EQUIPMENT IMPROVEMENTS - 3

Sewing skills do help. I sewed a case for my jackknife and ended up with just 30g for knife + case.

Jackknife case - sewing improves gear

EQUIPMENT IMPROVEMENTS - 2

This post is a good example of how...


a) you do not necessarily lose comfort by choosing light gear
b) useless it was to carry all this stuff with me.


The picture below shows my Master Hunter knife I took with me on the recent trips. I love it, it's a good knife, but it's heavy. 260g! And to be honest: when in presence does one have to kill a bear? Most of the time you just have to open food packages, cut salami or do small repairs. So right now I switched to a baladé jackknife. It comes along with just 22 (TWENTYTWO) g. That's cool. As you can see the blade length is okay to cover all my requirements. No decreased comfort - but less than factor 10 of the weight. I'll sew a case for it, but in sum it won't be more than 40g.


Secondly I switched to the Mammut S-Lite Headlamp. It's weight is 48g. There are lighter ones out there. But I wanted to have the chance to use standard AA batteries and to have enough power to use it as emergency signaling light. It gives you 80hrs of light in the lowest power mode by just using 1xAA.


So my savings are:

• knife: [260g > 40g] / 220g saved
• headlamp: [76g > 48g] / 28g saved

With my recent achievements I saved 2.508g so far.

Switching from a big (260g) to a small (22g) knife

JOTUNHEIMEN / EQUIPMENT IMPROVEMENTS

Okay. Also this year's tour to Jotunheimen was fun. But since we had a couple of trips up to now I realize what stupid things we did in terms of carrying useless stuff with us. Or in another way: we could hike light!
What I'm currently doing is to review the equipment list and search for weight improvements. In step one I'd like to just leave things at home or reduce / redesign stuff. For sure more weight can be saved by replacing the heavy weight gear like tent, sleeping bag, matress etc. But that'll cost and will be left for step 2. I'm looking for the easy achievements here.


Here is what i gained so far:

• belt: replace leather by self made belt strap [200g > 64g] / 136g saved
• sleeping pad: reduced size [156g > 68g] / 88g saved
• pillow case: leave at home [178g > 0g] / 178g saved
• sandals: leave at home [370g > 0g] / 370g saved
• second trouser: replace by long underware [600g > 100g] / 500g saved
• spats: leave at home [270g > 0g] / 270g saved
• towl: reduce size [100g > 60g] / 40g saved
• nasal spray: leave at home [34g > 0g] / 34 saved
• USB Handy Adapter: leave in the car [18g > 0g] / 18g saved
• torch: leave home and use headlamp [136g > 0g] / 136g saved
• Gorilla pod: leave at home [46g > 0g] / 46g saved
• emergency battery tank: leave in the car [188g > 0g] / 188g saved
• knife: use smaller one [260g > 68g] / 192g saved
• walking stick: just use one [512g > 256g] / 256g saved

Sum = 2.452g !!!

The simple rule was to leave stuff at home I never used so far and reduce some parts to their minimum size. So finally I do not lose too much comfort. Taking into account that a rough rule of thumb tells that 1 saved kg gains 1 additional km of way that's a great result. And I just spent 30€ for a new knife. It also shows nicely how small things sum up. And it is an inspiration to work on further improvements. It just does not make any sense to carry more gear than needed.

self sewed belt saves 136g

LEGO CAMPER

SAW IT - BOUGHT IT - BUILT IT - LOVE IT!


The Lego Camper model is one of the best ones I ever built. And I did built a lot. It comes along with so many details and special parts, which result in approx. 1300 pieces. Brilliant.

Lego T1 Camper Model

RUNKEEPER

I was testing the RUNKEEPER App today. It works pretty well for tracking your sports activities. But what I do like the most is the easy handling. Furthermore runkeeper has a nice webportal to upload and share (if wanted) your workout. It's capable of not only storing the GPS signal but also the heartrate, weight and some more stuff. 


I like it.

FALL

Fall is approaching slowly but spent us a beautiful day.

180 view on the Selker Noor

Audio:
 Selker Noor September 2011 (edit) by spinout 

LEGO CARGO FREIGHTER - FINAL SETUP

There it is.

Lego cargo frighter

CARGO FREIGHTER - ENGINE CASE STUDY

The engine at the front section might look like this:

engine case study

LEGO CARGO FREIGHTER CASE STUDY

Winter is approaching, besides that it's time for dedusting my Lego bricks. How about building a weird space ship!?

case study

MINI MUNNY

Funny things can be done by being creative about the Mini Munnys.

mini munny

BEAUTIFUL DAY

...at the beach in denmark.

HEIMREISE / TRIP HOME

Die Rückreise über die Autobahn und ohne Fähre verlief problemslos.

Was bleibt zu sagen: es hat sich gelohnt! Es ist ein Genuss in der Natur zu sein. Der Dank gilt meinem Seilpartner Alois, es passt einfach perfekt und macht Spaß!

Schauen wir mal was 2013 auf uns wartet.

The trip back via the highway was easy.

What is to say: it was worth it. Living in the nature is joy. I have to thank Alois, it simply fits and is fun.

Let’s see where we will be in 2013.

Living Outside