Electronics tinkerering: switching on extra lights + fans when the extruder heats
A fellow electronics tinkerer here?
@PJR perhaps?
Im currently rewiring my electronics with some additional cooling for the rambo mini, big top LED lights, extruder LED lights, fans for the X and Y motors and skipping the built in power supply all together. (i'm currently drawing power from a much better ATX PSU)
I have the big top LEDs powered via PIR motion control, so that when you go past the Prusa, the lights will go on for a few minutes, + a few other gimmicks.
Only other thing I want to do now is to switch on a few extra LED lights and some small fans when the extruder gets powered up.
Currently i have no idea on how to do that, since both things that are switched on when the extruder heater goes on is the extruder fan and the heater itself, and both are PWM controlled, no stable voltage here.
Anyone know where or what i could splice into that could act as a on/off switch for this?
tl;dr - want to automatically switch on additinal small fans and LEDs when the extruder heats, and when it stops heating, the things should go off.
Re: Electronics tinkerering: switching on extra lights + fans when the extruder heats
How about a diode and a capacitor, so the capacitor gets charged when the PWM for the heater is on, and the diode prevents it's discharge through the extruder heater element? If you choose the right size capacitor, then it should be enough to keep a few LEDs on when the PWM is off.
Re: Electronics tinkerering: switching on extra lights + fans when the extruder heats
Are you trying to stay away from using a $10 microcontroller like this and just stick with simple electronic components?
If trying to stick with simple electronic components you may consider a timer relay ( about $8 ):