ichaelm wrote:Yeah, that's pretty illegal. Good thinking though! Try doing it the old-fashioned way and use low-value sensing resistors with a relay.
thanks, we ended up being able to snag a coil of bimetallic strip from an old thermostat with a piece of wire going across it that bridges an electrical connection when it gets cold and curls up. We'll probably end up doing some kind of class 1 lever with a counterweight that weighs barely less than the blocks for the block stacking. It's pretty ghetto but our invitational is tomorrow so it was kind of the best we could do on such short notice. We'll try out the resistor and relay though
So I tried using one of the bimetallic coils you find in an outdoor thermometer, but it didn't work. I attached the nichrome to the end of it, and the wire got hot, but the coil did not move. Is there another way to connect it?
questionguy wrote:So I tried using one of the bimetallic coils you find in an outdoor thermometer, but it didn't work. I attached the nichrome to the end of it, and the wire got hot, but the coil did not move. Is there another way to connect it?
You want your coil to be free to twist and expand, it sounds like your nichrome might be acting like a tether. You also want to make sure you have lots of surface area in contact between the nichrome and the coil, this will allow heat to be transferred faster.
When it comes to the future, there are three kinds of people: those who let it happen, those who make it happen, and those who wonder what happened.
Can someone explain to me why Peltiers are illegal? I mean, just the plate itself. According to http://www.peltier-info.com/photos.html, it is just ceramic plates, semiconductors, and copper. I'm asking about just the plate itself. As far as I know, ceramics and copper aren't electronic devices, and conductors are allowed.
Pandemonium wrote:Can someone explain to me why Peltiers are illegal? I mean, just the plate itself. According to http://www.peltier-info.com/photos.html, it is just ceramic plates, semiconductors, and copper. I'm asking about just the plate itself. As far as I know, ceramics and copper aren't electronic devices, and conductors are allowed.
I'm kind of confused by the whole IC thing, too.
They don't want any computers, so they place a blanket ban on anything remotely computer-related. That includes ICs, microcontrollers, transistors, etc. If your Peltier is strictly ceramic plates, semiconductors, and copper, that's no problem; just make sure it doesn't have any sensing gizmos and whatnot.
