Spice Low Power

[PANAMATIK]

(10-02-2019 07:46 AM)Csaba Tizedes Wrote:  ... Is it a big deal to install a barometric pressure sensor, an inclination + tilt angle and a bearing sensor ...

Csaba

When I made the electronics and firmware of an e-bike some years ago, it had to implement an inclination and tilt sensor, which made sense to automatically increase motor assist when going mountain upwards. Pressure sensor would also have been a good idea, showing the altitude made during a trip.

It would be possible of course, as all engineering ideas are possible. The PIC processor has only one pin unused left, and I could add at least one of these components to the SPI bus without additional interfaces. In the case of the SPICE Low Power circuit I already needed more layout space than the original HP chip did and the new circuit occupies part of the switching power supply space.

There are many other ideas: I added a FM Radio module to the HP-25 new ACT, and a small speaker into the HP-25 case in 2016, and had already the complete firmware running including automatic radio station search and selecting broadcast frequency with the calculator buttons. But receiving quality was so bad, I assume because of the nearby old HP switching power supply, that I couldn't offer it to the public.

But don't forget, ideas are easy, the realization to a useful product is difficult.

I miss also a Geiger counter in modern smartphones (and in old calculators as well). In some russian and japanese regions of the world this could be very useful, and maybe in even more countries in the future.

Bernhard