Anyone up for a spring contest here?

[killivolt]

(Except for Derstrom, He has two weeks to finish and submit his being I think he may be one of those who works best under high levels of pressure anyway. Oh and since he is playing with Tesla coils now his project has to be wireless power transmission. One KW at mile with 90% or better efficiency is expected.)

I'm putting on my hat now. Heat protective aluminum foil + a Faraday cage in case he is successful.

:Shush: There listening. Those, They, Them. It's the who, who know how. :Grimacing:

I see UFO people......Not.

Edit: That would be USO people. That um well maybe so, I don't see.......

Again, Ooooo.

 

[DerStrom8]

I don't care what parts you buy that isn't possible =) Unless you're talking solar or galactic scale.

Well, now--I suppose that puts a bit of pressure on tcmtech, now, doesn't it?

 

[tcmtech]

Well, now--I suppose that puts a bit of pressure on tcmtech, now, doesn't it?

Not really. I have done it over a range of about 10 feet at several watts DC load with a matched pair of Tesla coils while demonstrating it to a few local college professors when I went back to school in the early 00's.

Its surprisingly easy to do if you know how to reconvert the HF HV AC on the receiver coil back into low voltage DC.

 

[ElectroMaster]

I like the idea of an open competition, if we can lock this idea in then we can move onto what will the judges will be looking for to constitute a win. Creativity, technology, efficiency, etc?

Note: The thread has been cleaned. Please stay on the topic with competition thoughts and ideas.

 

[Sceadwian]

I'd say the main competition would be each user gives a 1-100 score for their overall opinion, that's how the projects should be ranked for 1st 2nd 3rd etc.. But that users would be able to nominate another users project for a particular aspect of it that they like above and beyond the overall score for a possible bonus prize re, but it would have to be moderator filtered. All entries should be finalized before scoring begins, the 'bonus' catagories could be added after the entries start coming in.

 

[OlPhart]

As for contest objective...

perhaps the most integrated & flexible level shifting block set? Usable by all sorts of instruments, but needed by everybody doing comm work. It could include stepper & linear/PWM drivers as well (or in a separate category/contest).

Maybe too simple, but too often I've scrounged for a TTL<->RS232 or RS422 to see what's going on in a comm channel. Or wanted to drive a stepper motor to check its' characteristics.

Isolation, protection & ease/flexibility of use amongst criteria. Bottom line: just how good a "crescent wrench" can you make?

Probably need some sort of limits: cost / size / power... it's just an idea.

Won't call it for others, but I've built so many variations on this theme that I Won't enter. I'll stand the benefit of fresh viewpoints to kickstart/inspire me. (I won't be a judge, either: you folks don't know me well enough yet)... <<<)))

 

[Sceadwian]

Here's an idea, keep the entries under wraps for the duration of the contest, don't let anyone see them at all. You have to submit entries to the contest moderator and keep them updated on your progress and end results (lots of pictures of course) and then the contest moderator would have a week after the contest ends to peruse the entries, organize them a bit and present them for general public voting in a format that makes sense based on the number and type of entries received.

Perhaps after the popular vote is done that you could have users vote for who should get which prize, break them down into little prize bundles of one or two items here and there in decending usefullness cost and allow the users to vote for which project should get which prize. That makes it a fully open structure to allow the users to vote for not just the best overall projects but vote for who they think deserves that particular prize package, as long as enough users vote it would in theory work very well.

 

[Triode]

Are the requirements and deadline for the contest going to be posted together somewhere when its started or will potential entrants need to scroll through this thread and find it all?

 

[Sceadwian]

This is just a feeler thread, EM will decide what's going on if TCM steps up to take over contest moderation or what not. Give it a bit of time, it'll fizzle out or you'll see adverts for it on the main page.

 

[tcmtech]

I have no problem with doing the contest moderation for the most part.

At this point the contest is likely going to be an open submission style where anyone can enter anything. The judging will hopefully be set up so that everyone can vote for what they think is the best and so forth.

As far as actual start date and end date that has yet to be officially decided. Technically you could start now and hope the contest flies. The proposed end date was the first day of summer which is June 20 or 21.

 

[DerStrom8]

Something I don't think anyone has mentioned yet is how many entries each member will be allowed to have. Is it something like one project each, or would it be up to 3 or 5 projects? I, personally, think 3 entries per person would be good, but 1 entry is also fine. What are other people's takes on this?
Der Strom

P.S. Thanks, KV, for the vote of confidence lol

I'm putting on my hat now. Heat protective aluminum foil + a Faraday cage in case he is successful.

 

[Sceadwian]

Why put a limit on it?

 

[Triode]

I don't see a reason for a limit, if someone helps their odds by making a bunch of good entries they deserve the improved odds, and if the entries are no good it won't help them.

 

[tcmtech]

I don't see a reason for a limit, if someone helps their odds by making a bunch of good entries they deserve the improved odds, and if the entries are no good it won't help them.

That was my thoughts as well. The people who have the skills and willingness to put in the effort will probably put most of their work into a single or a pair of related entry's at most. Those who don't have those levels of skills or resources might do multiple smaller things just for the sake of seeing how they stack up against other people in the same range of skills.

Coming in fifth over someone you don't care for who got sixth place or lower can still tickle your ego too!

(Or at least it does for me.)

 

[3v0]

Can people enter work they have done in the past or is it new work only ?

 

[DerStrom8]

I don't see a reason for a limit, if someone helps their odds by making a bunch of good entries they deserve the improved odds, and if the entries are no good it won't help them.

Okay, that is a good point. I was just curious about other members' thoughts.

 

[JimB]

Can people enter work they have done in the past or is it new work only ?

An interesting question.

Without giving away details of my possible entries,
I have a device (device #1)which has been a work in progress for about 15 years, but has in the past few months undergone a MAJOR software re-work and to the casual observer major hardware rework although the thing which gives the device is basic operation remains the same.
I would not, until you asked the question, have considered entering this device in the competition.

The device I have in mind to enter in the competition (device #2), although totally different from device #1, does rely on some of the work I have done in the development of device #1.
To my way of thinking this is reasonably in the sprit of the competition - make something for the competition.

However, if we are to allow multiple entries, maybe I could create device #2 and have device #1 as my back-up?

JimB

PS, At this rate we could have a competition to decide the rules of the competition!
I think my brain just exploded.

 

[ElectroNewby]

Saw the banner in the top left. If it was a musical comp I'd have made something, but in electronics I don't even know how a 555 timer works yet lol. I'll check out what you guys make tho. Good luck!

 

[dougy83]

So who's won?

 

[Dr_Doggy]

well I definitely could use a new scope! mine is a velleman pocket scope(verry handy) but i blew out the >1v channels testing a tesla coil. so now all my readings are taken on the 0.1V channel with resistor bridges!

Actually I'v been working on my project since last sept, and its several integrated projects(what im starting now is coolest!), so i will enter all that I can, more importantly though because I'd like to thank all you guys for all the help in the past year since getting my tech papers i actually feel like i now know something, and here will be the fruits!

I should wonder though, how I am going to submit it>? how much tech data do we want? lol,do you need to see it work!? PICS? VIDS? So dont forget about submission format regulations! and pls highlight when game is on!!!

also It seems that there is alot of interest in the competitions, if we got the voting & entry systems down pat, it could be fun to start raffle pools, where every entry puts in 5-10$ and winner gets the pool, if it flew we could even have pools for categories,..... this could help the op to set up more competitions!