Updates regarding the development of Flight Response, and news from customers.
Fourth Prototype
Just a few tweaks to the layout, and now it is down to about 1 sq inch. I think that this one is just about optimal.
More Feedback from the Field
Summer is well along now, and I'm still getting good reports:
"No signs of deer prints in cornfiled behind house. I did see one but I usually see dozens. The hostas are growing well and no sign of prints near them. Excellent results so far. Dave the Red Buds are budding out behind the Hostas."
Third Prototype
Ok, now we are getting somewhere. I changed the SMT pads for the PCB to optimize them a bit better, but mostly only a few small changes. I switched the resistors from 1206 to 0805 to save some space. Unfortunately my attempt at PCB art looks more like a swine then a feline.
Test Reports from Eastern PA
Got an email updating me on another test location in a very rural part of Pennsylvania. He says:
"No deer. You can see where the deer nipped the tIps of these lilacs before I put it up. They haven't been back since. Need another for other side of yard.
Second Prototype
The second prototype was built with a slick purple PCB from OSH Park, excellent quality and great service. I eliminated most of the jumpers, leaving one for R/W protection, and switched to a pseudo-random algorithm in firmware for the intervals.
I think I've also finally found a good glue to securely make a weather-proof bond between PVC and HDPE plastic, not an easy bond to make. I also switched to a thumbwheel volume control, which is much more convenient then the small phillips head screwdriver that was required before.
Test Reports from Harrisburg
Just got an email from my friends in Harrisburg who have been having significant deer issues in their outdoor garden. Glad to hear that it is helping.
"By the way, I forgot to report to you about the cougar call device. I know it's still working because I was out there one night and as far as I can tell, no sign of deer."
First Prototype
The first Flight Response prototype was built on a plain PCB with no solder mask or silkscreen, and used a mix of some SMT components, plus through-hole parts that I had available. Extra jumpers and circuits were included for lights, de-bugging, test points, and a reset button.
The circuit board was quite large, more then 3" in the diagonal which was easy to solder and probe with an oscilloscope. But the lights, reset button, and jumpers weren't necessary after I had sorted out the right values for the circuit elements. I have a 1.5 M ohm resistor in parallel with the photo-resistor, to try and provide a random bit or two to the timer, but it proved to not be very random. Later versions use a pseudo-random algorithm wich works much better.