A 555 timer based, lights following robot used to pull cabling through an air duct...

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By Phillip Torrone
Posted 2008/03/25 @ 8:42 pm
Category Electronics

Brian writes in…

Recently, I wanted to network my media center in the living room of my apartment. I was not satisfied with running an ethernet cable down the hallway and putting holes in the wall was not an option. Thats when I thought of running the cable through the air duct, my 555 based light-seeking robot came to the rescue!

More:

The Biggest Little Chip – An introduction to the versatile 555 timer.

Tons of 555 timer projects!

In the Maker Shed

Makey Makey Standard Kit

Telegraph Decoder Kit by Spikenzie Labs

BrushBots

MAKE Rovera 4WD Arduino Robot Kit

13 Responses to A 555 timer based, lights following robot used to pull cabling through an air duct…

00t8r on March 26th, 2008 at 4:22 am said:

Brilliant!!

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A Peterson on March 26th, 2008 at 6:07 am said:

That is, of course, plenum-rated cable?
Safety first, y’all.

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dave on March 26th, 2008 at 6:40 am said:

Actually running cable through air ducts or over raised ceilings without proper support is nearly always against the fire code. Not that it necessarily matters for your home, but something to keep in mind.

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Pavel Ushakov on March 26th, 2008 at 8:19 am said:

Very nice!

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Fishtape on March 26th, 2008 at 7:52 am said:

I guess a fish tape was just out of the question… no?

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The Thompson Five on March 26th, 2008 at 8:41 am said:

Awesome! You should mod it to clean the duct before you get Legionnaires disease.

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BrianP on March 26th, 2008 at 11:24 am said:

Thanks for the feedback guys! I know that heat should be of concern when running cables and I definitely think that anyone doing this should make sure that it is safe. In this case, the heater produces its air by running air through a hot water radiator. This will never get hot enough to melt or damage the cabling.

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Microman171 on March 26th, 2008 at 11:06 am said:

What music is this? I see it on lots of things and I really want to know where you get it.

Thanks

Micro

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The Samurai on March 26th, 2008 at 11:56 am said:

very limited… but if you had the circuitry built for this already, then it was definitely worth it for the application. great stuff.

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vivi on March 26th, 2008 at 2:55 pm said:

I like the simplicity. Why people keep building things in Altoids tins however, in particular involving electricity, I cannot understand

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Artie on December 10th, 2008 at 7:33 pm said:

hey dude..just wanna ask, where did you put the potentiometer in the circuit and what is its value?

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Steven on February 9th, 2009 at 2:36 pm said:

I would like to know the resistance of the LDR please.

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selva on October 27th, 2010 at 6:57 pm said:

can u tell me what type of LDR resistance u had used in ur circuit diagram..

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