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ArjinFerman  Tinfoil Gigachad  8hr ago (text post)   95 thread views

Tinker Tuesday for January 20, 2026

This thread is for anyone working on personal projects to share their progress, and hold themselves somewhat accountable to a group of peers.

Post your project, your progress from last week, and what you hope to accomplish this week.

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I've been on hiatus with TRON bike lighting since I had a bunch of everything else going on. Mostly discovering mathacademy.com and making myself do the adult courses for fun.

Though I'm still dabbling. One thing that I wish I had known about a year ago is that they make LED strips that run on 5V instead of 12V (WS2812s instead of WS2815s). Combined with an ESP32 that runs off of 5V, it means I can dispense with 12V power sources and just run everything directly off of a USB-C power source. This allows me to delete a lot of fabrication nuisance: no need for a PCB with shitty buck converters to step down from 12V to 5V and wiring it up accordingly. I understand voltage sags at 5V can discolor LEDs on longer runs, but for my bike wearables project this should not be a concern. I might even be able to get away with not having to make an enclosure at all for the helmets!

I'm annoyed to be discovering this so late. They really should teach LEDs in school. I feel like I'm mostly fumbling in the dark (ha).

Sorry about that. I should have mentioned NeoPixel (or DotStar) USB-level voltage strips as an option, so used to students starting a shopping list at Adafruit that didn't think to mention it. Voltage drop can be a problem with higher currents across thinner wires in surprisingly short distances, but if it makes it less bulky that's probably a fine tradeoff.

I will caution that mixing 5v LED drivers and 3.3v logic levels can be finicky. The WS2812s technically run on a percentage of input LED driver voltage. This usually works well enough anyway because the tolerances are so broad on newer chip production, but I have had benchtop setups stop working when moved to a longer data line, because the input battery was high one day and not the other, when in new locations, or even just because of temperature swings. By contrast, WS2815s regulate their logic-driver voltage down to 5v and specify 2.5v as logical 'high', so you have to be running a very long data line over thin wires before they start acting up, if it's possible at all.

I'm annoyed to be discovering this so late. They really should teach LEDs in school.

Agreed. I really wish science classes would have a short electrical engineering breadboard-style class. It's about a five-hour block to teach typical middle-school students batteries, capacitors, voltage, resistors, diodes, LEDs, and switches, and even for those who never touch electrical components again, the fundamentals of 'too much voltage burns things up' is literally a penny-a-student and extremely valuable to internalize. And just giving people a coin cell and an LED tells them a ton about voltage and electrical components having 'directions'.

LED drivers are more an early high-school thing, but they're just so much better at teaching for loops, modulo operators, and fundamentals of processor timing, to too many students that otherwise get bored out of their gourds dealing with Scratch.

Sorry about that. I should have mentioned NeoPixel (or DotStar) USB-level voltage strips as an option, so used to students starting a shopping list at Adafruit that didn't think to mention it.

Ha, no worries at all dawg. You've helped me so much already.

I'll probably still use what I learned about 12V for non-wearables projects. I'm looking forward to getting a new place and really ricing out my man cave.

LED drivers are more an early high-school thing, but they're just so much better at teaching for loops, modulo operators, and fundamentals of processor timing, to too many students that otherwise get bored out of their gourds dealing with Scratch.

What do you normally teach, exactly?

Well, I signed on the line that was dotted. I received a life changing offer I couldn't refuse, and I couldn't be happier about the total compensation, or the work I'll be doing.

Reflections on the process:

  • The interviewers were just happy I actually prepared. Read all the prep material they sent, did the leetcode problems they suggested, etc. Apparently most people just come in off the street expecting to YOLO into a job. I suspect this is downwind of my area being awash in people used to being a butt in seat that can be billed to the government, whether work gets done or not.
  • Having the proper qualifications to be a butt in seat still gets you a pretty good offer. The moment my resume went up on the board people advertise such availability, I had one of the regional megacorps cold calling me with an offer that was already generous beyond my previous employer. Was about 72 hours between the cold call, quick technical screening, offer, counter offer, and approval. They could have probably scooped most people with that approach. I had to stretch it out way longer to make sure I gave other opportunities a chance.
  • My wife is a former recruiter, and I think I did absolutely every single thing she told me not to do. I said almost everything she told me not to say. It all worked out in the end, far better than I could have ever dreamed. I donno, maybe all that "Just be yourself" advice isn't complete bullshit after all.

Congrats!

Congrats ! Hope it is a role that you're able to thrive in.

Apparently most people just come in off the street expecting to YOLO into a job.

It's pretty much everywhere. People just hate reading stuff. Users don't read the docs, no matter how good they are. Coworkers do not read meeting notes and pre-meeting materials, no matter how many times you ask them to. That's just how people are. Exceptions, when they happen, are surely appreciated.

Congrats on the successful completion of your mission.

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