Capstone Week 6 - Sometimes Things Work Out

The official topic for this weeks learning journal is about the ETS test. I did not take this test. To be honest when I got invited to take this test I thought it was on a hidden camera show or being tested because of the software you are required to install to take the test. In order to have a proctor tell if you are cheating you need to give them control over your computer to see what you are doing, what programs are running, etc. That makes sense if you are using a virtual machine and locking the proctor in a small container or are using a disposable computer that has no personal information or access to your home network. I did not have to do either of these and did not have to take the test, so that was really nice and got rid of a lot of stress. In the end I would not have installed this software and would have worked hard to get a low passing grade instead if it was a big problem.

Instead for this week I focused on assembling, debugging, and trying out my circuit boards for the colorimeter. That involved a trip to "Smart and Final" to get a hot plate and cooking the circuit boards like pancakes. The tools I have at home aren't great for this, so I did have some problems. Those problems put me in a great position to select and buy equipment for companies that need to move very quickly. With this personal experience I can continue to push for reflow ovens, high quality soldering tools, high quality solder paste, etc without any doubt.

In the end I had a short circuit on my light board which caused one of the data lines and the light output lines to short to 3.3V. This prevented communication with the color chip. Fixing this problem was nice though because it showed me that if you follow the data sheets for sensors and other microchips then sometimes things work out great. Read the fine print, do a good job, and things just work!