this post was submitted on 28 Aug 2023
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What is your "inexpensive" hobby that turned out to be expensive/ you gradually invested lots of money into? (sopuli.xyz)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by plactagonic@sopuli.xyz to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml
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Edit: so it turns out that every hobby can be expensive if you do it long enough.

Also I love how you talk about your hobby as some addicts.

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[–] Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de 167 points 1 year ago (6 children)

Electronics / microcontrollers.

Took just a few months to go from, "I can make a wifi connected weather station for like $20 in components!?" to "oscilloscopes cost how much?"

[–] SamsonSeinfelder@feddit.de 36 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Has there already grown a noteworthy Arduino/ESP Community on Lemmy?

[–] Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de 19 points 1 year ago

There are quite a few but none are super active.

[–] agressivelyPassive@feddit.de 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm really happy I don't have enough space for that stuff. Otherwise I would be poor. It's hard enough to keep myself from buying another old computer.

[–] choss@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I would love to read about this $20 weather station! Do you maybe have a link?

[–] Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de 11 points 1 year ago

Mine is pretty basic but is built on the shoulders of giants. Also that $20 was from pre-pandemic / pre-chip shortage prices. I’m guessing it’s more like $35 now, or maybe high $20s from ali express.

I use Home Assistant for home automation. It has a now official addon called ESPHome for easily configuring esp devices and adding them to Home Assistant.

I bought some cheap dev boards off amazon and thankfully they worked
    an esp8266 microcontroller with IC2 headers and a microusb port already onboard
    a bmp280 that measures temp, humidity, and barometric pressure
    a lux sensor with a plastic dome over the top
I soldered them together on a prototyping board

All the components were supported by esphome, so I just needed to write the device config and then flash the devboard via esphome (in a web browser) over the built in usb.

I 3d printed a housing for it, but you can also buy boxes. It needs airflow but also needs to stay dry. You can use a spray sealant to help avoid corrosion from ambient humidity. I skipped that step because I want to see how quickly it becomes problematic… and I should probably check on that.

[–] agent_flounder@lemmy.one 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Lol I feel ya. I ended up making and selling electronics kits to fund the hobby somewhat.

I have been using cheap vintage oscilloscopes the whole time.

Not sure what they go for now but $100 for a 20MHz scope and $200 for a 100MHz was what it was several years ago. Cheapest I got off a buddy for $40. I am still using that one.

Sometimes I fix broken ones and sell them. One time I got one that they thought was broken but turned out it was just the basic settings. I like trying different ones so I have gone through a dozen or so by now.

Now* that I think about it, o-scopes are a whole other hobby lol.

Anyway. Yeah by the time you get the test gear and enough sensors and microcontrollers and whatever it adds up.

Right now I'm working on a power supply design for a 50W class D stereo. Found out big toroidal transformers are not cheap. Oof. And enclosures big enough (especially if labeled "amplifier" or "stereo") are ridiculously spendy.

[–] teamevil@unilem.org 2 points 1 year ago

My next project is to make an oscilloscope clock

[–] NaoPb@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This sounds like the point where you dive into the next rabbit hole of making enclures. At least I could see that happening.

I'm looking to make some wooden enclosures for some things myself.

[–] Goopadrew@beehaw.org 3 points 1 year ago

Just be careful or you might go fullDIY Perks after long

[–] foofiepie@feddit.uk 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Erk. I got into this. What’s the tipping point that gets you eyeing oscilloscopes? I’m at the fiddly smd stage.

[–] Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

My next step is custom boards and smds, and an oscilloscope seems like a good way to diagnose when reflow goes wrong. I already have had some fights with I2C using dev boards. But really I'm eyeing one because I have allusions about doing fine calibration on analog sensors.

I should add that I've been talking myself out of an oscilloscope for 2+ years now. I don't REALLY need one.

[–] teamevil@unilem.org 2 points 1 year ago

You can get a cheap oscilloscope that uses USB and your computer. https://www.sainsmart.com/products/sainsmart-dds-140-40m-200m-s-virtual-oscilloscope-logic-analyzer

Not that I have an electronics problem