megasquirt.... anyone using one?

[Anonymous]

Knda courious to see what you guys think of the mega squirt. Im thinking about buying one and building it. How hard is it to build and set up? Im thinking about buying the ms-I and running the MSnS code. Any information would be great! thanks guys.

 

[fb71]

I've built an MS2, and have been bench testing it with good results. Can't really comment more.

 

[fordconvert]

Have you done any soldering before? There are several small parts that are very close together. If you have trouble seeing or handling small parts you may want to get one already built. I have not built a kit for a long time before this one but I do a fair amount of repairs at work. It took me around 5 hours to build the main board. I dont think I want to build another one. If you are unsure if you can or want to build the main board I would recomend getting the Stimulator kit and building that. It has a 37 pin connector that has fairly close pins and one transistor that has the closest pins of anything on the main board. If you find that easy then order the main board kit, if it was hard then just get one already built.

 

[Anonymous]

thats a great idea.... im a bit concerned with the soldering... never really soldered anything other then just wires together.

 

[Anonymous]

thats a great idea.... im a bit concerned with the soldering... never really soldered anything other then just wires together.

Go to radio shack and get a de-soldering iron ($10.99) and a regular (30 watt?) soldering iron ($3.99) and some really small rosin core solder.

Find an old radio or VCR and tear it apart. De-solder a bunch of stuff, then practice soldering them back on again.

 

[fordconvert]

Find an old radio or VCR and tear it apart. De-solder a bunch of stuff, then practice soldering them back on again.

Good thought. Dont try it with a TV because they have some nasty high voltages that can ruin your day if you dont know what you are doing.

Many of the 'home stores' (lowes, home depot, ect...) will have the soldering iron now days. The de soldering one will be more of a radio shack or mail order item.

 

[matt1967]

yeah, TV's and CRT monitors have degauss capicitors ( the buzz you hear when you turn it on ). they have enough amperage in them to kill you.

 

[Anonymous]

thanks for all the great info guys, think im going with the vcr....id rather not die....lol

 

[addo]

One thing if you can stretch to it, with the soldering iron.

Buy one with a grounded tip. Some of the cheaper types don't have this feature and it may damage fragile components.

Soldering essentially requires a steady hand and patience.