Arduino help!

sw33t_r3v3ng3

Wanting to buy myself an Arduino board but not sure which one to go for. Am i better off getting the Kits or just the board itself? If better of getting the board, which one should i go for? I'd like to be able to create projects like the wifi controlled RC car etc. Thanks in advance!
Also how is it programmed? What language?

v074

Go for the Arduino Uno. You can get them cheap on eBay.

ShRT

You'd be best off getting one of the starter kits. They have some wire, a breadboard (used for connecting circuits), and various sensors to get you started. They have stuff like infrared sensors so you can control the tv, temp sensors, light sensors etc.

These come in about three weeks from china:
http://www.banggood.com/UNO-Basic-Starter-Learning-Kit-Upgrade-Version-For-Arduino-p-970714.html
http://www.banggood.com/MakerStudio-UNO-Based-Starter-Kit-For-Arduino-p-978208.html

ozmo

I recommend this one as it comes with a much simpler to connect LCD display - the voice mic and the rfid are cool to have also also and I've used the joystick in a lot of projects.

http://www.banggood.com/Arduino-Compatible-UNO-R3-Starter-Kit-Set-Upgraded-Version-With-RFID-p-908543.html


If you did buy that kit already - I have that shield (top right of your photo)- there are no instructions anywhere - but its intended to solder the lcd to it to make it easier to use - you solder about a dozen wires and you need add one resistor - I can post a photo of the one I did if you need.

Cork boy 55

Is it all just craic or any of these projects cost effective(compared to off shelf) or practical?

Way cheaper than off the shelf items depending on what you are building. You aren't paying for brand, design, assembly, distribution, customer support, advertising or warranty etc. of a product. Not necessarily the specific kits themselves but the ability to build from your own components. Besides there isn't always an off the shelf solution.

Cork boy 55

Sir Liamalot wrote: »

Way cheaper than off the shelf items depending on what you are building. You aren't paying for brand, design, assembly, distribution, customer support, advertising or warranty etc. of a product. Not necessarily the specific kits themselves but the ability to build from your own components. Besides there isn't always an off the shelf solution.

Can you give examples of practical projects or stuff you have done with it, please?

where would best place to start with it?


26 euros + 13 euros(P+P)
Starter kit from UK "sunfounder" lab
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/New-SunFounder-Lab-Uno-R3-Universal-Starter-Kit-For-Arduino-Starter-Beginner-/151754005307?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item23553e5b3b

ozmo

Cork boy 55 wrote: »

Can you give examples of practical projects or stuff you have done with it, please?

Well,

My car has annoyingly no Petrol Low Warning light - I made one using an smaller version of the arduino called attiny to monitor the voltage on the petrol gauge and flash a red light when low.

Also - I made this:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=95811403

Puts your alarm panel on the internet.


Plus lots of other bits and pieces.

Cork boy 55 wrote: »

where would best place to start with it?

Best source for ideas real world uses (and not so useful) I can think of would be??

http://www.instructables.com/howto/arduino/

ozmo

ozmo wrote: »

My car has annoyingly no Petrol Low Warning light

Does it not have a petrol low warning needle?


I haven't gotten around to using one. I generally find a more complicated solution with analogue and switchgear.

I want to build one of these eventually;


http://www.morningstarcorp.com/products/relay-driver/

Should work out 1/8th RRP for an Arduino job.

ozmo

Sir Liamalot wrote: »

Does it not have a petrol low warning needle?

Just no warning light - I connected it to the existing needle.

Having looked what else is in that relay box but arduino dual relay boards can be got on amazon for 1 pound.. Or you can make up your own..

I have low diesel warning paint :pac: ....pretty reliable.

There isn't even relays in that box...they're extras, it's just a proprietary programmable voltage sensing micro and few transistors with multi outs to the relay coils.

ShRT

Cork boy 55 wrote: »

Can you give examples of practical projects or stuff you have done with it, please?

where would best place to start with it?


26 euros + 13 euros(P+P)
Starter kit from UK "sunfounder" lab
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/New-SunFounder-Lab-Uno-R3-Universal-Starter-Kit-For-Arduino-Starter-Beginner-/151754005307?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item23553e5b3b

A replica of the tape dispenser used in the "flight into terror" episode from Father Ted.

A Mario coin block that makes the coin noise when hit.

Currently working on an airsoft firing control box

Keplar240B

There's some Arduino stuff for sale on adverts.ie as well 3 pages worth.

Just brought a starter kit from UK , Complete the starter experiments and then go from there, project by project.

Keplar240B

Keplar240B wrote: »

There's some Arduino stuff for sale on adverts.ie as well 3 pages worth.

Just brought a starter kit from UK , Complete the starter experiments and then go from there, project by project.

Well got the starter kit and completed all the exercises.

Its brilliant who its all so user friendly and the HW, SW,community and support tha'ts behind it.

Need a small cheap easy but useful project now to start off.

Any ideas?

Keplar240B

In Maplin there looking at there Arduino Stock everythings so much more expensive than online

for example

35 euros for an 16x2 LCD Module for Arduino that you can buy from a on-line store in Dublin in Adverts.ie for 5 euro (+1.2 euros P&P)

ozmo

Keplar240B wrote: »

In Maplin ... 35 euros for an 16x2 LCD Module for Arduino that you can buy from a on-line store in Dublin in Adverts.ie for 5 euro (+1.2 euros P&P)

Their pricing is unreal for separate bits - the kits are not so bad, at about double cost what you can get elsewhere.

The LCD you mention - you should make sure its the I2C version of the LCD display.
They only need 4 wires to hookup.
The normal ones are a pain to set up if you do it often - needing about 12 wires and a resistor or two (see attachment).

Link Here 5 Euros from UK inc postage - even cheaper from china


Bigger 4 line display from China (7 Euros)

.

Maplins are rip off merchants. Their component stock is dreadful. They're a plug and play store not an electronics specialist.

Keplar240B

Anyone ever connect a keypad to a Arduino?

I have a 4X4 keypad connected up
Hardware is correct and when i run the "basic sketch example" from library I can read in keys on serial monitor, using keypad.h library
So everything is fine just need code.

My project is scanning input sensors and outputting results in rolling fashion to an 5110 LCD.
I need it to interrupt this on a keypress go to "set mode" read in 4 digits and then return to normal operation also turn off an alarm on keypress?

My head is wreaked


Edit
I figured it out
from Arduino website
If key presses seem to take a long time to show up then you are probably using long delay()'s in your code. The same thing can happen if you use too many small delay()s like delay(10).

The delays in my rolling display where preventing it reading key presses properly
so i Changed it from a rolling display to a user input display
and kept the most important sensor on screen else.

Sensor 1 input = button 1
Sensor 2 input =button 2
etc

Now to read in four digits in one go!

eeguy

Sir Liamalot wrote: »

Maplins are rip off merchants. Their component stock is dreadful. They're a plug and play store not an electronics specialist.

Maplins is a last resort for any kind of component.

If you're looking to do this on the cheap, then I'd recommend using websites like oomlout.co.uk to research components and kit, then buy them from dx.com, buyincoins.com or Ebay.

You can filter Ebay.co.uk to only include UK sellers, so they'll usually deliver in a week.

The other sites might take a month to get here, but that's the cheapest option.

Have a look at instructables.com for all sorts of projects, and practice your coding with youtube videos (Jeremy Blum has a great intro series).

Big Lar

Cork boy 55 wrote:

Can you give examples of practical projects or stuff you have done with it, please?

I made a motorised sliding gate
https://www.dropbox.com/s/e7vs3qb7wr0vt6f/2015-08-15%2010.17.33.jpg?dl=0

Works off solar. Controlled with Phone, Keyfob & also connects to IOT with battery, temp & humidity.
https://thingspeak.com/channels/43426


https://youtu.be/hxPtvvkqClw

Tried to post it up on instructables but twas just too much of a dose trying to edit it without having paid membership

Keplar240B

ozmo wrote: »

Their pricing is unreal for separate bits - the kits are not so bad, at about double cost what you can get elsewhere.

The LCD you mention - you should make sure its the I2C version of the LCD display.
They only need 4 wires to hookup.
The normal ones are a pain to set up if you do it often - needing about 12 wires and a resistor or two (see attachment).

Link Here 5 Euros from UK inc postage - even cheaper from china


Bigger 4 line display from China (7 Euros)

.

I went with a Nokia 5110 LCD in the end, spotted one in Ireland for a couple of euros form a store i was buying some other stuff from it takes 5 data pins but i did not need them all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDwrMeu4k9Y

Speaking of I2C

I connected two different devices to IC2 bus with NO pullups resistors or extra code no address commands just wirebegin()

I had connected them individually and then decided to connect them together to see what would happen and everything worked I am getting readings from both of them just fine(there is delay between reads)
without with only one wire.began() command

I not accepted it to work but it did!!?! The libraries must take care of transmission readings. ! Thats was first project with I2C

Keplar240B

Big Lar wrote: »

I made a motorised sliding gate
https://www.dropbox.com/s/e7vs3qb7wr0vt6f/2015-08-15%2010.17.33.jpg?dl=0

Works off solar. Controlled with Phone, Keyfob & also connects to IOT with battery, temp & humidity.
https://thingspeak.com/channels/43426


https://youtu.be/hxPtvvkqClw

Tried to post it up on instructables but twas just too much of a dose trying to edit it without having paid membership

Now, that's a proper project. Think i do something solar powered for next project.

Is there a backup power or is the solar enough?
Why both a RF keyfob and phone it that just redundancy in case of failure or forgot keyfob?
How did you connect the phone and IOT to it?

Big Lar

Solar only, have 3 X 10W panels charging two 12v deep cycle batteries. Going to install a larger panel for the winter months to cover the lack of energy from the sun, thinking of a 140w panel.

It started off working on phone and still but the phone only has one option like dialling the gate, when it is closed it opens and vice versa, I could have went down the road of text instructions to the gate and have many options but that would be over complicated for my crowd here. The RF key fob offers more options and is simpler: Open, Close, Open 1m, Open 3m

Use the ESP8266 to connect to the wifi of the house and it updates every three hours.

I could create a separate thread here on boards on it if folks thought it would be useful information ?

Chet T16

I'd be interested in the solar end.

I've recently moved my gear out of the house and into my shed which i've insulated and ran electricity to. I've a 272kg electromagnetic lock on the door and a fingerprint reader to control it. At the minute there is no backup power so if the mains electricity fails the door will open. I might like to run it all from solar rather than rely on the mains but i'm not sure if it has any real benefit once i have enough battery backup to keep me covered (~48 hours would surely be enough)

Its still a work in progress but next on the list is two 100mm fans with servo controlled vents for air circulation and a heater of some description so between them both i can maintain the temp within a decent window. Wifi logging will also be in there with the ability to remotely unlock the door.

Big Lar

Big Lar wrote: »

Solar only, have 3 X 10W panels charging two 12v deep cycle batteries. Going to install a larger panel for the winter months to cover the lack of energy from the sun, thinking of a 140w panel.

If you rewire the batteries 24V you can get a domestic 250W module with a VOC 36V for the same price of a 140W module.

Big Lar

Sir Liamalot wrote: »

If you rewire the batteries 24V you can get a domestic 250W module for with a VOC 36V for the same price of a 140W module.

Thanks Sir Liamalot for the input, 24V would suit my needs a lot better as I would get faster opening & closing of the gate but I cannot rewire the batteries as if I do my losses will be too high.
Currently have 4 separate voltages in the gate: 3.3, 5, 12 & 24. the 24v is achieved using a DC-DC boost (Step Up) converter to power the IR beam for the gate.
The lower voltages come from DC-DC step down converters that use linear voltage regulators, for example if my board only uses 100ma @ 5v (0.5w) the regulator still draws 100ma @12v (1.2w) where the 0.7w difference is lost to the environment in the way of heat, 24v would have a 1.9w loss

I am toying with the notion of trying to use something like a 555 timer to switch a transistor at high frequency for a square wave out and regulate the wave using a capacitor then my losses would be a lot less.

Would 220W extra of PV not offset your 0.7W increase in system consumption?

Big Lar

Fair point but the 140w panel is already on the way

Keplar240B

Anyone ever mount an infrared receiver inside an enclosure ?

I built a project with one and drilled a hole for it and
now want to fill or block that hole with infrared transparent material

Its 38 khz signal I think.

Where or what could I use ?