Trying to figure out the Pros/Cons of the different micro-controllers (Arduinos, Wemo

TomOnBoard

As per the title, I'm trying to figure out the Pros/Cons of the different micro-controllers (Arduinos, Wemos D1, Esp8266, Esp32 etc).does anyone have a link to a good Internet resource that deals with the pros/cons of each?

kenmc

Arduino come in many shapes and sizes and features, from nano, through Uno to Mega, and then there's stuff like MKR series which have gsm, lora, etc features. The smaller ones have no inbuilt connectivity, unless you use 'shields' which are PCBs with specific capabilities which stack on top - e.g. gsm, ethernet, relay, steppermotor, LCD Display etc. They generally have a bunch of Digital and Analog pins which can be read and written - which allows you to attach sensors and switches as inputs, and 'things' as outputs - leds, motors, servos, screens etc. Unless you attach some sort of comms capabilites (shield, or RF radio device) they have limited use in terms of IOT or stand-alone behaviours.
- For example i've built a 'monster detector' for the kids which, when a button is pressed triggers a series of colored lights on a ring of multicolor leds to simulate scanning for monsters, terminating in green to indicate all good.
- I also implemented a fridge door detector, with a switch which would turn on the power to an arduino when the door was opened, and if it was still on after 60 seconds would start beeping with a small speaker.
- I'm hoping to make an animated raven skeleton for halloween which will use a PIR sensor to detect when someone is near and turn on Red LEDs in the eye sockets, and move the head and wings with servos.

ESP8266 is a chip which many other boards are built on - like the WemosD1 you mention. Has Wifi, i think BLE, and the same sort of pin read/write capabilities as the Arduino, so can be used to do the same sort of sensing/reacting, but with the added possibility of IOT connectivity.
- e.g. I've got some wireless temperature sensors, sending MQTT messages every minute to OpenHAB MQTT server.
- At xmas I rig up a color LED on a Reindeer decoration which is controlled by an ESP8266 (on an ESP-12 board) to listen to the 'cheerlights' thingspeak and change the color of 'rudolph' nose.

ESP32 I've not used - afaik it's a more powerful version of the ESP8266, but a fair bit more expensive.

On top of all those boards there are are myriad of flavours and clones which are different form factors, sizes, capabilities - e.g. the Adafruit Feather, gemma etc, LoRa32u4. Ebay, dealextreme, aliexpress etc are packed to the gills... Adafruit website has loads of great tutorials, also makezine.com, hackaday, instructibles and of course youtube - check out derek molloy in DCU channel also

your choice will really depend on what you want to do - size, cost and capabilities will dictate the choice to a large extent.

Have fun - but beware - if you get sucked into this world you'll be forever finding new sensors and things, and your place will end up looking like the unabombers

TomOnBoard

kenmc wrote: »

Arduino come in many shapes and sizes and features, from nano, through Uno to Mega, and then there's stuff like MKR series which have gsm, lora, etc features. The smaller ones have no inbuilt connectivity, unless you use 'shields' which are PCBs with specific capabilities which stack on top - e.g. gsm, ethernet, relay, steppermotor, LCD Display etc. They generally have a bunch of Digital and Analog pins which can be read and written - which allows you to attach sensors and switches as inputs, and 'things' as outputs - leds, motors, servos, screens etc. Unless you attach some sort of comms capabilites (shield, or RF radio device) they have limited use in terms of IOT or stand-alone behaviours.
- For example i've built a 'monster detector' for the kids which, when a button is pressed triggers a series of colored lights on a ring of multicolor leds to simulate scanning for monsters, terminating in green to indicate all good.
- I also implemented a fridge door detector, with a switch which would turn on the power to an arduino when the door was opened, and if it was still on after 60 seconds would start beeping with a small speaker.
- I'm hoping to make an animated raven skeleton for halloween which will use a PIR sensor to detect when someone is near and turn on Red LEDs in the eye sockets, and move the head and wings with servos.

ESP8266 is a chip which many other boards are built on - like the WemosD1 you mention. Has Wifi, i think BLE, and the same sort of pin read/write capabilities as the Arduino, so can be used to do the same sort of sensing/reacting, but with the added possibility of IOT connectivity.
- e.g. I've got some wireless temperature sensors, sending MQTT messages every minute to OpenHAB MQTT server.
- At xmas I rig up a color LED on a Reindeer decoration which is controlled by an ESP8266 (on an ESP-12 board) to listen to the 'cheerlights' thingspeak and change the color of 'rudolph' nose.

ESP32 I've not used - afaik it's a more powerful version of the ESP8266, but a fair bit more expensive.

On top of all those boards there are are myriad of flavours and clones which are different form factors, sizes, capabilities - e.g. the Adafruit Feather, gemma etc, LoRa32u4. Ebay, dealextreme, aliexpress etc are packed to the gills... Adafruit website has loads of great tutorials, also makezine.com, hackaday, instructibles and of course youtube - check out derek molloy in DCU channel also

your choice will really depend on what you want to do - size, cost and capabilities will dictate the choice to a large extent.

Have fun - but beware - if you get sucked into this world you'll be forever finding new sensors and things, and your place will end up looking like the unabombers

Awesome reply thank you.

Can you recommend an online resource that compares the detailed specs of all the alternatives? Or good forums (in addition to here, of course)?

kenmc

I tend to just get stuff pop up on YouTube. Andreas speis has very detailed videos, compares some stuff. Makezine have done comparisons of different boards, not sure when. Arduino forum have info on projects, also mysensors.org for iot stuff. There's a Facebook group on esp8266 projects and I think Arduino too, a lot of noise though.

Sorry I can't be more specific, but most of what I find is either recommended by YouTube based on my history of things I've watched, or via eg make magazine etc

kenmc

For what it's worth, you can pick up an Arduino uno starter kit with a bunch of sensors, wires, LEDs, resistors, maybe a breadboard, for about 30 quid in eBay, that might be a good place to start. Unless you have a project in mind, in which case if you post it I might be able to suggest.

Oh the sonoff plugs much-lauded here are based on esp8266 too

Stoner

kenmc wrote:

For what it's worth, you can pick up an Arduino uno starter kit with a bunch of sensors, wires, LEDs, resistors, maybe a breadboard, for about 30 quid in eBay, that might be a good place to start. Unless you have a project in mind, in which case if you post it I might be able to suggest.

I got a lovely little kit on Kickstarter. I'll link it in here.
Great starter site. My son is only 3. Bit young yet but this will be good I think. Great starter web site

Stoner

I got the maker uno starter kit, has LEDs and photo sensor, pins, leads, motor etc


All in a deadly little plastic kit box with a board and a controller

https://www.robotshop.com/ca/en/cytron-maker-uno-microcontroller.html


R3 shield compatible

OldMrBrennan83

Where's the beat place to learn Arduino stuff? I don't mean copying projects off Youtube but actually learn it.

I've a kit with an Uno and a load of motors, etc but I don't know where to begin with it all.

Stoner

Patww79 wrote:

I've a kit with an Uno and a load of motors, etc but I don't know where to begin with it all.

Pat look at maker starter kit as one example.

It will take you all the way through it.

I'll post you out a little board of you want to have the exact matching hardware

OldMrBrennan83

Stoner wrote: »

Pat look at maker starter kit as one example.

It will take you all the way through it.

I'll post you out a little board of you want to have the exact matching hardware

I think it's a starter kit that I have already but it has no documentation. Had it months but never really looked at it til lately.

Stoner

Yeah so the you need a starter web site with info from the basics up.

You can use your starter kit it might be applicable.

But if you wanted to follow it closer you could use the uno controller and all it's pins ours etc with your motors and components

Look at the maker uno website see what you think.

Stoner

I've a few spare controllers, got them on offer as I got the earlybird offer

OldMrBrennan83

Maker isn't Adruino then is it? Or is it the same Uno board from the original design?

OldMrBrennan83

That's what I have.

Stoner

Nice kit


$6 Maker UNO: Simplifying Arduino for {Education}, via @Kickstarter https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1685732347/6-maker-uno-simplifying-arduino-for-education

The uno kit is aimed at making Arduino easy to understand.

Look at the link and the you tube videos. Sign up to their website and start their projects .

OldMrBrennan83

That Maker one looks good, did you buy it off kickstarter though? The last 3 things I 'bought' off there I never got.

Stoner

I did I bought 3 extra controllers. Your kit has better stuff.

I should open a thread on it sorry for going off topic OP.

OldMrBrennan83

Stoner wrote: »

I did I bought 3 extra controllers. Your kit has better stuff.

I should open a thread on it sorry for going off topic OP.

Yeah I went down a bit of a channel there too. I'll keep an eye out if there's a thread, cheers.

kenmc

Patww79 wrote: »

Where's the beat place to learn Arduino stuff? I don't mean copying projects off Youtube but actually learn it.

I've a kit with an Uno and a load of motors, etc but I don't know where to begin with it all.

It depends on if you already know how to code -arduino is basically C, with some specific libraries and functions to do with reading & writing pins and setting them up. It's a bit difficult to just "learn Arduino", without having a specific project in mind, whereby you'll learn as you go.

If you have a kit if stuff you could look at inplementing a pir sensor to turn on a led maybe, so you get inputs and outputs working.

OldMrBrennan83

kenmc wrote: »

It depends on if you already know how to code -arduino is basically C, with some specific libraries and functions to do with reading & writing pins and setting them up. It's a bit difficult to just "learn Arduino", without having a specific project in mind, whereby you'll learn as you go.

If you have a kit if stuff you could look at inplementing a pir sensor to turn on a led maybe, so you get inputs and outputs working.

Yeah I'd never learn C, I've tried it before and I've forgotten the last thing the video said as soon as it's on to the next but. Far too much in it for me.

Stoner

Patww79 wrote:

Yeah I'd never learn C, I've tried it before and I've forgotten the last thing the video said as soon as it's on to the next but. Far too much in it for me.

Did you try any of the MIT online stuff?

OldMrBrennan83

Stoner wrote: »

Did you try any of the MIT online stuff?

TBH, the more I look into it I'd probably be far better putting it away for now and getting a Pi instead as Python is so much more straightforward looking than C.

kenmc

Python has it's own foibles, white space has meaning, to define loops and if/else blocks, but it's a great language, very powerful, my go-to for most tasks. Don't be put off by Arduino though, it's basically a series of loops doing
- check something
- if something has happened
- react to it
-wait a bit

TomOnBoard

kenmc wrote: »

I tend to just get stuff pop up on YouTube. Andreas speis has very detailed videos, compares some stuff. Makezine have done comparisons of different boards, not sure when. Arduino forum have info on projects, also mysensors.org for iot stuff. There's a Facebook group on esp8266 projects and I think Arduino too, a lot of noise though.

Sorry I can't be more specific, but most of what I find is either recommended by YouTube based on my history of things I've watched, or via eg make magazine etc

I'll check out the suggestions you've made as well as the FB group on esp8266, thanks.

The problem I'm having is that there's such a wide range of both boards and languages that its difficult to know where to jump in so as to learn from scratch. In particular, the programming side has me fazed a bit (as a 1980s BASIC programmer of little note and subsequently spoiled by 4GL platforms). C/C++, MOsquito, Arduino IDE, MicroPython... So many options, hard to know where to start. That said, its a massively richer situation than before all these options became available, and soooo cheap with an ability to do sooo much... I'm looking forward to getting stuck in, I just don't want to back a 'wrong horse'...

I do have some Arduinos and some other bits as well as a couple of old Raspberry Pi's that I got with good intentions but got sidelined by Life...

OldMrBrennan83

Is there a dedicated thread here for Pi stuff? Would like to get set up with some sort of starter kit like the Arduino one I have.

TomOnBoard

Patww79 wrote: »

Is there a dedicated thread here for Pi stuff? Would like to get set up with some sort of starter kit like the Arduino one I have.

There's a few posts about PI in the Electronics sub-forum of Computers & Technology.. it's unclear to me where such a thread should reside so it can be useful though.

In Computers & Technology if you're posting about the PI itself, its OS etc
OR
In Home Automation if youre posting about the PI in an IOT context
OR
....?

OldMrBrennan83

TomOnBoard wrote: »

There's a few posts about PI in the Electronics sub-forum of Computers & Technology.. it's unclear to me where such a thread should reside so it can be useful though.

In Computers & Technology if you're posting about the PI itself, its OS etc
OR
In Home Automation if youre posting about the PI in an IOT context
OR
....?

Yeah true, there doesn't really seem to be a section for such things.

I think the Pi is definitely the way to go for me. I went through the automatetheboringstuff python course and book a while back and most of it is stuff I've done with logic in PLC programming and Excel for years but I'd like to try it in a practical sense on hardware.

Arduino would easily be more applicable for work but I wouldn't use any of it work work anyway unless they were paying to put me through a course.

What I/O's are on a Pi?

TomOnBoard

Patww79 wrote: »

What I/O's are on a Pi?

For the later 40-pin PI:

https://pinout.xyz/#

Edit: Why don't you start a thread here?

Stoner

Work away pat I'll stick it if it's running well.

I've seen some great home automation and monitoring solutions using very simple cheap components.

Like a chain of temp sensors monitoring the in and out temps on a domestic heat exchanger all just connected to 5 V and the digital input pin.
Very simple and useful projects

As you say it's completely different to PLCs,
There are some fantastic tools to help learn object oriented programming.

You have your first method running in an evening

It's very transferrable and has allowed me to control (rather than automate) household items long before some of the new fantastic options were available.

TomOnBoard

Stoner wrote: »

Work away pat I'll stick it if it's running well.

I've seen some great home automation and monitoring solutions using very simple cheap components.

Like a chain of temp sensors monitoring the in and out temps on a domestic heat exchanger all just connected to 5 V and the digital input pin.
Very simple and useful projects

As you say it's completely different to PLCs,
There are some fantastic tools to help learn object oriented programming.

You have your first method running in an evening

It's very transferrable and has allowed me to control (rather than autimate) household items long before some of the new fantastic options were available.

That's actually a very useful distinction: Control vs Automation. Sometimes, Control achieves 70-80% of an objective with relatively simple steps using things like relays on a board and Automation adds the gravy. Actually, I'm a bit of a control freak anyway when it comes to home devices and wouldn't want some of them to have a mind of their own... :eek:

OldMrBrennan83

Stoner wrote: »

Work away pat I'll stick it if it's running well.

I've seen some great home automation and monitoring solutions using very simple cheap components.

Like a chain of temp sensors monitoring the in and out temps on a domestic heat exchanger all just connected to 5 V and the digital input pin.
Very simple and useful projects

As you say it's completely different to PLCs,
There are some fantastic tools to help learn object oriented programming.

You have your first method running in an evening

It's very transferrable and has allowed me to control (rather than automate) household items long before some of the new fantastic options were available.

Would be better coming from someone that knew what they were at to push it.