Thread: arduino

  1. #1
    Registered User Annonymous's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    Jackson, New Jersey, United States
    Posts
    302

    arduino

    I got bored of the wifi thing pretty fast and went out and bought a Parallax PIR sensor and a buzzer. I had a key pad I bought from Newark.com from my last MCU project. I am going to use the key pad to allow a person with the code to disable it.

    Its not that loud because I had to stay below the 3.5 powerage level. Since anything above needs a transistor and I hate using those things. They are so confusing!!

    Anyone else currently working on a MCU project?

  2. #2
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    3,229
    Transistors are kind of important... there's not much circuitry you can do without any transistor.

    BJTs are fairly confusing with all their operating modes. Maybe look into MOSFETs? They are a little simpler (close to ideal switch) if you pick the right one, and will allow you to do most things (eg. controlling motors with MCU).

    I'm not sure what "powerage" means. If you meant watts, that's way too much for a MCU output pin already.

  3. #3
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    3,229
    BTW my first electronics project (years ago) was a photovore robot. How to Build a Robot Tutorial - Society of Robots

    Pretty simple and endless fun!

  4. #4
    Registered User Annonymous's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    Jackson, New Jersey, United States
    Posts
    302
    Quote Originally Posted by cyberfish View Post
    Transistors are kind of important... there's not much circuitry you can do without any transistor.

    BJTs are fairly confusing with all their operating modes. Maybe look into MOSFETs? They are a little simpler (close to ideal switch) if you pick the right one, and will allow you to do most things (eg. controlling motors with MCU).

    I'm not sure what "powerage" means. If you meant watts, that's way too much for a MCU output pin already.
    Yeah I know they are very important lol You can't do much without them. I tried a project with a transistor and it was a complete flop! I couldn't get it to work. I couldn't figure out what resistors to use. It was confusing! I actually finished the motion sensor in an hour. It was way too easy! I need to work on something else. So, I I will stop at radio shack tomorrow and look into the MOSFET.

    I meant volts. The Arduino Uno I have, outputs 3.5 volts. I just have to find a project that will interest me! Any suggestions?

  5. #5
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    3,229
    Ah you mean voltage.

    Well if you have specific questions about transistors I can probably help answering them.

    Interesting projects would depend on what interests you. Audio projects are good if you want to learn some analog circuitry without getting into very tricky high frequency stuff (transistors definitely required). A simple robot/RC car if you like microcontroller programming and something that moves. Or some kind of home automation - automatic lighting based on sound, etc (don't play with mains voltage yet, though, that can kill you).

  6. #6
    Registered User Annonymous's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    Jackson, New Jersey, United States
    Posts
    302
    Quote Originally Posted by cyberfish View Post
    Ah you mean voltage.

    Well if you have specific questions about transistors I can probably help answering them.

    Interesting projects would depend on what interests you. Audio projects are good if you want to learn some analog circuitry without getting into very tricky high frequency stuff (transistors definitely required). A simple robot/RC car if you like microcontroller programming and something that moves. Or some kind of home automation - automatic lighting based on sound, etc (don't play with mains voltage yet, though, that can kill you).
    Thanks, that's good to know that you will be able to help because those transistors are a pain in my butt!!

    I find automation very interesting!! I also have wanted to make a gameboy. Idk if I would need transistors to make that or not. I would have to Google the project. Even a web camera controlled over the internet would be cool. Especially if that means I could learn javascripts jnode or something similar.

    Let me look into what I want to do. I am more than 110% sure I will need help with the mosfet or transistor!

    I think automation would be the way to go though. Only because it would require me to learn how to use the mosfet or transistor. What to automate though?!

  7. #7
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    Long Beach, CA
    Posts
    5,909
    Quote Originally Posted by Annonymous View Post
    Thanks, that's good to know that you will be able to help because those transistors are a pain in my butt!!

    I find automation very interesting!! I also have wanted to make a gameboy. Idk if I would need transistors to make that or not. I would have to Google the project. Even a web camera controlled over the internet would be cool. Especially if that means I could learn javascripts jnode or something similar.

    Let me look into what I want to do. I am more than 110% sure I will need help with the mosfet or transistor!

    I think automation would be the way to go though. Only because it would require me to learn how to use the mosfet or transistor. What to automate though?!
    You don't need automation to use a transistor. Heck, you can find a use for them in nearly any project. I could easily imagine one being used somewhere in a gameboy clone, but where exactly, I don't know. I'm currently working on building a temperature controlled fermentation chamber so I can improve my homebrewing, make lagers, etc. I cannibalized an old mini fridge, plus an Arduino Nano, a few relays, some transistors and a bit of code, and I can lager my beers during the middle of summer in southern California, and (hopefully) produce some very consistent ales. I'm looking forward to a nice, clean, crisp "lawnmower" beer for those hot days spent working in the yard or garage. Should be ready in a couple months.

    EDIT: If you haven't been directed to it yet, there's a great site for electrical engineering info called All About Circuits : Free Electric Circuits Textbooks.

  8. #8
    Registered User Annonymous's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    Jackson, New Jersey, United States
    Posts
    302
    Quote Originally Posted by anduril462 View Post
    You don't need automation to use a transistor. Heck, you can find a use for them in nearly any project. I could easily imagine one being used somewhere in a gameboy clone, but where exactly, I don't know. I'm currently working on building a temperature controlled fermentation chamber so I can improve my homebrewing, make lagers, etc. I cannibalized an old mini fridge, plus an Arduino Nano, a few relays, some transistors and a bit of code, and I can lager my beers during the middle of summer in southern California, and (hopefully) produce some very consistent ales. I'm looking forward to a nice, clean, crisp "lawnmower" beer for those hot days spent working in the yard or garage. Should be ready in a couple months.

    EDIT: If you haven't been directed to it yet, there's a great site for electrical engineering info called All About Circuits : Free Electric Circuits Textbooks.
    That's awesome man! Lol I've made hooch before haha Very different than beer though! I'm going to wait to do the project until after I'm doing messing around with arch. I just finished the base install a few hours ago. Im going to install the desktop UI tomorrow. Its pretty fun! Granted, I am always on the command line and always programming, its all so new and unfamiliar. Guess arch is just different than Ubuntu is all. Tons a fun though!

    I seen this thing called the rasperry pi. Looks interesting! Anywho, I had a look at your ebook and 3 sections deep and 47 chapters later, it talks about transistors lol.

    Ill be back when I need some assistance. Thanks
    Last edited by Annonymous; 05-29-2012 at 11:54 PM.

Popular pages Recent additions subscribe to a feed

Similar Threads

  1. Replies: 2
    Last Post: 11-25-2011, 06:02 AM
  2. Arduino LED Clock
    By qtip2293 in forum C++ Programming
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 10-11-2011, 02:05 PM
  3. Arduino project programming question
    By qtip2293 in forum C++ Programming
    Replies: 10
    Last Post: 10-10-2011, 03:57 PM
  4. moving multiple servos through Arduino board
    By cross-side in forum C Programming
    Replies: 26
    Last Post: 02-17-2011, 11:08 PM
  5. Arduino programming
    By Terese in forum C++ Programming
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 12-11-2010, 01:03 PM