Arduino Motor Control for the Spinning Night Light | Part 3

Most motor control applications can be accomplished with a simple single-transistor circuit. This type of circuit controls the basic operation of turning the motor on and off, and allows very fast switching of the motor, which makes it possible to control the speed of the motor using pulse width modulation (PWM). The basic problem with [...]

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Arduino RGB LED Spinning Night Light: Assembly | Part 2

Solder wires to motor terminals and cover with heat-shrink tubing Using a knife or sharp scissors, puncture a small hole (to fit the motor shaft snugly) on the center of the jar lid Solder motor shaft to jar lid (if necessary use hot glue or super glue, as some surfaces won’t “catch” the solder easily) [...]

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Arduino RGB LED Spinning Night Light | Part 1

This month’s project uses the Arduino to control a motor and an RGB LED to create an aquarium style spinning night light. The initial idea was to recycle empty toilet paper tubes to serve as the lampshade, but it turns out the project looks much more attractive and colorful using white paper. (I haven’t given [...]

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Arduino 2-Digit 7-Segment Display with Buttons: Sketch | Part 5

As you could see from last week’s full Arduino sketch listing, the source code for the 2-digit 7-segment display project using buttons is strikingly similar to the one without the buttons; praise for ‘copy and paste‘! (It is worth noting, though, that ‘copy and paste‘ can be responsible for a higher percentage of bugs than [...]

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Arduino 2-Digit 7-Segment Display with Buttons | Part 4

This week we modify the original circuit and sketch to include two buttons, one to control each digit of the display. Here’s what the setup looks like: And here’s the complete sketch:

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Arduino 2-Digit 7-Segment Display Counter: Sketch | Part 3

This is part 3 in the project to control a 2-digit 7-segment display using an Arduino. Here is the first post on this 2-digit 7-segment display project. So now on the the meatier sections of the sketch for this project: Common anode displays are not immediately obvious as a segment is lit when the corresponding [...]

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Arduino 2-Digit 7-Segment Display Counter: Circuit | Part 2

This week we’ll look at the circuit for the 2-digit 7-segment display counter using the Arduino. There are a few options to control multiple displays: employing multiple controllers; using a 7-segment driver chip like the 7447; using a multi-display controller such as the MAXIM MAX7219; sequencing through the displays, which is what we have done [...]

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Arduino 2-Digit 7-Segment Display Counter | Part 1

This month’s Arduino project is to build two 2-digit 7-segment LED display circuits and sketches, one that counts up and one that counts up using mini push buttons. The next posts will explain the circuits and the Arduino sketches. (Here’s a simpler, 1-digit 7-segment display using Arduino). Materials: Arduino Duemilanove (or Uno) 1 2-digit 7-segment display [...]

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Arduino Mini: an Account of Coolness in 4 Links

Pregnancy: a pregnancy belt that notifies the father every time the unborn baby kicks? Oh, and it tweets it: http://www.momlogic.com/2009/06/twittering_from_the_womb.php UAV: Sean Reynolds achieves autonomous flight control with this Arduino-based unmanned aerial vehicle: http://seanreynoldscs.com/WashUAV.aspx Bluetooth: can’t afford a Bluetooth Arduino project? Check out this inexpensive Bluetooth module for the Arduino Mini: http://interactive.usc.edu/members/jbleecker/archives/007361.html Stribe: have you [...]

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Arduino Nano: an Account of Coolness in 4 Links

Light: how do you feel today? Find out with the interactive, multi-function mood light: http://www.instructables.com/id/Interactive-Open-Source-Mood-Light/ Sound: have you ever played with water filled crystal glasses to make sound? How about using an Arduino Nano to control the music? Check out this cool video: http://www.vimeo.com/1261369 Game: it’s no Wii, but this simple version of Super Mario [...]

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Arduino Lilypad: an Account of Coolness in 4 Links

Jacket 1: a jacket with turn signals that lets people know where you’re headed when you’re on your bike: http://web.media.mit.edu/~leah/LilyPad/build/turn_signal_jacket.html Jacket 2: a jacket that both heats and cools based on one’s body temperature: http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-Heating-and-Cooling-Jacket/ Shirt: this cool shirt features an RGB LED that changes color in response to motion and tilt: http://web.media.mit.edu/~leah/LilyPad/build/accelero_shirt.html Scarf: this [...]

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Arduino Mega: an Account of Coolness in 4 Links

CNC Machine: this CNC machine cost aventgps $300 to build, but it took him over 200 hours to do so. Check out pictures of the machine and some sample prints: http://letsmakerobots.com/node/13175 Robot: a cool obstacle avoiding, drumming robot with laser printed chassis: http://letsmakerobots.com/node/15803 Beer: beer lover or not, one must appreciate the coolness factor behind [...]

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An Arduino for Any Project

The Arduino is based on the microcontrollers from Atmel. Here are current Arduinos available (the architecture is open source, and anyone can build their own “Arduino” based on the technical specs that are available for download from the official Arduino website). Duemilanove: “Duemilanove” means 2009 in Italian and is named after the year of its [...]

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My TGIMBOEJ Exchange

TGIMBOEJ, The Great Internet Migratory Box Of Electronics Junk is a progressive lending repository of electronic components. An open collaborative project, TGIMBOEJ can be seen as a cross between P2P file sharing and a flea market, an internet meme in physical form. It arrives full of wonderful (and possibly useless) components, but you will surely [...]

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