LM386 Mini audio amp

This is an updated version of the LM380 the LM386 is a smaller single channel amp.

Teacher and student package included.



Teacher Package

Student Package

Cheap Arduino Robot with everything you need

I see a growing number of companies marketing Arduino based robots for well over $100 a piece. Most of these bots have limited capability and still utilize the Arduino IDE for programming. I needed a simple programming platform for my IT students, so I designed and built my own robot to save money. If you are willing to purchase components from Ali Express this is the robot for you. I have attached complete build instructions and Curriculum and .stl files will be on there way soon.

$15 Dollar Arduino Robot

YouTube Curriculum playlist

123DCircuits and Digispark for Easy Cheap Projects

I have been working with ATTINY chips for some time. When I saw the low cost Digispark that has one on board, I had have 1.

 I have developed this project that utilizes the ease of programming with 123D Circuits and the cost of digispark. It is very similar to the standalone ATTINY circuits posted several years ago but has been simplified, to make it easier to program and easier to manufacture. Check out the instructions bellow.

PCB manufacturing tutorial

123D Tutorial 1
123D Tutorial 2
123D Tutorial 3
123D Tutorial 4

123D Arduino project
123D ATTINY without Digispark

Software install - new version
software install - old version

Chinese Digisparks
Real Digispark

Trinket Back-up Sensor

Recently I purchased some Trinket 5V boards from ADAFRUIT. They are a great little board for Learning about electronics and they use the Arduino IDE for programming. With a price tag of $9 in Canada they make a great substitution for the Arduino board and its $30 price tag.

I have put together a great little project using the Trinket and a HC-SR04 distance sensor. All this is a simple back-up sensor. If there is a safe amount of space it displays a green light, as you approach a yellow and then red light are displayed.



Code:


int ECHOPIN = 3;        // Pin to receive echo pulse
int TRIGPIN = 4;       // Pin to send trigger pulse
int LED1 = 0;
int LED2 = 1;
int LED3 = 2;

void setup(){

  pinMode(ECHOPIN, INPUT); // sets echo pin to recive pulse from range finder
  pinMode(TRIGPIN, OUTPUT); //sets trigger pin so range finder can start pulse
  pinMode(LED1,OUTPUT);
  pinMode(LED2,OUTPUT);
  pinMode(LED3,OUTPUT);
}
void loop (){
  digitalWrite(TRIGPIN, LOW);
  delayMicroseconds(2);
  digitalWrite(TRIGPIN, HIGH);
  delayMicroseconds(10);
  digitalWrite(TRIGPIN, LOW);
  float distance = pulseIn(ECHOPIN, HIGH);
  distance= distance/58;

  if(distance >= 100){
    digitalWrite(LED1, HIGH);
    digitalWrite(LED2, LOW);
    digitalWrite(LED3, LOW);
    delay(100);
  }
  if(distance <= 75 && distance >=50 ){

    digitalWrite(LED2, HIGH);
    digitalWrite(LED1, LOW);
    digitalWrite(LED3, LOW);
    delay(100);
  }

  if(distance <= 49.9 && distance >=25 ){

    digitalWrite(LED3, HIGH);
    digitalWrite(LED1, LOW);
    digitalWrite(LED2, LOW);

    delay(100);
  }

  if(distance <= 24.5 && distance >=15){

    digitalWrite(LED3, HIGH);
    digitalWrite(LED1, HIGH);
    digitalWrite(LED2, HIGH);

    delay(500);

    digitalWrite(LED3, LOW);
    digitalWrite(LED1, LOW);
    digitalWrite(LED2, LOW);

    delay(500);
  }

  if(distance <= 14.5){

    digitalWrite(LED3, HIGH);
    digitalWrite(LED1, HIGH);
    digitalWrite(LED2, HIGH);

    delay(100);

    digitalWrite(LED3, LOW);
    digitalWrite(LED1, LOW);
    digitalWrite(LED2, LOW);

    delay(100);
  }
}

HC-SR04 and Arduino

This is a simple tutorial on using the popular and affordable HC-SR04 Range finder. The sensor is very simple to use, no libraries needed. Follow this tutorial to build a simple back up sensor for a car, or modify it to work with a sumo robot.

HC-SR04 Tutorial

Stand alone Arduino LED Cube

LED cubes have been one of the most popular projects for my students, but we were all ways building them with an attached Arduino UNO attached which can get pricy. This one is based off my 12 LED display and THIS instructable. Total cost is around $10 making this one of my more affordable Arduino projects. If you are making this cube, follow the instructible exercise for building the 3X3X3 stack of LED's and add their libraries to your arduino library folder. For everything else, work off of the attached eagle files. Enjoy!!

Eagle Schmatic

Eagle PCB

Arduino Code

Intro to Electronics With Breadboard Labs

I have been teaching an Arduino based engineering program for some time now, but I have never actually taught an electronics course. This year marks my first kick at the can. I had a very hard time finding a comprehensive electronics course on line that was more then just lessons. So I compiled some of the best YouTube lessons on the net and made my own lab set. Each lab has a simple set of instructions and Fritzing model with the bread boarded circuit and schematic diagram. Fell free to use this intro to electronics unit for your self or with students. If you feel that something has been missed add a comment at the bottom of this post and i will add it in to unit.

Level 1 - Basic Electronics Unit

Programing the ATTINY 45/85 & 44/84 and building a Attiny 4LED display

I have been working with Arduino for several years now. The biggest problem I have had is the cost of take home projects for students. The Arduino boards themselves are inexpensive but building simple circuits with the AtMega 328 is not. I stumbled across the High-Low Tech page and was very interested in their Attiny programming. I went through the several post on the subject and compiled them in to a written tutorial that students can follow to program an ATTINY 45/85 or 44/84.  Not all the technical data is there, but the steps for programming are.

In the last post I went over bread boarding a 4 LED display using an Arduino. This activity now correlates to a simple 4 led display. You will find attached the Fritzing file for the ATINY 45 display as well as Fritzing diagrams for programming both the ATTINY 45/85 and 44/84

Note: I this procedure only works with the Arduino Duemilanove board. If there are any corrections that will make it work with an uno board please not them in the comments.

Note if using the UNO board and Arduino 0022 or 0023 use This for step 1 in the tutorial 




Programming Instructions

Fritzing 45-85

Fritzing 44-84 Updated!

Fritzing 4 LED display 

Inkscape 4 LED Silk screen 

Working display code

Trouble shooting:

If you can not get your codes to upload with Arduino 0022 or 0023 with an uno board try the fix at http://www.sirmc.net/view/2002/

If you are using nano arduino you can check out the soultion at http://jedahan.com/2012/01/15/arduino-code.html , Thanks Jonathan!

4 LED Arduino light display (bread board)

I just finished up dating one of my Arduino exercises. in this tutorial students breadboard a circuit with 4 LEDs and a pot. then they have to write a program that displays 10 different light displays depending on the value of the pot. It is a great introduction to if statements and analog inputs. This exercise also leads in to my large light display project, fount under the previous BCTEA post. I plan on making a simple display based on the attiny 44 that the students can take home based of this lesson.

Google Doc Tutorial

Programming and assembling the Sumo

This tutorial goes over the finishing steps of the Arduino - H-Bridge line following / Sumo robot. These bot are very simple to build and work very well. My students have adapted this system to walking robots as well. Hope every one finds this useful. 

Link: Assembly and programming tutorial

How To Make A PCB (H-Bridge for Arduino)

This is the first of my tutorial for the October BCTEA conference where I will be presenting on Arduino. This tutorial kills two bird with one stone. firstly it explains the process of using toner transfer and a t-shirt press to make PCBs. Second it goes through the process of building the H-Bridge circuit that I use when teaching automated sumo robots. The rest of the sumo tutorials will be coming soon.

This is the first time I put something together entirely with Google docs. So we will see how it goes.

Click here for the Tutorial. 


Eagle Schmatic 

Eagle Board 

LM380 IPod Amplifier

The LM380 I Pod Amp works with many different electronic devices and amplifies sound output.

The Student Package - consists of activities such as schematic drawings, parts placement as well as theory questions.

The Teachers Package - contains Learning Objectives, Background, as well as day by day instructions for the 6 week unit.

Link:

Student Package

Teacher Package

Electronic Jeopardy

Great project for students that have already taken a year of electronics. Also a great project for students that can't afford to pay for projects as there always seems to be teachers in the school that are interested in buying it from us. I let the grade 8's play with this project before a band saw or drill press safety test as a fun way of reviewing safety procedures.


link:

Jeopardy schematic