Microcontrollers
Microcontrollers
SparkFun – Max Power IR LED Kit
SparkFun: KIT-10732
Description: Infrared LEDs are awesome. Along with an IR receiver they can be used for remote control and even basic remote data communication. The only problem is that your Arduino won’t drive them to their full potential. The SparkFun Max Power IR LED kit solves this problem by providing you with everything you need to drive a 950nm IR LED properly. Simply solder together this easy through-hole kit and you can switch the LED using a transistor.
Once the kit is assembled, simply provide it with voltage (5V), ground, and connect the CTL pin to a digital pin on your Arduino, and you can drive this kit just like a normal LED. Although the LED won’t be visible to your naked eye, you can use a video camera, cell phone camera, or digital camera to see if the LED is working properly.
Don Luc
LowPowerLab – Moteino
LowPowerLab: Moteino R2
What is Moteino?
Moteino is a low cost low-power open-source wireless Arduino compatible development platform based on the popular ATMega328 chip used in traditional Arduinos, making it 100% compatible with the Arduino IDE (programming environment). Regular Moteino does not include an onboard USB-Serial converter (like traditional Arduinos), instead you need to use an external FTDI adapter to load sketches, the advantages being lower cost, smaller size. However there is a MoteinoUSB variant that the serial converter onboard. They are compatible with any other Arduino clones that use the popular HopeRF RFM69 transceiver, or the older RFM12B. Moteino also comes with an optional SPI flash memory chip for wireless programming, or data logging.
Soldering antenna and headers
Moteinos come without any soldered headers or antennas. Without the wire antenna the range will be only a few feet, and while this is OK for testing purposes it’s recommended that an antenna be soldered before real application use of the transmitter. The provided wire monopole antenna has to be soldered to the “ANT” pin hole (just above the FLASH chip) to achieve any usable range. Regular Moteinos will come with a 1×6 male header that you have to solder before you can power it and upload sketches through an FTDI Adapter.
Specifications for Moteino R2
- Microcontroller: ATmega328
- Transceiver: RFM69 W/HW/CW, RFM12B
- Transceivers frequencies: 434Mhz, 868Mhz (EU), 915Mhz (US, Australia, etc.)
- Input Voltage: 3.5V-16V (up to 12V recommended)
- Operating Voltage: 3.3V (regulated by MCP1703 on most recent Moteinos)
- Digital I/O Pins: 14+6 (6 PWM capable: marked with “~” symbol)
- Analog Input Pins: 8 (2 analog-only pins more than regular Arduinos)
- DC Current per I/O Pin: 20 mA
- Flash Memory: 32 KB of which 1 KB used by DualOptiboot bootloader
- SRAM: 2 KB
- EEPROM: 1 KB
- Clock Speed: 16 MHz
MISC
- Onboard LED on pin D9 instead of D13 (D9 is PWM!)
- RFM12B or RFM69 SPI-CS on D10
- FLASH SPI-CS on D8
- A6 and A7 are analog pins only, cannot be used as digital pins
Don Luc
SparkFun – Capacitance Meter DIY Kit
SparkFun: KIT-09485
Description: This kit includes everything you need to make your very own capacitance meter, able to measure caps anywhere between the range of 500uF to 1pF. Many multimeters are able to measure capacitance, but they’re rarely as precise as a dedicated capacitance meter. Not only does this product provide a great chance to hone your soldering skills, but you also come out with an accurate, fully functional, capacitance measuring tool.
Assembly is very straightforward, and all components are through-hole. You’ll get a chance to solder a wide range of components such as resistors, seven segment LEDs, a 28-pin ATmega48 microcontroller, and more!
An 8-16VDC power supply is required, but not included.
Features:
- About 1% accuracy, <2% error
- Measuring range: 1pF – 500uF
- Automatic range switch
- Zeroing available
- Real time serial output of measurement read-outs with time stamp
- Low cost and easy to build
- Power supply voltage: 8-16VDC
- Power supply current: <30mA
Don Luc
Seeed Studio – Music Shield V1.2
Seeed Studio: Music Shield V1.2
Introduction
The Music Shield is a professional audio codec.It can work with Arduino, Seeeduino, Seeeduino Mega and Arduino Mega. It is based on VS1053b IC, and can play a variety of music formats stored on MicroSD cards with Seeed the provided Arduino Library.
Note: Recording is only supported on Seeeduino Mega and Arduino Mega for now.
Features
- Arduino,Seeeduino, Arduino Mega, and Seeeduino Mega compatible
- 2 control-push buttons and 1 knob switch
- Plays music from micro SD cards Decodes: MP3, WAV, MIDI, Ogg Vorbis
I2S interface for external DAC - Headphone/Line Out for playback
- Line In for recording in OGG format
- Excellent sound quality with ±1dB Frequency Response
- FCC verification
Usage – Hardware Installation
Insert the Micro SD card and the earphone; Plug the Music Shield onto the Arduino/Seeeduino; Connect the board to PC using USB cable.
Don Luc
Adafruit – Push-button Power Switch Breakout
Adafruit: 1400
Description
The Adafruit Push-button Power Switch is a tidy little design that lets you control a DC power source using an everyday tactile button. The breakout uses a latching analog circuit that is triggered by a push of the button. Press once to turn on, then press again to turn off. The circuit uses a 3A P-FET to connect and disconnect the IN pin to the OUT pin. Works great from 3V to 14VDC and up to 3A (although the FET gets a little toasty at continuous 3A draw) yet has only 0.5uA quiescent current draw.
Using it is easy: connect the power source to Ground and IN, then the load from Ground to OUT. We include a 12mm tactile switch that works well but you can solder in your own switch as well. Press the button (or short the button pins) to alternate between on or off. A on-board red LED will light up when active so you know its working. There’s a fourth KILL pin, which you can use to turn off the load and/or keep it off even if the button is pressed. When 1 or more volts is applied it will instantly turn off the FET. This allows your project to turn itself off.
Comes with a assembled & tested bread-board friendly breakout board with four mounting holes, a 12mm tactile button, and some 0.1″ male header you can solder to the board to plug it into a breadboard.
The power switch is an elegant way to control power to your project, but there are some things to keep in mind: since there is a pass FET, this is only for 3-14V DC voltages. This is not a mechanical switch so there is no air-gap isolation. There is a ‘body diode’ in the pass FET so if the load has a voltage on it that is higher than the input voltage, current will flow back to the input. There is built-in debouncing but very bouncy switches can be annoying as they will turn on and off fast instead of latching.
Technical Details
- Dimensions: 20.51mm / 0.8″ x 17.75mm / 0.69″ x 2.66mm / 0.1″
- Height with Switch: 8.69mm / 0.34″
- Weight: 2.6g
- MC14093 Datasheet (the NAND gate used) P-Channel Pass MOSFET
Don Luc
Adafruit – Stereo 3.7W Class D Audio Amplifier – MAX98306
Adafruit: 987
Description
This incredibly small stereo amplifier is surprisingly powerful – able to deliver 2 x 3.7W channels into 3 ohm impedance speakers. Inside the miniature chip is a class D controller, able to run from 2.7V-5.5VDC. Since the amp is a class D, its incredibly efficient (over 90% efficient when driving an speaker at over a Watt) – making it perfect for portable and battery-powered projects. It has built in thermal and over-current protection but we could barely tell it got hot. This board is a welcome upgrade to basic “LM386” amps!
The inputs of the amplifier go through 1.0uF capacitors, so they are fully ‘differential’ – if you don’t have differential outputs, simply tie the R- and L- to ground. The outputs are “Bridge Tied” – that means they connect directly to the outputs, no connection to ground. The output is a 360KHz square wave PWM that is then ‘averaged out’ by the speaker coil – the high frequencies are not heard. All the above means that you can’t connect the output into another amplifier, it should drive the speakers directly.
Comes with a fully assembled and tested breakout board with 1.0uF input capacitors. We also include header to plug it into a breadboard, 3.5mm screw-terminal blocks so you can easily attach/detach your speakers, and a 2×4 header + jumper to change the amplifier gain on the fly. You will be ready to rock in 15 minutes!
- Output Power: 3.7W at 3O, 10% THD, 1.7W at 8O, 10% THD, with 5V Supply
- Passes EMI limit unfiltered with up to 12 inches (30 cm) of speaker cable
- High 83dB PSRR at 217Hz
- Spread-Spectrum Modulation and Active Emissions Limiting
- Five pin-selectable gains: 6dB, 9dB, 12dB, 15dB and 18dB. Select with a jumper or by setting the G and G’ breakout pins
- Excellent click-and-pop suppression
- Thermal and short-circuit/over-current protection
- Low current draw: 2mA quiescent and 10uA in shutdown mode
Technical Details
Dimensions (without 0.1″ header):
- Length: 28.25mm/1.11in
- Width: 24.15mm/0.95in
- Height: 3.03mm/0.12in
- Weight: 2.33g
Don Luc
Adafruit – Breadboard-Friendly RGB Smart NeoPixel
Adafruit: 1312
Description
This is the easiest way possible to add small, bright RGB pixels to your project. We took the same technology from our Flora NeoPixels and made them breadboard friendly, with two rows of 3 x 0.1″ spaced header on each side for easy soldering, chaining and breadboarding. These ultra-bright LEDs have a constant-current driver cooked right into the LED package! The pixels are chainable – so you only need 1 pin/wire to control as many LEDs as you like.
These pixels have full 24-bit color ability with PWM taken care of by the controller chip. Since the LED is so bright, you need less current/power to get the effects you want. The driver is constant current so its OK if your battery power changes or fluctuates a little.
Each pixel draws as much as 60mA (all three RGB LEDs on for full brightness white). An Arduino can drive up to 500 pixels at 30 FPS (it will run out of RAM after that). Using ribbon cable you can string these up to 6″ apart (after that, you might get power droops and data corruption)
Each order comes with 4 individually controllable pixels. In the photos above we show the pixels with headers soldered on, but the pixels do not come with any headers.
Technical Details
- Dimensions: 0.4″ x 0.5″ x 0.1″ / 10.2mm x 12.7mm x 2.5mm
- 0.5″ (12.5mm) diameter circle PCB, 0.1″ (2.5mm) total thickness
- 800 KHz speed protocol
- Chainable design
- 5-9VDC power (can run at 3.5V but color will be dimmed), constant current 18.5mA per LED (~55mA max total per pixel)
Don Luc
Pololu – 3.3V Step-Up Voltage Regulator NCP1402
Pololu: #2114
This compact step-up (or boost) regulator generates 3.3 V from voltages as low as 0.8 V and delivers up to 200 mA, making it perfect for powering small 3.3 V electronics projects from one or two NiMH, NiCd, or alkaline cells.
Overview
These tiny boost (step-up) switching regulators are based on the NCP1402 boost regulator IC. Their small dimensions of just 0.33″ × 0.5″ (8.4 mm × 12.7 mm) and a startup voltage of down to 0.8 V make it easy to build 3.3 V and 5 V circuits that are powered by lower battery voltages. The available output current and output voltage ripple depend on the input voltage, but the regulator can provide up to 200 mA if the input voltage is high enough.
With low input voltages, the output voltage ripple is under 40 mV peak-to-peak. When the input voltage is close to the output, the output ripple quickly climbs to 150 mV peak-to-peak. Therefore, adding capacitance from the output to ground is recommended for noise-sensitive applications with input voltages close to the output voltage.
Some example applications include:
- Powering 3.3 V or 5 V systems from lower-voltage batteries.
- Powering higher-voltage subsystems in lower-voltage systems (e.g. powering a 5 V sensor in a 3.3 V system).
- This regulator is available with a fixed 3.3 V or 5 V output.
For higher-power applications, consider using one of our adjustable boost regulators or our U3V12Fx boost regulators. For a regulator that supports similarly low input voltages but higher currents, consider our U1V11x boost regulators, which offer features that the rest of our boost regulators lack, such as a true shutdown and automatic linear down-regulation when the input voltage exceeds the output voltage.
Using the Boost Regulator
The boost regulator has just three connections: the input voltage, ground, and the output voltage. These three connections are labeled on the back side of the PCB and they are arranged with a 0.1″ spacing along the edge of the board for compatibility with standard solderless breadboards and perfboards and connectors that use a 0.1″ grid. You can solder wires directly to the board or solder in either the 3×1 straight male header strip or the 3×1 right-angle male header strip that are included.
Features
- Operating voltage: 0.8 V – VOUT
- 3.3 V or 5.0 V output with 2.5% accuracy
- <3 mA typical no-load quiescent current
- Small size: 8.4 mm × 12.7 mm × 3.8 mm (0.33″ × 0.50″ × 0.15″)
- Weight without header pins: 0.6 g (0.02 oz)
Don Luc
Pololu – Adjustable Step-Up Voltage Regulator U1V11A
Pololu: #2560
This compact (0.45″×0.6″) U1V11A switching step-up (or boost) voltage regulator efficiently boosts input voltages as low as 0.5 V to an adjustable output voltage between 2 V and 5.25 V. Unlike most boost regulators, the U1V11A offers a true shutdown option that turns off power to the load, and it automatically switches to a linear down-regulation mode when the input voltage exceeds the output. The pins have a 0.1″ spacing, making this board compatible with standard solderless breadboards and perfboards.
Overview
This adjustable boost (step-up) voltage regulator generates higher output voltages (between 2 V and 5.25 V) from input voltages as low as 0.5 V, and it also automatically switches to a linear down-regulation mode when the input voltage exceeds the output. This makes it great for powering electronics projects from 1 to 3 NiMH, NiCd, or alkaline cells or from a single lithium-ion cell. Additionally, unlike most boost regulators, this unit offers a true shutdown option that turns off power to the load (with typical boost regulators, the input voltage will pass directly through to the output when they are disabled).
When boosting, this module acts as a switching regulator (also called switched-mode power supplies (SMPS) or DC-to-DC converters) and has a typical efficiency between 70% to 90%. The available output current is a function of the input voltage, output voltage, and efficiency (see Typical Efficiency and Output Current section below), but the input current can typically be as high as 1.2 A. This regulator is also available with a fixed 3.3 V or fixed 5 V output, and very similar regulators are available in a much smaller size with a fixed 3.3 V or fixed 5 V output.
The regulator’s thermal shutdown engages at around 140°C and helps prevent damage from overheating, but it does not have short-circuit or reverse-voltage protection.
Features
- Input voltage: 0.5 V to 5.5 V
- Adjustable output voltage from 2 V to 5.25 V
- True shutdown option that turns off power to the load
- Automatic linear down-regulation when the input voltage is greater than the output voltage
- 1.2 A switch allows for input currents up to 1.2 A
- Good efficiency at light load: <1 mA typical no-load quiescent current, though it can exceed 1 mA for very low input voltages (<100 µA typical quiescent current with SHDN = LOW)
- Integrated over-temperature shutoff
- Small size: 0.45″ × 0.6″; × 0.1″ (11.5 × 15.3 × 2.5 mm)
Don Luc
SparkFun – “Uh-oh” Battery Level Indicator Kit
SparkFun: KIT-11087
Description: Under-powering a digital device can sometimes have pretty nasty consequences. Brown-out conditions can cause memory to get written or overwritten in odd ways, can cause unexpected behavior in connected systems and just generally screw up your day. One way to avoid this is to keep an eye on your battery voltage and turn off the system before it gets too low (or plug it in). We’ve whipped up a little board to help you out with this situation: the “Uh-oh” battery level indicator.
At the heart of the “Uh-oh” board is the TL431ACLPG shunt regulator diode. The reference voltage can be adjusted by using the trimpot on board. When the battery connected to the board reaches that voltage, the shunt allows current to flow through the LED, alerting you to a low battery situation. In order to set the appropriate reference voltage, you can use the formula found in the schematic to calculate your desired resistance and set it using the trimpot and a multimeter measuring resistance across the provided test points.
This board comes as a “bag of parts” kit. All of the parts are through-hole and it shouldn’t take long to solder together. The footprint of each part is clearly marked on the PCB to help you throw it together.
Kit Includes:
- “Uh-oh” Through-hole PCB
- 10mm Diffused Green LED
- JST Wire Assembly
- TL431ACLPG IC
- JST Right-Angle Connector
- 10K Trimpot
- 330 Ohm Resistor
Don Luc