Sep 112013
Sep 072013
“Arduino Pins”
pins 0,1 talk to OBDII
miles traveled (maintenance reminder), spd, fuel lvl, misc
pins 2,3,4,5, talk to tm1638 displays
display actual speed & posted limit, TOD, Maint reminders: OIL, Gas,
Buttons on spd display: dim, bright, mark,
pin 6
pins 7,8 talk to gps module (RTC, GPS)
speed (1 knot (kt) = 1.15077945 miles per hour (mph)), TOD
10,11,12,13 talk (log/read) to TF card
location of speed limit changes, maintenance reminders
pin 9
pin 14 aka A0 dim display ‘backlight’
pin 15
pin 16
pin 17
pins 18,19 I2C com to Arduino with snd player – voice prompts
“Next speed limit is ???” 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80
“Will need gas in so X milles.” 100,
“The time is X” (this will likely get old soon.) 1,2,3,4,6,7,8,9,11,12,13,14,16,17,18,19
(Snd module on order. Not sure what it can do. Hope its up for these phrases and others.)
Aug 302013
In the past year or so the Arduino bug bit. I came up with many things that I could do with an Arduino. Somewhere in the mix it came to my attention that it is possible to roll your own Arduinos. The Arduino foundation even encourages it with instructions. Plus there are various suggestions on the web on how. Plus design tips. I have opted for a bit of middle ground. There are at least two Arduino clone makers that have their pc boards available separately. I’ve been using some of those boards to build my Arduino systems. That is when the project doesn’t require a usb connection to a host computer. I’m getting the bare chips from Digikey and using an AVR programmer shield from Adafruit.com. (https://www.adafruit.com/products/462)
There are 20 usable pins on the Arduino that is based on the ATmega328P-UP. Of those 20 pins, 2 are to program the ‘Arduino’. If not pinched for pins I usually focus on the other 18. All of those can be used for gpio. Six of those can be used for analog in. Potentiometers, joystick, photo cell, temperature sensor, etc.
Midi control of effects etc from guitar. I have pedal boards, but what I’ve really been wanting is sound selection from the guitar it self. Control of RaxVax patch and tuning. Select Pod patch. Select midi synth patch. Panic all notes off of the midi synths. Patch tweaking via a joystick and a few potentiometers.
Stumbled across sketches for keypad matrix input on Arduino Playground.
Acquired some TM1638 modules from DX.com, have been using them for Pi time displays. Plan to use one or two with an in car gps clock / maintenance reminder system. Which at this point 30/Aug/2013 0:27 isn’t even fleshed out. I’ve acquired most of the pieces I think that I’m going to need. Got an OBDII interface from http://www.arduinodev.com/hardware/obd-kit/. GPS shield from Adafruit http://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-ultimate-gps-logger-shield/overview .
(more to in future posts)
Aug 262013
“Arduino Pins”
Using Adafruit Motor/Stepper/Servo Shield
pins: 3,4,5,6,7,8,11,12
LCD Shield Kit w/ 16×2 Character Display
pins: 18,19
Arduino moves feed fence to cut multiple pcb ties.
Settings will be available for the various lengths needed for turnout and track construction.
Tie widths for HO & S standard gauge.
Everything can be adjusted.
Advance key may/will get the most exercise so a beefier switch will be in order.
Tasks:
Devise Menu / control scheme for LCD Shield:
Up / Down – scroll through menu items.
Right / Left – navigate branches
Select
Once Item is Selected Right Key advances feed fence selected amount.
Left key press and release moves feed fence back (to the left) selected amount.
Left key held for 3 seconds moves feed fence to left most position (load).
Top Menu
HO
S
For each:
Make ties (set for width cut for that scale)
Stock (selections for cutting stock to length)
(Once stock is cut to length is gets ‘The Sharpie Treatment’ and a ‘Green Bath’.)
8.5′
9′
9.5′
12.5′
14′
15′
23′
This is for a #8. Its likely similar for the others.
( I cleaned up and now I can’t find anything. )
Throw Bar
Measurements: Ties slots in Fixtures.
Calibrate “Machine” to duplicate measurements.
Put ‘table’ on legs. – done
Mount feed fence slides.
Mount feed fence uprights. – done
Mount stepper and feed screw.
Aug 242013
Finally getting around to constructing a pcb tie cutting machine. Primarily as the need for a large quantity of pcb ties at a reasonable price has caught up with me.
Once machine construction is complete, the coding will begin.
As a former cow orker said many times, “Nothing to it, but to do it.”
Onward!
Aug 232013
This morning I’ve been looking for the latest version of the code that I used on my traverser. Want to use it with the pcb tie machine. Unfortunately the latest version posted on the web site is not the latest code. That is something that I will remedy if I’m able to find the code in question. Hopefully its on the old hard drive. I’m certainly glad that I haven’t written over it.
Jan 252013
How to get enough inputs and outputs with a ATmega328 chip? One solution is to use a couple of its pins setup as a JeeNode port. To utilize an JeeLabs Input Plug for likely more analogs control inputs than a guitar controller would need.
Its possible yes, but money. One Duemilanove is less money than one JeeLabs Input Plug.
From a monetary stand pint. It appears problem solved. Another possibility is to roll your own pin multiplexer. PC board will be needed.
This project will not be powered by batteries.
A question that should be asked is how many ins and outs are needed?
