Hi!
I want to buy Arduino Uno, but before I do that I want to know if its possible to control a motor and have a real time clock at the same time. This is important to me as I want to make a bell striking mechanism.
Thank you!
Yes, that's perfectly possible.
Thank you, now I can order it immeadeately.
Terraviper-5:
I want to buy Arduino Uno, but before I do that I want to know if its possible to control a motor and have a real time clock at the same time. This is important to me as I want to make a bell striking mechanism.
Before you buy a RTC or a motor shield, use the shieldlist.org web site to ensure that there is no conflict between the boards you intend on using. My recommendation would be using the Chronodot clock - very easy to use and program with existing libraries and very accurate also. It uses the I2C bus, which is relatively easy to implement (2 resistors, a couple of jumper wires) and the SCL/SCA pins (usually analog pins A4 and A5).
As for motor control shields, there are many to choose from. However, your problem re: motors may be even simpler depending on the strike / clapper your bell uses. A simple relay may be all you need.
Constantin:
Before you buy a RTC or a motor shield, use the shieldlist.org web site to ensure that there is no conflict between the boards you intend on using.
Until now I hadn't known about shieldlist.org. Fantastic site. Thanks!
Before I saw your post I intended to buy the Arduino Motor Shield R3. I was able to get Uno in my country, but I would have to buy this shield from abroad. But what you have posted gives me more freedom to choose from, thank you! What I liked about R3 is that they raised the current limit to 2 amps. While I don't necessarily need that much juice/need shield at all for the bell, I also wanted to use this for other stuff, mostly learning in the beginning. I also read that even though it has 2 amps, people experienced quick overheat without giant heatsinks if used with robots (kind of drawback I guess).
I already have these two motors at home,
http://shrani.si/f/3C/12i/25JTGwSm/dscn0832.jpg
http://shrani.si/f/u/RE/4SrXVZ11/dscn0833.jpg
so for one of them I can experiment even without the shield. I would hate to buy a shield and then realise that its too weak to power one of my motors for more than few mins before overheating.
Also, thanks for the RTC, will take a look at it.
Edit: This thing looks like a beast: Robot Power Products - MegaMoto Motor Control Shield for Arduino