I have just got update that my phi-connect "Arduino wire organizer" has rolled off the production line and into a box inside an oversees postal service facility. What does phi-connect do? It helps you organize your arduino. If you look at your arduino, how many jumper wires are coming out of it and landing various places on your breadboard? Spaghetti monster residing on your arduino and breadboard? If you're willing to organize your project with the phi-connect, you will send one to you free (limited supply), to exchange your messy pictures, and better pictures after using the phi-connect. With this system, you can quickly connect your arduino to a different project with a ribbon cable and eventually use the same thing in permanent installation. In case you want your arduino back, pull the plug. The installation is not disturbed.
Here's some pictures from the fab house, not the best angles:
This goes on arduino, the right side connects to a ribbon cable connector:
This goes on breadboard, the bottom side connects to a ribbon cable connector:
That's a great idea!
My first thought was that most of the mess on a breadboard is after the arduino-breadboard connection. For example:
There's only eight or so connections to the arduino and they're fairly neat, but then I realised that I've got a few breadboards all set up but missing an arduino, and I'll have to hope I put the pinout in the code. Having a set of your board would make it a whole load easier.
Well you can have a messy pic but it's all been tidied up already
I often have messy breadboards
I have done something similar to your second board - got some ribbon cables and soldered one end to some stripboard with headers on (so it fits into a breadboard).
CowJam:
That's a great idea!
My first thought was that most of the mess on a breadboard is after the arduino-breadboard connection. For example:
There's only eight or so connections to the arduino and they're fairly neat, but then I realised that I've got a few breadboards all set up but missing an arduino, and I'll have to hope I put the pinout in the code. Having a set of your board would make it a whole load easier.
CowJam,
This is one scenario this wire management system is designed for, moving arduino freely between projects. If you're willing to snap a few shots of your various boards missing arduino before (got one pic already) and after using my boards, and use a couple sentences to describe your projects, I'd be happy to send you my boards to help you control the situation. I think I might have sent stuff to you in the past so I'll look for your address in my PM
This is one scenario this wire management system is designed for, moving arduino freely between projects. If you're willing to snap a few shots of your various boards missing arduino before (got one pic already) and after using my boards, and use a couple sentences to describe your projects, I'd be happy to send you my boards to help you control the situation. I think I might have sent stuff to you in the past so I'll look for your address in my PM
You "ruined" it by tidying it up
I think my board may be still useful to organize some of your work. I can see an arduino clone board in white with more than 10 wires going to the breadboard, plus 5V and GND. If you use my boards, you can easily pull your arduino out for another project, even just using the arduino top board with female headers and migrate all connections from arduino to the top board (square) will help you remove your arduino in one pull. Let me know if you're interested. You might need to reverse your connections from pin13-pin0 to pin0-pin13. But if you want to try the boards for any future project in mind, I'll send you a set. Just PM me.
I get my hands on white wires if I can. I take out a black and a red permanent marker and dot the 5V with red and gnd with black. Then I can go creative say use black mixed with red for signal. Could go binary, red (1) black (0), and a thick black line is LSB. All this sounds too neat for me but will try binary sometime.
Black for "I've been using red for too long" and red for "Lets have a splash of colour".
Haha
I think if it was a project I was working with someone else on then I might make it a little more colour co-ordinated but as it is, when it's a project that it's just going to be me working on it then I know what all the wires are as I put them there.
I'll send you a set. Just PM me.
Well I'll happily take a set to have a play with - that project is going to be 'finished' so I shouldn't be taking the microcontroller out of it again - it's probably going to be a standalone '328 when it's done.
I do have many projects where I could benefit from being able to easily change things around - by having other 'interfaces' attached by cables (switches, LCDs, pots, sliders etc) then you could also in theory have the code decide what to do based on what's connected (have some kind of sensor line so it knows what's connected)
White sounds hard to come by but that's something I do sometimes - wrap some masking tape round and colour it on each end so when it's a long wire I know what's connected to what (when the multimeter probes aren't long enough to stretch 4-5m or so to test the resistance after the cable's been put in). White sounds cool if you can get it though - pack of multi-coloured sharpies and you could do many variations.
I've received the phi-connect boards. I'll be sending you the boards early next week. Meanwhile, anyone else wanting to try for free? You need a messy project or you want to switch between your project a, b, and c but show me how you're doing the switch before and after using this board. I am willing to send out a few more sets.
How to pass all your arduino connections easily to breadboard
I don't use my arduino that way for prototyping. Once the prototype is done, I build up a smaller arduino, or standalone, into the final project.
And lately I haven't even prototyped - just went from design right to wirewrapping.
If you still use Arduino boards, you could save that design in your picture by connecting all those wires going to arduino to my breakout board. I've tested a GLCD to work on an 18" cable without any problem so fast communication is no problem. If you need more power on your board, you'll be adding separate power to your BB anyway.
If you're interested, I'll send you a PCB set. Give it a try to see if you like it. PM me. US mail under 3oz should break my bank
It's the toxic fume from the rosin, isn't it mowcius?
I didn't like perf board when I started with electronics but now I can do it, just takes more time for one prototype. Either it's 3 hours soldering or 3 weeks waiting, I mostly choose waiting. Maybe in the near future, PCBs can be done at home without much chemicals just like laser printers. When I started turning in printed lab reports, I had to wait 20 minutes for my NEC dot matrix printer to print a few pages. Those days are gone.
I like wirewrap because I can make each design match the parts I have on hand and slowly use up this stock of stuff that's been accumilating since 1980.
I've done some PCBs, where I knew I was going to need a bunch of one design, but the other things I've been making them up as I go and adjusting the design and tweaking the design.
I've done some PCB layouts for the boards I ended up wirewrapping, just never got around to ordering them.
Liudr,
That design in my picture has already been wirewrapped up 5 times.
I have only built promini's into my projects, bought a bunch of them and a Basic FTDI adapter from Gravitech for way less than buying a bunch of duemilanove's would have been, and when those ran out I started wirewrapping up promini equivalents. I don't think I will ever build a duemilanove or UNO into a project.
And even the PCBs I made, I designed in transistors as a logic inverter and LED drivers because I had a drawerful and wanted to use them, while a 7406 would have done all I needed and probably needed a little less room on the board.
