Hello folks!
A bit of background - I have a small amount of microcontroller experience (built an autonomous robot for a competition), and a reasonable amount of coding experience.
The project I'm attempting is related to rock climbing. I'd like to attach a controller/accelerometer/logger to my climbing harness to record things like biggest fall, biggest shock experienced, total distance climbed, etc. But before I purchase a bunch of parts, I'm looking for a sanity check and some suggestions!
The accelerometer I'm leaning towards is this guy: SparkFun Triple Axis Accelerometer Breakout - ADXL345 - SEN-09836 - SparkFun Electronics
Besides the up to +/- 16g capability, some of its other features look especially useful for conserving battery life, etc (talking about the free fall detection, in/activity sensing, interrupt output pins, etc.).
Question 1: Does this appear to be a solid choice for the application I've described? Is it missing something that I might want, or is it overkill? Have I proven my ignorance with this horrible selection?
Moving on...the next thing I'm wondering about is data capture. Storing the data on microSD seems an appropriate option, especially considering I'll just be storing lines of text.
Question 2: Is microSD the best choice here? I'm not sure what options there are beyond storing on dedicated flash memory like this, but I don't want to make too many assumptions.
Question 3: What do I gain (beyond the obvious) by using a discrete data logger such as this: SparkFun OpenLog - DEV-13712 - SparkFun Electronics ? Would that simplify the design by possibly obviating the need for a separate microcontroller (Arduino Uno is what I have at the moment) to make everything work? Or would I still need a controller beyond the one included on that data logger unit? What are the implications of getting just a microSD card breakout board like this SparkFun microSD Transflash Breakout - BOB-00544 - SparkFun Electronics instead, and handling all of the logging with the Uno I'm already planning to use (which I may switch to a mini or something down the line)?
Sorry if these questions are too broad, I've tried to organize and provide the necessary information so that they can be addressed. Please let me know if there's something I've left out, as I'm a little sleepy!
Thanks for your help!!