Add a photo to a Sketch?

[thetrainrev]

Hi Gang

I'm a newbie here and would like to add photos of my breadboard configuration to my Sketches so I can easily refer to it when applying it to "realtime" application(s) for my model railroad projects.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Blessings

[UKHeliBob]

In what sense do you want to add them to your sketches ?

Could you put the images in a folder under the sketch directory ?

[thetrainrev]

UKHeliBob

Well, now ... that would be too simple, eh?? LOL

Initially I was thinking of inserting a photo following the "//" comments section, but I like your idea more!

BTW- I want to use the 12DCV +/- buss that runs throughout my layout as the power supply for the Arduinos I'll be using (about 15). Why type of 12V female plug will I need for that hard-wired connection, please?

Thanks, tons

[UKHeliBob]

If you really want to link your sketches to images then you could always put the images on line and put a links to them in comments in the code

I would advise against using breadboards for anything approaching a permanent setup. They are prone to problems with loose connections and too easily disturbed. Tou would be better to build the circuits in perf board or even PCBs if you are serious about this

15 Arduinos scattered around your railroad circuit ? Why so many ? As to the size of the power connectors, which Arduinos are you using, it sounds like they may be Unos.

[thetrainrev]

UKHeliBob

".... you could always put the images on line and put a links to them in comments in the code" - another great idea! Thanks

" Tou would be better to build the circuits in perf board or even PCBs if you are serious about this" - Yes, that exactly what I'm intending to do.

"15 Arduinos scattered around your railroad circuit ? Why so many ?"

My layout is 40 feet square with many railroad crossings which have gates and flashing signals that will be activated by trains riding over photodiodes embedded in the tracks leading to those crossings - among other uses for the Arduino.

" As to the size of the power connectors, which Arduinos are you using, it sounds like they may be Unos."

I am using Arduino Uno for all my projects. Again, I don't need the AC converter as I will hard-wire 12VDC to the Arduinos using a female plug that will accommodate the board.

[UKHeliBob]

See Power Jack & Supply | Ladyada's Learn Arduino - Lesson #0 | Adafruit Learning System for the power supply plug details

[thetrainrev]

Thanks, so much, for all you're help and guidance.

Your rock!

[pert]

The classic Arduino IDE has a somewhat unfortunate behavior related to non-sketch files in the sketch folder. When you do a "Save As...", only the sketch files are saved to the new location. The exception is the contents of the data subfolder of the sketch folder. The entire contents of this folder will be saved. The IDE also has a Sketch > Add File... menu item that allows you to save files to this data subfolder from the IDE.

[TomGeorge]

Hi, @thetrainrev
Welcome to the forum.

With so many UNOs, are you going to communicate amongst themselves?
If so what comms system are you going to use?

Nanos would be better than UNOs, smaller footprint.

I have a T-Trak module that I'm helping my brother make a automatic display layout.
I have a Nano for each module and daisy chain them with CanBus.
Still doing a POC when I can get round to it.

Tom...
PS God's Wonderful Railway fan here..

[SamRuben123]

And also, if he's really insistent that he needs an Uno ONLY, he can try any communication library (esp. the Wire library and its equivalents)..

[UKHeliBob]

For the specific applications mentioned in post #5 no communication between Arduinos is required

[SamRuben123]

@thetrainrev

My layout is 40 feet square with many railroad crossings which have gates and flashing signals that will be activated by trains riding over photodiodes embedded in the tracks leading to those crossings - among other uses for the Arduino.

You can use long wires and plug those onto the Arduino. Then you can use the FreeRTOS library (available for download on Sketches > Import Library > Library Manager [or I must have put up the wrong name] on the Arduino library manager; or type git clone https://github.com/feilipu/Arduino_FreeRTOS_Library.git in your shell console or terminal after downloading and installing Git) by importing it into the IDE and making a sketch to read data from the sensors and changing the signals real time. All this can be done using a single Arduino as long as you don't exceed the limit of the number of devices you can connect.