Hi all, I am new to this but have some experience with programming. I am going to be making a time fountain for starters and am looking for a DC waterpump that is 5v. I want to be able to push only one switch to turn the LEDs and waterpump on and off to. Also I want to be able to set the flow rate of the waterpump with the UNO controller. Anyone know where to get this type of pump for a reasonable price ($20 or less).
I need a very low flow rate. I will be dripping water out of 5 - 10 lines of the typical aquarium tubing. A few gallons of water an hour is probably plenty. I will be lifting the water 2 - 3 feet. The smaller a footprint the pump leaves the better but it will be hidden so I am not too worried about the size.
Sorry for the newb question but I am wanting to buy all the hardware today. Will this require any other Arduino boards or will the UNO be able to run the pump itself (which I am thinking it is) or do I need a motor sheild?
That article looks a bit old (I'm surprised Mike hasn't updated it) - nobody would use a Darlington pair these days when mosfets are so much better (lower voltage drop = more power to the motor and less heat to get rid of). The pump you referenced only needs 300mA, so a bipolar transistor such as BC337 would suffice (use the first diagram on that page, but use a base resistor of 220 ohms instead of 3k3). Don't forget the diode across the pump (1N400x, where x = any digit in the range 1 to 7, will do).
Has anyone ordered from that site before? The stuff is really cheap but its all priced in Rupees and I am not prone to buying from foreign shops directly. If so, how did it work out?
I am building a time fountain so I only need the water to drip. I also want to be able to calibrate the dripping of water and strobing of lights very precicely to create different effects so I want to control the motor from the Arduino board. I checked harbor frieght but the pumps are too large for the small scale I am building at first. If this one works out as hoped, I am boing to build a full size fountain for the inside of my house entry but I wanted to start small for proof of concept. Thanks again all for your help. The small pump I found on Amazon arrived over the weekend when I was out of town. I am going to do some research on hooking everything up and begin to build the project.