Arduino hardware advice needed ?

Projects General Guidance
1

Hi,
Currently I am working on a project for which I need to read in 6 analog potentiometers (10-bit analog input). Please find specs in the following link..

http://usdigital.com/products/encoders/absolute/rotary/shaft/ma3

Later in the project I may add some motors in to the system as well.
Can anyone tell me which Arduino board model is well suited for for the above application ?

Thanks in advance.

V

2

Any will read in 6 analog pins.
Standard Uno or comparable clone will be fine.
If you want small size zand don't need PC connection as part of the final project, consider 5V Promini, or RBBB, or Solarbotics Ardweeny for 28-pin DIP sized part, and a seperate FTDI-Basic for programming via USB.

3

Thanks for the info. Is the UNO enough if I want to later upgrade the system to include 3 DC motors (using some motor shield) ?
And what type molex connector do I need to get for the UNO? any ready made cable suggestions ?

4

Uno has 20 I/O pins. 6 are analog inputs. 2 generally consumed for Serial I/O. Leaves you 12 others for motor controls.
Typically you would have a pin per motor to drive a transistor to ground a motor - pin to conduct current.
If you want the motor to go both directions, then you would setup (or buy) an H-bridge controller, and have a pin for each direction, so 6 pins total for 3 motors. Make those PWM outputs to have more control over the speed. Maybe 3 more pins as Enable signals if you had a H-bridge controller and you wanted to override the 2 primary control signals.

6 analog
6 motor turn on/off
1-2-3 enables (optional)
2 serial

17 total

leaves 3 others for button inputs or whatever.

I like using the wires with crimp connectors that slide into a crimp connector housing that www.pololu.com carries.
Build up the cable you need by slipping the pins into the housing, then plug that into the Uno's headers.

5

Thanks for your valuable input.
I have a Duemilanove lying around and would try everything on it.

6

Duemilanove would work fine. I do my testing on same, then transfer to Prominis for installation, or wire up my own standalone atmega design.