Hardware advice

Hi all,

Am new to the site and the world that is Arduino and wanted to build know knowledge of both hardware and the language to control lights, monors and valves in set sequences.

I'm looking to buy some hardware so i can firstly set it up, become familiar and write basic functions to a stepper motor for example, slowly adding more and more to create a sequesnce of events including flashing LEDs and actuators running in sequence/parallel.

So as i mentioned i'll start with a stand alone stepper motor, then as i get excited with progress the intention is to mount it to a cart ..maybe a simple elastic band, pully driven 4 wheel drive system!! :slight_smile:
The idea is to mount it on a track system to keep it straight and have it stop at different points along the way for other motors and/or actuators to do their thing.

It will be something like the automated drinks dispensor a few people have created, but more soft drinks and something fun for the kids (when i manage to put a friendly interface to it).

  • The cart will carry a glass along the track
  • Decelerate and line up underneath a concentrated fruit drink
  • Another motor or actuator will be triggered to pour a measure
  • The track system will drive to another station
  • Release a valve to add water
  • The cart will take the glass back to the home location
  • Flashing lights will indicate its ready :slight_smile:

So there will be different stops along the track system and different valves to dispense water/soda/cola etc.

This maybe me giving too much information already, but i wanted to give you all an understanding of what i'm planning so pick the right controllor board to build off.
Ive looked into the Mega 2560 ..will this do the job? will i be able to add an interface to it eventually to run predefinded drinks from an interface.

Then i'll aso be buying a stepper motor and control board to get basic knowledge of running a motor ..eventually adding more motors and lights till i get closed to a desired end.

I was thinking the following to start off ..providing the mega is the right board for the job

Thank you all in advance for your time, I look forward to starting a progress thread to share ideas! :slight_smile:

Hi, welcome to the forum.

You can start with an Arduino Uno board, and make a led blink.
There is no need to start big, you can always use the Arduino Uno board to test sensors and try sketches from the forum, and so on.

That Mega clone from Ebay has a CH340G usb-serial chip. That is not officially supported by the Arduino.
If Windows doesn't install the driver automatically, you can install CH341 drivers.

The ULN2003 is a stone-age stepper driver. It is very cheap and it will work with very small stepper motors. At least buy the 5V-12V version. You have to start somewhere I guess, so it might as well be in the stone-age.
This is the cheapest fake Uno clone I have seen (also with that CH340G usb-serial chip). It is so cheap, I doubt if it works : http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/371182753257
Add the old outdated fake motor shield clone : www.ebay.co.uk/itm/111505261246
And you have lots of fun, for almost no money.

For modern motor drivers, have a look at the Pololu website. They have awesome drivers like this one : Pololu - DRV8825 Stepper Motor Driver Carriers, High Current

Also Sparkfun has cool stepper drivers, like this one : EasyDriver - Stepper Motor Driver - ROB-13226 - SparkFun Electronics

And the Adafruit shield is the easiest to start with : Adafruit Motor/Stepper/Servo Shield for Arduino v2 Kit [v2.3] : ID 1438 : $19.95 : Adafruit Industries, Unique & fun DIY electronics and kits

It may be useful to look the demo several things at a time and the Thread planning and implementing a program and buy the hardware so you can get them to work. You don't need to buy it all to start with.

If you are thinking of using a stepper motor you may find stepper motor basics useful, although it does not deal with the small 5-wire stepper motors that are controlled with a ULN2003 (because I have never had one of those motors).

...R

Thank you. I've bought basics such as a breadboard, cables, led. Am now going to purchase an uno board and motor. Not really too picky about how many wired it has at the moment as I was looking to gain an understanding of how to send commands to it via a pc.

Can anyone point me to an uno board on ebay please. I see there are quite afew replicas ..These will do the job for now right?
Also a motor and drive board.

I am determined to learn this and build something awesome!! Thanks for your time guys :slight_smile:

sukhi8:
Also a motor and drive board.

If you are planning to buy a bipolar motor and stepper driver (see stepper motor basics) I strongly advise that you buy a branded driver to start with. When you have one that you know works properly you will have something with which to compare clones.

...R