Hey there everyone,
I'm new to the forum but neither to Arduino nor to electronics in general.. still I'm very rusty in everything
Ijust started this project, codename MT_LP, and it's basically a sound driven Arduino Project. I need a lot of advices on how to proceed.. and if you want/may help me out I would be very happy.
I'm Italian.. so please forgive any grammar mistake you will eventually find here and there.
The circuit could be divided in several parts:
A) THE POWER SOURCE I have a 12V unreliable power source.. which I decided to regulate with a proper voltage 12V regulator (if exists).
That's also needed to power the RGB LED strips on the bottom (painted as simple RGB for simplicity).
Here you can also see a ON/OFF switch which is intended to simply turn ON/OFF everything.
You can also see here a 9V regulator to be used to deliver proper voltage to the Vin of the Arduino.
B) THE LEDs STRIP Here are painted three RGB LEDs (which in real would be LED STRIPs connected to the 12V regulated voltage ). These are the "final products" of all the work of the arduino.. meaning that the signal is taken in INPUT via the mic/piezo (dunno what would fit better), than processed by the arduino and would regulate the LEDs.
C) * MIC & RST BTN* Simply the RST button is there just to software reset the board, if needed.
The MIC: this is the MAIN (and only) INPUT source and will have to monitor a sound which will possibly go from say 30dB to 150+ dB. (maybe even 200dB). I really need to be sure that the mic/piezo won't get broken from the sound it's gathering and also to regulate the voltage produced, if that's the case.
D) * dB CHAIN * Every CHAIN works mor or less the same. The dB CHAIN let's you decide if you want the sound level to interact with the final result. The blue LED simply is an indicator to check when the db CHAIN is active. Interrupt is there to choose whether the CHAIN is active or not.
The trimmer would ideally be used to regulate the max value or, in general, adjust the working threshold.
E) * cmd CHAIN * LED and INTERRUPT have the same function as the dB CHAIN.
The cmd CHAIN, let the sound intensity regulate the intensitity of the light emitted by the RGB LEDs. The stronger the sound, the brighter the light. The Trimmer let's you choose which is the max value (brightness 100%).
F) * RGB CHAIN * LED and INTERRUPT have the same function as the dB CHAIN.
the RGB CHAIN let you choose if the sound intensity regulate a change in the colour of the output RGB LEDs.
Here attached is the Fritzing schematics:
Woo.. I definitely wrote way too much
Thanks to everyone who will eventually share his/her knowledge with me!
Ok for a start you haven't got a single capacitor in the circuit. You need them on the inputs and outputs of the voltage regulators. There is no need to have a 12v regulator ahead of the 9V one. In fact if you have a 12v unregulated supply putting a 12V regulator might not work as you need at least 2V over the 12 to get it to work. One regulator will be fine.
Finally you have no current limiting resistors in the RGB LEDs, you have drawn them as common cathode, while you can get common cathode RGB LEDs they are not the most common of components. You would be better off with common anode ones and let the arduino sink the current (through a resistor of course). Also note and arduino pin should be limited to about 30mA current so those RGB LEDs are only going to get 10mA each and each needs a separate resistor.
Hope that helps for a start.
yo grumpy_mike,
thanks for you wuick response.
I updated the schematics above.
Anyway the RGB LEDs are actually LED STRIPs, which have the commond anode and need 12V and aprox 50mA as I can remember.. look if fits so.
That circuit will fry the arduino because you can't switch 12V direct from a pin. You will need it to go through a transistor first.
Capacitors go across the supply from +ve to -ve not in series. They need to be on the input and the output of each regulator. Your supply has to be at 14V for this to work.
Sorry grumpy.. I forgot to say that I write a new message, but I always update the link of image above. So to not clutter the whole post.
Yesterday I finally had some missing components and make the (one) LED STRIP lit.. so today I will update the schematics and then update the image above again, maybe explaining what I did. Project is progressing..
Let's update a bit later
