I am new to arduino. I have been doing some reading and i am wondering if arduino can do more than one thing at a time. I am thinking about controlling my backyard with arduino and I would like to controll my solar system and battaries, my outside led deck lighting and pool temperature reading and level. Can it do all this with one arduino?
Almost certainly, yes.
I would like to controll my solar system
Orbital mechanics may go adrift a little with only 32 bit floating point.
Will it be slow. Would two be better?
You're talking about systems that move on timescales measured in half-days, and with massive thermal inertia - how fast do you think you need to go?
When you put it like that i can see that it is not alot of work for the arduino. Any other suggestions?
Any other suggestions?
Buy an Arduino and get tinkering.
Remember, the processor executes about five instructions in the time it takes a beam of light to travel the length of a football field.
thanks for the info.
scottthehandy8:
thanks for the info.
AWOL is just kidding 
arduino can do only one thing at the same time, but depending on the level of "realtime" you need, you can handle probably a lot of tasks 'at the same time' (one after each other very quicly, the uC runs at 16-20 mhz, so it is nearly 16-20 millions of instructions per sec).
...and remember that ours is one of the few disciplines where case really matters - there is a billion (109) difference between 16mHz and 16MHz.
AWOL:
...and remember that ours is one of the few disciplines where case really matters - there is a billion (109) difference between 16mHz and 16MHz.
hahaha ok sorry, but in that case with the lowercased h there is no possible missinterpretation of the lowercased m
hahaha ok sorry, but in that case with the lowercased h there is no possible missinterpretation of the lowercased m
Hz is an abbreviation. Of a persons name. It is only fitting that you not denigrate that person by not capitalizing the H.
PaulS:
hahaha ok sorry, but in that case with the lowercased h there is no possible missinterpretation of the lowercased m
Hz is an abbreviation. Of a persons name. It is only fitting that you not denigrate that person by not capitalizing the H.
hehe yeah, I know I should have written MHz. I was only saying that being picky you can't missinterpret mhz into -> mHz
ok so if I create a sketch that loops throught all the things I want it to do it should be ok.
scottthehandy8:
ok so if I create a sketch that loops throught all the things I want it to do it should be ok.
Yup, check the BlinkWithoutDelay example
For things that need to run for a set amount of time avoid delay() and instead use millis().
*edit- eried beat me to it.
Ok i will do that thanks.
can i use a clock break out board?
can i use a clock break out board?
Assuming you mean an RTC then yes, in fact with this sort of thing I'd say you should use one to get the time of day/day etc.
Rob