I'm not suggesting you use the Stamp, I'm suggesting you have a look at the circuits in StampWorks and adapt them to the Arduino.
i would use stamp, but it's expensive.
new chip shipped to you is 2 arduinos... and i dont got alot of money, so i need cheaper development, but the input registers seem like good ideas if i also run out of inputs!
Check out
http://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/ShiftIn
I used the 4021's with the 595's, they daisy chain, are very inexpensive, and tried and true so there's plenty of literature here to get you started.
thats really good, but for that also, can an external 5v battery source be used for powering the devices i use ( like led's )? or do i HAVE to connect the 5v to the arduino 5v, becuse the arduino will eventually not have enough power to get these led's and servos working.
You can use an external +5v supply, just remove the power select jumper. You may need to add a capacitor to +5v and ground to replace the one that has now been removed from the circuit. It's C7 on the NG and Decimila schematics and it's a 100uf at 35v.
If you're going to be using servos you can easily put 12v into the arduino's power jack and route the +12v to your servos. The capacitors are 35v and the regulator has a max input of 20v but I'd not push that. If you need a higher voltage for the servos use it and have a common ground with the arduino.
ok, lets say i have about 8 volts, and i need that to power 2 servos, but i dont want to fry them, what resistor is needed, and how do i figure out which resistor i need to put in lets if i have 12v comming in.. or even more?
Most hobby servos should not be run at voltages significantly higher than around 6 volts. The preferred solution when the power source has a higher voltage is to use a regulator. A 7805 or equivalent 5v regulator with a capacity of a quarter amp or more would work fine with 8 volts or more.
I have found that the regulator on my freeduino board does not have enough capacity to run the board and a servo reliability, so I use an external regulator for the servo.
I don't recommend just a dropping resistor, the voltage could go too high for the chip in the servo when its idle, or too low to power the servo motor when under load.
i bought 2 5v regulators, but they are pretty big, they are around the size of a dime, and have two metal pieces that go out of each side that has 2 screw holes, and when i connected it to my circuit and measured the voltage, it gave me 1.3 volts! it stepped it down way too much, but that was when the servo was running, when i stoped the servo, the regulator showed 6 volts, even though its a 5 volt regulator, and when i ran the servo without the regulator, ( with 4 AA batteries ) it showed me 5 volts when it ran, and 5 volts when it dident run...
i'm guessing i got the wrong regulators? ( they are also heavy, i'd say as about as heavy as the servo itself, and also have 2 pins, very big pins that wouldent fit through my prefabricated circuit board ( the many holed one, for prototyping )
and also, lets say i have a row of servos, and i have a line running across all the servos thats 12v, do i need to connect a 5v regulator to each servo, or can i connect 1 5v regulator to another long wire, and connecte all the servos to that 1 5v regulator?
What is the numbers on the parts? What is the max power and voltage needed by the servos?
i bought 2 5v regulators, but they are pretty big, they are around the size of a dime, and have two metal pieces that go out of each side that has 2 screw holes, and when i connected it to my circuit and measured the voltage, it gave me 1.3 volts! it stepped it down way too much, but that was when the servo was running, when i stoped the servo, the regulator showed 6 volts, even though its a 5 volt regulator, and when i ran the servo without the regulator, ( with 4 AA batteries ) it showed me 5 volts when it ran, and 5 volts when it dident run...
i'm guessing i got the wrong regulators? ( they are also heavy, i'd say as about as heavy as the servo itself, and also have 2 pins, very big pins that wouldent fit through my prefabricated circuit board ( the many holed one, for prototyping )
and also, lets say i have a row of servos, and i have a line running across all the servos thats 12v, do i need to connect a 5v regulator to each servo, or can i connect 1 5v regulator to another long wire, and connecte all the servos to that 1 5v regulator?
it's definitly the wrong parts, i believe what i ordered steps down 120 ac or dc down to 5v..... stupid mee, wasted money, but i did find the exact one at radioshack, but i did not have a chance to use it, and i'm also curios:
lets say i have the correct 5v regulator running, and i connect something that requires 5v. if i measure the volts on the regulator, will they drop considerably, since something is using it's power? or since it has more power then it wants, it stays at a constant 5v, even with multiple things hooked up?
and for reference sake, the other regulators i got ( the hugs heavy ones ) have part number: 7905-k : on a sticker on the front