saving info..

Using Arduino Storage
1

i am doing this same project (without the piggy bank), i have a 2 part question..

1.) if i do use a power supply, how do i hook up battery pack in-case there is a power outage to remain working?

2.) how do i save the data (what has already been counted) if say battery dies and or power loss with out a battery supply?

basically i just want to save the dollar amount in-case i lose power regardless of how i have this powered... so when it's powered up, the dollar amount was not lost and remains intact to continue on counting/adding to the dollar amount.

thanks in advance,
Ruffsta

2

Ruffsta:
2.) how do i save the data (what has already been counted) if say battery dies and or power loss with out a battery supply?

Use EEPROM: http://arduino.cc/en/Reference/EEPROM

3

ty

The EEPROM memory has a specified life of 100,000 write/erase cycles, so you may need to be careful about how often you write to it.

that's gonna suck if it writes every time a coin is added.. :~ i doubt it can tell when there's power loss for it to write only then..

4

k, now how would go about doing this without arduino.. i wouldn't know what to put on a pref board other than an lcd and power supply..

5

Hi there!

I'm also trying to do this, but with multiple coins. I've run into a lot of trouble with getting it to actually work, and was wondering if you got this to work and could help me out. First, I'm not really sure what to do with the 'counter' wire. Also, I'm having trouble telling the arduino how to differentiate between the coins based on the pulses. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

-Rex