Sheilds

Probably the dummest question, but as a novist at this stuff, I am wondering what Sheilds are and what there advantages are, and are they necessary Ernie::slight_smile:

You're right, it isn't a very good question: it was apparent upon reading it that you did no research into the subject at all. Why would anyone volunteer any of their valuable time answering a question for you when you can't be bothered to even look for an answer yourself?

Sorry if I upset you, but I did make a search here on Shields but what I found, was about shields for different things, but theydid not tell me what they were for or whether, they were necessaryor not. Ernie

Hi Ernie;

Shields are simply accessory boards that mate up with the existing connectors of an Arduino board which allows for mounting external electronic components to be mounted on and powered by the Arduino and connections to the needed I/O pins. There are many specialty shields designed to drive motors or stepper motors or dozens of other things. There are also proto-shields that are just for you to design your own accessory circuits onto.

It's a cool idea and one of the many nice points of using an Arduino platform.

Here is one of my favorite shields. It allows using any analog video monitor (PAL or NTSC) to be used with a Arduino sketch using simple serial commands.

Lefty

Hi lefty, thank you for taking the time to answer my questions, much appreciated, nice to see someone cares to answer them even if they ;D do seem to be stupid. Thanks again. Ernie

I agree with Fjornir, there is no excuse for not having googled "arduino shields" :slight_smile:

Just a moment here, where have I said anything about not making a search. In fact I did google it and search this forum, and did not find any answers to my questions, all I read was about shuelds other people had bought or built, nothing about what I wanted to know. My conseption of a shield is to protect ones self or somedody or something from harm. So what are we prtecting here surely not the Arduino, as all the pins seem to be connected anyway.
Not to worry at least one person understood my questions.