And how many have you accidentally damaged or destroyed?
I started out in late 2012 when I was looking for a cheap and easy solution to copy someone's controller adapter design in this site: The 8-Bit Lab Rat 10 ICs, lots of parts, oscilloscope to adjust timing, and not small. Someone suggested Arduino. Within a day I managed to create a mostly working sketch and a few days later a stand alone proto board with just one chip, one capacitor, and 2 plugs measuring under 1" by 1" total.
I damaged one of the AVR chip a couple years ago, probably due to crossed wire. I was trying to read analog signal but no matter what it always returned a value between 400 and 450. I checked the code, checked the wiring, used meter to measure analog value and it was between 0 and 5v so I couldn't see why the readout wasn't right. I changed the pin and the code, still got the same. Asked in the forum, no one knew either. On a whim I changed the '328 chip and the reading was correct! When I put the original one back in, same 400-450 reading so the internal ADC seemed to have been fried somehow. Still worked for digital IO so I just put in a digital only code and stuffed it into Simon game clone I made so I wouldn't waste a $2 mostly working chip.
I bought my first Arduino June 2012, a relatively pricey Mega 2560 which I bought instead of some cheaper clones because I thought it was the real thing. Looking back now I'm pretty sure it's a counterfeit but that same board is still going strong despite me having probably subjected it to some crazy things over the years. The female headers are a bit loose but it lives on my desk and gets used almost daily for random tests.
I had an FTDI232RL breakout die on me in the early days, not sure what I did. Ironically it was the only genuine one I ever bought that died. The counterfeit FTDIs are all still working. I somehow let the smoke out of a WeMos D1 Mini a couple years ago. That's the sum total of my Arduino carnage. Not too bad considering I'm not excessively careful and usually buy the cheapest stuff from eBay.
Hi,
Early 2012, been interested in micro-controllers, blooded on Z80 many years ago, and doing PLC for work.
So after cancer op, during chemo, I had the time..
Now integrate Arduino into one off projects for work that need a simple controller.
As far as I can see I got my first Arduino around March or April 2013. So far the only casualty is a Micro - can't remember what I did to it - I may have connected the power backwards.
I had made some stuff with PIC microcontrollers many years before that. I programmed them with a PC parallel port.
I also made a 2-channel digital storage oscilloscope using a couple of 8-bit 40msps ADC chips. But that did not have a microprocessor as they were not fast enough. It collected a set of samples to a static ram and then passed them to the PC via the parallel port. The digital side of the thing worked fine but I did not know enough to get the analogue input working reliably. Then life got in the way and parallel ports went out of fashion.
Since October 2013. We began teaching with them then. I got into them shortly after that, by taking a starter kit home for winter break. Haven't looked back since.
I have broken 2 microcontroller boards, both Adafruit Trinket M0 boards, by accidentally over-volting them - they are not very tolerant of 12 volts into a pin - the first was due to my mis-wiring a device, and the other (on the same project) by setting the circuit board on a metal surface, shorting everything out (including the 12 volt supply! .) I have also ruined a Tiny 85 by putting it in backward, turning it on then walking away. A while later I came back and smelled burning plastic. The chip was way too hot to touch!
Ever try melting a solderless breadboard? They don't melt easy! As it turned out, the chip wasn't totally destroyed, just the ADC. So it no longer does analogRead or other functions that depend on it. But everything else works normally. Of course I would never use this chip (I drew a big X on it with white pencil.) For anything I cared about anyway.
Just over a year. For some reason I freaked out and bought an Uno, with a starter kit, and a Pi plus some books. Although filled with good intentions I have not done that much with them I have been working, very slowly, through the kit but other things keep getting in the way.
At an early age I melted a screw driver through being lazy. That made me cautious with electricity, though I still nearly got zapped by a metal cased drill with a faulty earth. So I am fairly sensible with electricity, but I have only very basic electronics knowledge. I suppose it was filling that gap that attracted me to both the Arduino and the Pi.
I hate breaking things. That is probably partly to blame for my slow progress as I would not like to damage an I/O never mind destroy the whole board.
I will go with my first post on the forum: May 08, 2009. (Oh, fond memories of the old forum. The confusing organization. The incredible amount of spam. The chaos of essentially no moderation.)
Wow. I have 2907 "dead" posts. I wonder where those have gone.
Of the people with more posts it looks like @AWOL and @Grumpy_Mike are the only two who have been here longer (the two who have contributed more over a longer time).
wilykat:
And how many have you accidentally damaged or destroyed?
Two ATmega328P processors.
I was trying to read analog signal but no matter what it always returned a value between 400 and 450.
Yup. Fried analog-to-digital converter. Short-circuit through AREF.
In a previous life I had developed a few embedded systems. The work was fun. After being away from that kind of work for a while I thought it would make a good hobby. The first step back was a BASIC Stamp. That lasted about a month. I started playing with Arduino because programming that BASIC Stamp was so very awful.
.) I have also ruined a Tiny 85 by putting it in backward, turning it on then walking away. A while later I came back and smelled burning plastic. The chip was way too hot to touch!
I have been working, very slowly, through the kit but other things keep getting in the way.