After seeing so many cool gadgets made with the Arduino board I have decided to get back into playing around with micro controllers. My experience with them comes from using the BOEbot and the software with it and I really enjoyed it. Right now I am trying to decide where to order all of my parts from and having a hard time. I want to order the board and some components to start messing around and creating some stuff.
I don't know if I should get some sort of package that has a bunch of different components in it or if I should order them separately. I know that what components I need completely depends on what I want to build but I'm looking for a good base amount of components to get started.
I've seen a few sites that have the Arduino boards for sale that have fully assembled in parentheses. I assume that by default the board requires you to do some soldering to put the headers on, is this true?
I'm also having some problems locating a prototyping shield with a breadboard on it, does anyone have any suggestions?
I'm pretty much looking for the best value for what you get. I have a few places bookmarked and are probably going to order from, I just wanted a second opinion on this.
I have about a $200 budget for everything, but I'm willing to spend more for better quality/quantity of what I need.
My personal favorite shop is 'NKCElectronics'. With your budget at hand i would reccomend:
http://www.nkcelectronics.com/seeeduino-mega-fully-assembled.html
Seeeduino Mega - 39$
This is the basic board in it's 'biggest' form. You cant get more, and you compare the proice if that to a Duemilanove you will see that the additional space and pins are more than worth the few $$.
http://www.nkcelectronics.com/solderless-breadboard-840-tie-poi840.html
From what NKC has i would recommend that with a set of MM Jumper cables, but the main problem here is that it is 'small'. Have an eye on Ebay, i got there mine (4 lines with 840 points) with dozens of wires for 19$. Just search for a breadboard.
For whatever is left of your budget (seems about 100$ with above in mind) you can have a look at LEDs, Sensors and stuff.. maybe you have a project in mind and find the needed parts already there?
Any ideas of what kind of projects you want to do? People could recommend loads of different things you could get but eventually it just comes down to what you want to do with it all...
With a budget of $200 you could buy a lot of stuff... Do you want wireless? Do you want to do robotics? Midi? Conditions sensing? Automated vehicles? Car monitoring? Network control?
Inspired any projects you want to do? I buy quite a lot of stuff from sparkfun, as do a lot of other people, as they have a wide range of products and they are reasonably priced.
Once you have an idea of what you want to do then I'm sure lots of people can recommend goos products and places to go...
I am really interested in web controlled and remote controlled projects and would like to get into automated vehicles. I have an 30gb ipod classic just sitting around doing nothing too :). Pretty much just looking for a "getting started" type of components for now and ill order more stuff as i need it., although it be nice to have some shields or components on hand for the stuff i mentioned.
I've seen a few sites that have the Arduino boards for sale that have fully assembled in parentheses. I assume that by default the board requires you to do some soldering to put the headers on, is this true?
Most sites offer the boards as full constructed boards but some offer them as kits (saves you a bit of money)...
It is still really up to you what to buy unless you know exactly what you want to do with it...
I would personally recommend:
An arduino duemilanove (or similar board) with starter pack (from most arduino selling websites - packs differ from each site but have a good starter selection and normally have the arduino starter book)
Everything else is really an optional extra when starting off but you probably also want to get:
An LCD (great for everything) - a big 20x4 if you can fit it in budget (useful for even more stuff!)
and:
Something fun! - This can often be found or got for free - I had a DS touch screen and loads of old electronic gadgets and parts...
Don't go buying loads of stuff for wireless (xbees etc) until you have had a go and decided what you really want. Spend your budget slowly (won't work once you are hooked on arduino!)
Why order from 3rd party? Order directly from the source they have very good shipping rates, however you may have to wait a few more days b/c its from china but i wouldnt say more than 10 days....
If i were you though i would start out with a LCD project, its pretty easy to do, there is alot of info on the web about it, and i can help you if you have any questions... I purchased a few of these LCDs and they are pretty easy to interface into arduino
You can get tempature sensors for cheap on seeedstudio as well
LM35 Precision Temperature Sensor if you want Celsius
LM34 if you want F (or so i have read)
But i used this one: Temperature sensor with steel head (1.50 $) on seeedstudio and it works great and the code is up on arduino.cc... you could also get a photo electric cell and then you can detect light...