Where do I go from Here

I have my project done. My gear motor is doing exactly what I want it to. Now I want to make a permanent installation. I will use the same components I used to breadboard the project, arduino uno and L298N. Mounting these in a case is straight forward and connecting the motor is easy with the screw down connections on the L298. But the issue is how do I replace the jumper wires I used from the L298 to the Arduino and from Arduino to the bread board?

I have searched here and on Google and found a few ideas, but they seem overly complex to me. All I need is to find a permanent way to connect wires to the Arduino and the L298 so they don't fall out, the application I have in mind will not be in a nice stable environment so I need cables that stay in place after bumps and shakes.

Thanks.

Use a proto-shield. An Arduino shield with a grid of holes that you can plug in chips and other components and put your own wires underneath. The same solid wires you used on your breadboard are useful for protoboard.

But this is a very small state in the learning of Arduino. Very quickly you will progress to making custom shields in Eagle or some other PCB layout program. I only made a couple of proto-board projects before stepping up.

Thank you very much for your response. But even this seem complex for the task at hand. All I need to do is plug five wires into the Arduino and plug the other end of these same wires into the L298 Motor controller. Then one wire from the Arduino to ground.

So, building a complete board seem overkill, since I am still left with the problem of permanently connecting the 5 wires to the L298N controller. But, hey I am new to this whole idea of microprocessors and controlling things with computers.

Again many thanks.

John

You already have a module with the motor controller? Then glue it onto a proto-shield and connect the 5 wires. I like epoxy glue but hot-glue works too.

Or buy a new one that is already in an Arduino shield.

Got it.

So my only issue now is connecting the controller to the proto shield. The pins on the controller are male pins, so my though is a 4 pin female header? and a four pin and one pin male header for the Arduino to connect to the four Controller pins and the one pin to the controller 5V output pin. Solder 20AWG solid core wire to the headers and then to the proto shield or for that matter to any circuit board.

Will that work? As I said the connectors really need to be secure.

Next question, my soldering iron is about 10-15 years old, what are most people recommending as a good soldering iron to work in these close quarters?

Keep in mind, you will have to service this device sometime. Make it easy on yourself in the beginning.

Paul

Paul_KD7HB:
Keep in mind, you will have to service this device sometime. Make it easy on yourself in the beginning.

Paul

A man after my own heart....

Paul_KD7HB:
Keep in mind, you will have to service this device sometime. Make it easy on yourself in the beginning.

Paul

The way I normally package this kind of thing is in a wooden box that can be opened. I have been using standard DC motor controllers and DPDT and SPDT switches to control a gear motor direction, speed and either foot pedal or direct control. The Arduino gives me the opportunity to program the movement. In this project the motor rotates 180 degrees in one direction, pauses for about 30 seconds then turns 180 degrees in the other direction. It does that for about 20 times, then repeats for another 20 but with a 40 second delay, then another 20 with a minute delay and then starts a constant 6 rpm rotation.

What is this for you ask. It is to be used to rotate a fly rod after the guide windings have been coated with epoxy. The back and forth helps the leveling of the epoxy, and the delays allow the epoxy to spread over the windings. So once the software is uploaded the rod dryer will be pretty self contained, but I may need to change the power from 12 to 24 volts so I will have to have access to the workings. Hence the box with a lid that gives access to the electronics. I may also decide to modify the software, so again, I will need access for that as well, or put the Arduino close to the side and cut an opening for the USB cable.

So all I need now is to figure out how to make all the connections permanent. I solder everything is the configurations I have made in the past with the DC motor controllers. But I don't see any way to do that with an Arduino. I did solve the L298 controller connection today. I found a 4 pin connector as a part of a wiring harness from a Canon copier/printer that had several connectors. The 4 pin flat connector fits the controller. So now just have to figure out how to solder or connect the other ends to the Arduino, or connect the Arduino to a circuit board and then connect the wires from the flat connector to the circuit board.

John

If you do more of this, look into using DuPont connectors.

https://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=376971.0

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LarryD:
If you do more of this, look into using DuPont connectors.

FYI Making DuPont jumper wires. - General Electronics - Arduino Forum

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Very cool. Exactly what I think I am looking for. Will these actually fit inside the Arduino conectors?

Thank you.

Yes

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ov10fac:
Got it.

So my only issue now is connecting the controller to the proto shield. The pins on the controller are male pins, so my though is a 4 pin female header? and a four pin and one pin male header for the Arduino to connect to the four Controller pins and the one pin to the controller 5V output pin. Solder 20AWG solid core wire to the headers and then to the proto shield or for that matter to any circuit board.

Will that work? As I said the connectors really need to be secure.

Next question, my soldering iron is about 10-15 years old, what are most people recommending as a good soldering iron to work in these close quarters?

Pins? The proto-shield brings every one of the Arduino headers out to solderable pads. Solder jumpers from there to the pads that the controller is soldered to. Or glue it down in dead-bug mode (legs in the air) and jump wires to the legs.

"Really secure" doesn't work with standard Arduinos. You have to run a bolt through the Arduino and the shield and that's always a pain when it's time to disassemble. Usually your first opportunity to disassemble occurs 5 minutes after you carefully bolted it together when you realize what you forgot.

Most of my soldering irons are older than that. The age has no relevance to the performance. You may wish to replace the tip in 20 years if it's looking worn. Re-tinning an old tip will usually bring it back to peak performance.

However, a modern temperature-controlled soldering iron is what I mostly use. With the temp control, I can not only solder leaded and lead-free solder but I can warm up heatshrink and edit ABS plastic boxes without burning them.

MorganS:
Pins? The proto-shield brings every one of the Arduino headers out to solderable pads. Solder jumpers from there to the pads that the controller is soldered to. Or glue it down in dead-bug mode (legs in the air) and jump wires to the legs.

Haven't heard the term "dead-bug' in a long time.

MorganS:
"Really secure" doesn't work with standard Arduinos. You have to run a bolt through the Arduino and the shield and that's always a pain when it's time to disassemble. Usually your first opportunity to disassemble occurs 5 minutes after you carefully bolted it together when you realize what you forgot.

By secure I meant just so it won't slide around or the pins fall out. I normally secure the components to the box using double sided foam tape. That keeps thing in one place and off the metal surface if I use a metal box. I have used old PC power supplies in the past for cases to hold my control boxes.

MorganS:
Most of my soldering irons are older than that. The age has no relevance to the performance. You may wish to replace the tip in 20 years if it's looking worn. Re-tinning an old tip will usually bring it back to peak performance.

However, a modern temperature-controlled soldering iron is what I mostly use. With the temp control, I can not only solder leaded and lead-free solder but I can warm up heatshrink and edit ABS plastic boxes without burning them.

Mine doesn't have any heat control and only one tip a large pencil type. I have another one that I bought that I will be trying out later today.

Thanks for the advice and information.