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arduino

Electronics: Powerful stuff

Everyone who dabbles with electronics or even automotive stuff will eventually find a bench power supply very handy. When I first started getting into electronics, they were large, expensive beasts, and very much out of the reach of hobbyists. There were a few kitsets provided by some electronic parts suppliers, but these tended to be limited in voltage and current.
If a hobbyist wanted an affordable adjustable supply, they usually had to make it. We even resorted to designing and making our own when I worked for Telecom. Commercial units were available but they didn’t suit our requirements, or budget.

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Warning: boiling point!

I own an American classic car and it comes with the usual 1960s instrumentation—speedo, fuel gauge but only warning lights for oil, alternator, and water temperature. The alternator light comes on when you turn on the ignition, but the water temperature light is designed to come on only when the water temperature reaches 120-125 °C which is usually too late.
To fix that, I have devised this program powered by an Arduino micro-controller that will operate the temperature light when the engine powers up and light it up again to warn the driver as the temperature approaches 100 °C. It uses a readily available sender that will fit most vehicles.

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Arduino software for wipers and temp gauge projects

Controller
I chose to use a shield (add-on board) to house all the parts for this project that allows the use of any standard Arduino and settled on a Seeeduino V3.0 and a Freetronics prototype shield as an inexpensive solution.
I used the controller and shield to for the previous variable wiper speed project for the car (“Wipe that classic windscreen,” Shed, Apr/May 2012). This second part uses the same controller and shield to do both tasks. The reader can either make one or both. The shield construction includes the extra parts (two resistors, one transistor, and one diode) and uses the “Start” button to do the “Normal” calibration.
Here are the two sketches (software) in these The Shed website’s two posts.

one combining water temperature light and variable wiper functions into one controller; and
one that just does the water temperature light.

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Wipe, wipe that classic windscreen

I own an American classic car and there are a few mod cons that are missing. I’ve added central locking because crawling over seats was a pain, but I thought the Arduino could add a few features that aren’t available in the shops. This is the first of two parts which uses the same piece of Arduino hardware to do two different tasks—run variable-speed wipers and a temperature gauge. Each can be used on their own as it makes no difference to the software

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Simple hydroponics nutrient solution

Hydroponics is all about growing without soil. In many ways, this simplifies the lot of the gardener, but it gives them added responsibility for providing plants with the right level of nutrients.
As water with nutrients tastes, feels, and looks much the same as plain water, a testing instrument called an “EC meter” or “CF meter” is used.

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Making a word clock

The Word Clock is a project created by Doug Jackson using Open Source (www.dougswordclock.com) and has been evolving into the product you see here.
It is based on an Atmel 168 processor chip as used in Arduino, is programmed using Arduino and fitted into a custom-made printed circuit board (PCB).

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Arduino 101: Part 4

In the last issue we presented a project to create a temperature regulator. In this issue we will show you how to include an LCD that displays the highest and lowest temperatures, along with the current temperature. In the sketch I have also included a section that scrolls text, as a demonstration.

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Arduino 101: Part 2

So far we have begun to get acquainted with the Arduino and IDE, the “sketches” or programs that make it work, and we have got it working blinking an LED on and off. In this article we will delve a little deeper preparatory to diving right in with a fully edged project with some real- world applications in the next issue.

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Arduino 101: Getting Started

This is the first in a series of articles to introduce the versatile and extraordinary Arduino system to people with no prior knowledge of programming or electronics. We will take you step-by-step through how to set up, program and use the Arduino and provide a series of projects that will help you gain the knowledge you need to free your imagination and work with this revolutionary device.

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