Urgent Help Needed
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Posts: 46,084
I am a programmer interested in buying a basic stamp and programming
on it for science fair, but need to know a few things...and need to
know them real soon.
1. Do you have to have any special type of motor or sensor to run
with the basic stamp, or will a small hobby motor from a place like
radio Shack do?
2. What are some cheap(under $20) sensors that I could buy to add to
my robot I'm building for science fair?
3. Can the basic stamp make multiple motors run at once...like if my
robot uses to motors, can they be running at the same time?
4. If someone knew the language fairly well, could they construct a
program that ran 3 motors, read input from a sensor or two, and
possibly have a LED that was activated part of the time?
on it for science fair, but need to know a few things...and need to
know them real soon.
1. Do you have to have any special type of motor or sensor to run
with the basic stamp, or will a small hobby motor from a place like
radio Shack do?
2. What are some cheap(under $20) sensors that I could buy to add to
my robot I'm building for science fair?
3. Can the basic stamp make multiple motors run at once...like if my
robot uses to motors, can they be running at the same time?
4. If someone knew the language fairly well, could they construct a
program that ran 3 motors, read input from a sensor or two, and
possibly have a LED that was activated part of the time?
Comments
project(a robot) I'm building.
1. Do you have to have special types of motors and sensors to run
with the basic stamp, or will hobby motors do?
2. What are some cheap($25 or less) sensors that I could use with
the basic stamp?
3. Can multiple motors run at one time?
4. Could a program be made by someone fairly good at the language to
program the basic stamp with create a program with multiple motors,
sensors, and a LED in 3 weeks time?
> on it for science fair, but need to know a few things...and need to
> know them real soon.
>
> 1. Do you have to have any special type of motor or sensor to run
> with the basic stamp, or will a small hobby motor from a place like
> radio Shack do?
Any motor can be made to work. For the most part you don't drive the motor
directly from the Stamp as it can only put out a very small amount of
current. If you only need to drive a small DC motor in one direction you can
use a common transistor like a 2N2222 or a mosfet like a BS170. If you need
to drive it both ways or drive a small stepper you can use a chip like an
L293D
> 2. What are some cheap(under $20) sensors that I could buy to add to
> my robot I'm building for science fair?
Switch, photocell, temperature, etc.
> 3. Can the basic stamp make multiple motors run at once...like if my
> robot uses to motors, can they be running at the same time?
Yes if they are just turned on and off. Much harder if you want to control
their speed.
> 4. If someone knew the language fairly well, could they construct a
> program that ran 3 motors, read input from a sensor or two, and
> possibly have a LED that was activated part of the time?
Yes
I would highly suggest you download the "What is a Microcontroller"
curriculum from the parallax website and take a look. It will give you some
good ideas to start with. Then work your way through the rest of the
curriculums.
Tim
[noparse][[/noparse]Denver, CO]
through it now. It is helping a lot. Just a a few more questions.
1. Could you give me a estimate on how much it would cost for those
parts to make a motor go in both directions? Like, would it cost
over $20 to get the parts needed to make a small motor turn in both
directions?
2. Can you get more I/O places? I am wantng to run many motors and
sensors, but am not sure if I will have enough I/O places.
3. Do I need anything else (aside from motors, etc) to program my
basic stamp with besides a basic stamp and a carrier board?
--- In basicstamps@egroups.com, "Tim Goldstein" <timg@k...> wrote:
> > I am a programmer interested in buying a basic stamp and
programming
> > on it for science fair, but need to know a few things...and need
to
> > know them real soon.
> >
> > 1. Do you have to have any special type of motor or sensor to run
> > with the basic stamp, or will a small hobby motor from a place
like
> > radio Shack do?
>
> Any motor can be made to work. For the most part you don't drive
the motor
> directly from the Stamp as it can only put out a very small amount
of
> current. If you only need to drive a small DC motor in one
direction you can
> use a common transistor like a 2N2222 or a mosfet like a BS170. If
you need
> to drive it both ways or drive a small stepper you can use a chip
like an
> L293D
>
> > 2. What are some cheap(under $20) sensors that I could buy to add
to
> > my robot I'm building for science fair?
>
> Switch, photocell, temperature, etc.
>
> > 3. Can the basic stamp make multiple motors run at once...like if
my
> > robot uses to motors, can they be running at the same time?
>
> Yes if they are just turned on and off. Much harder if you want to
control
> their speed.
>
> > 4. If someone knew the language fairly well, could they construct
a
> > program that ran 3 motors, read input from a sensor or two, and
> > possibly have a LED that was activated part of the time?
>
> Yes
>
> I would highly suggest you download the "What is a Microcontroller"
> curriculum from the parallax website and take a look. It will give
you some
> good ideas to start with. Then work your way through the rest of the
> curriculums.
>
> Tim
> [noparse][[/noparse]Denver, CO]
> Thank you. I downloaded that which you reccommended and am going
> through it now. It is helping a lot. Just a a few more questions.
>
> 1. Could you give me a estimate on how much it would cost for those
> parts to make a motor go in both directions? Like, would it cost
> over $20 to get the parts needed to make a small motor turn in both
> directions?
Go to http://www.seattlerobotics.org/encoder/sep97/motors.html and look
towards the bottom for how to interface a motor with an L293D chip. It will
support up to a 36 V and 600 ma per side. You can get them at Mouser
Electronics on the net for $2.00 per chip. That is all the parts you need if
the ratings are suitable. If you need more current I have had good luck with
the L298N. They are $3.20 at Mouser and will handle 2 amps up to 36 volts
(Get good heatsinks to push them that hard). With this driver you will also
need 4 diodes and a few resistors. Figure $3.00 or so in additional parts.
> 2. Can you get more I/O places? I am wantng to run many motors and
> sensors, but am not sure if I will have enough I/O places.
There are expander modules. I think Al Williams offers a PAK that does this.
I think Parallax may have one also. You can also use a second Stamp and send
commands to it serially.
> 3. Do I need anything else (aside from motors, etc) to program my
> basic stamp with besides a basic stamp and a carrier board?
Battery or power supply, cable to connect to the computer.
Tim
[noparse][[/noparse]Denver, CO]
> --- In basicstamps@egroups.com, "Tim Goldstein" <timg@k...> wrote:
> > > I am a programmer interested in buying a basic stamp and
> programming
> > > on it for science fair, but need to know a few things...and need
> to
> > > know them real soon.
> > >
> > > 1. Do you have to have any special type of motor or sensor to run
> > > with the basic stamp, or will a small hobby motor from a place
> like
> > > radio Shack do?
> >
> > Any motor can be made to work. For the most part you don't drive
> the motor
> > directly from the Stamp as it can only put out a very small amount
> of
> > current. If you only need to drive a small DC motor in one
> direction you can
> > use a common transistor like a 2N2222 or a mosfet like a BS170. If
> you need
> > to drive it both ways or drive a small stepper you can use a chip
> like an
> > L293D
> >
> > > 2. What are some cheap(under $20) sensors that I could buy to add
> to
> > > my robot I'm building for science fair?
> >
> > Switch, photocell, temperature, etc.
> >
> > > 3. Can the basic stamp make multiple motors run at once...like if
> my
> > > robot uses to motors, can they be running at the same time?
> >
> > Yes if they are just turned on and off. Much harder if you want to
> control
> > their speed.
> >
> > > 4. If someone knew the language fairly well, could they construct
> a
> > > program that ran 3 motors, read input from a sensor or two, and
> > > possibly have a LED that was activated part of the time?
> >
> > Yes
> >
> > I would highly suggest you download the "What is a Microcontroller"
> > curriculum from the parallax website and take a look. It will give
> you some
> > good ideas to start with. Then work your way through the rest of the
> > curriculums.
> >
> > Tim
> > [noparse][[/noparse]Denver, CO]
>
>
>
>
>
It depends on how fancy or sophisticated that you want to get.
One method is to use a Dallas (www.maxim_ic.com) 1 wire DS1820 type of
temperature chip and a Dallas 1 wire Analog Digital (DS2450) converter chip
with a photocell (cadmium sulfide) for light measurements. You then use a
BS2p Stamp to control and read the devices and feed their outputs into a
serial port on a Personal Computer on a regular basis, where you have a
program (like Visual Basic) receive the data and put it into a data file or
directly store it into a spreadsheet or database file. If you hook up a 1
wire DS2422 or DS2423 RAM chip you can store the data, if you want a
standalone operation, that you can access later. You can also use the serial
output to feed the data to a serial printer too, and just print it out.
Another method is to use a DS1620 temp chip and a ADC0820 Analog Digital
converter or similar chip
and hook them up to a Stamp as needed, but these use more I/O pins, etc.
www.parallaxinc.com has several manuals you can download with examples and
experiments in them for learning how to use these devices along with
programming and code.
If your wanting to get the data into a PC for analyzing then you have
several things to learn.
You'll need Visual Basic (unless your a C++ guy) in order to read the serial
port and do something with the results being received. You could use a
terminal program like Hyperterminal and manually save the screen from time
to time as well.
Then you need to get familiar with the BasicStamps and how to program and
interface them. I would suggest a BOE board and a BS2p Stamp for this. Then
you can hook up the chips on the prototype board to get them working with
the Stamp. That's probably all you need for the basics.
www.dontronics.com looks to have these small parts in Austrailia.
Original Message
From: dennis_butler@h... [noparse]/noparse]mailto:[url=http://forums.parallaxinc.com/group/basicstamps/post?postID=INO4jzedUxh7wx_g75JEGD1CuKeJvq9enWJzxiK1tpyufdgzy1g_VeNuKfZWWVCXtCSqKWu7TU01i3PiCcrndGST]dennis_butler@h...[/url
Sent: Sunday, March 03, 2002 1:17 AM
To: basicstamps@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] urgent help needed
Hello
I am new to electronics and I have lurked on this egroup for a while, hoping
that I could pick
up enough information to build the equipment that I need for a research
project that I will be
undertaking
I have gone to the sites that I thought could help,but I am afraid that I
just don't have the
back ground to understand what I am reading,I don't like asking for help But
i have got to the
point that I have no choice,so if there is anyone out there who can help I
would appreciate it
What I am looking for is a way to measure temperature and log it to time
and also a light meter that also logged to time
then be able to down load the data
hoping someone can help thanks
Dennis Butler
AIRIGH
61a Marathon Rd
Briagolong Vic
3860
Download the Lord of the Rings Desktop at http://www.lordoftherings.net
To UNSUBSCRIBE, just send mail to:
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from the same email address that you subscribed. Text in the Subject and
Body of the message will be ignored.
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
discussed here. If you want something quick, cheap, and easy, get a
thermistor and a capacitor. You can then use RCTime to measure
temperature. True, the capacitor also has some temperature sensitivity,
but you can calibrate for that as long as the capacitor is fairly
repeatable. Of course, some of the "IC" temp sensors will do even
better.
As for reading it out to a PC, our Stamp Project of the Month shows a VB
program that talks both ways to a Stamp:
http://www.al-williams.com/awce/som.htm; There is also a frequency
counter example at http://www.al-williams.com/stampcom.zip in VB or C++
(either one).
Good luck!
Al Williams
AWC
* Floating point A/D
http://www.al-williams.com/awce/pak9.htm
>
Original Message
> From: dennis_butler@h...
> [noparse]/noparse]mailto:[url=http://forums.parallaxinc.com/group/basicstamps/post?postID=vpWjShMJgx6fZ25pF13KT_eJxkemwp33peN8U6jpTEi8pf45Zn9ojN1XS1scLZxY4V4WfZrRHBfioY0OOujHVr4V]dennis_butler@h...[/url
> Sent: Sunday, March 03, 2002 1:17 AM
> To: basicstamps@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] urgent help needed
>
>
> Hello
> I am new to electronics and I have lurked on this egroup for
> a while, hoping that I could pick
> up enough information to build the equipment that I need for
> a research project that I will be
> undertaking
> I have gone to the sites that I thought could help,but I am
> afraid that I just don't have the
> back ground to understand what I am reading,I don't like
> asking for help But i have got to the
> point that I have no choice,so if there is anyone out there
> who can help I would appreciate it What I am looking for is
> a way to measure temperature and log it to time
> and also a light meter that also logged to time
> then be able to down load the data
> hoping someone can help thanks
>
>
> Dennis Butler
> AIRIGH
> 61a Marathon Rd
> Briagolong Vic
> 3860
>
> Download the Lord of the Rings Desktop at
> http://www.lordoftherings.net
>
>
> To UNSUBSCRIBE, just send mail to:
> basicstamps-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
> from the same email address that you subscribed. Text in the
> Subject and Body of the message will be ignored.
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
> http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
http://www.parallaxinc.com/html_files/products/BS_Books/P&C_Stamp_2ed.asp
>
> Hello
> I am new to electronics and I have lurked on this egroup for
> a while, hoping that I could pick
> up enough information to build the equipment that I need for
> a research project that I will be
> undertaking
> I have gone to the sites that I thought could help,but I am
> afraid that I just don't have the
> back ground to understand what I am reading,I don't like
> asking for help But i have got to the
> point that I have no choice,so if there is anyone out there
> who can help I would appreciate it
> What I am looking for is a way to measure temperature and
> log it to time
> and also a light meter that also logged to time
> then be able to down load the data
> hoping someone can help thanks
>
>
> Dennis Butler
>
>and also a light meter that also logged to time
>then be able to down load the data
What temperature range, what accuracy, and is it temperature of air,
or water or of some object? Same questions for light. Is it open
sky sunlight, indoor light, or what particular purpose? The devil is
in the details of sensor interfaces to the Stamp.
As far as a data logger and the software required, check out Scott
Edwards' manual for the DCPB, still available on line free for
download. <http://www.seetron.com/pdf/dcpb_mnl.pdf > You can't do
better than that for an introduction to data logging with the Stamp.
The DCPB (Data Collection Proto Board) was itself discontinued
though, I think. That was the project that showed me that it "could
be done" with the Stamp when I was first getting into this.
Chapter 6 of the Earth Measurements text is a data logger (using
Stamp memory) that records two temperatures, light level, and also
controls a water pump. <http://www.emesystems.com/EarthM/em6.pdf> It
is a Stamps-in-class project and uses RCtime for the sensor interface.
-- Tracy
Scott Edwards book "Programming and Customizing The Basic Stamp Computer" has a
chapter on using the BS1 for Time
and Temperature Display. The next Chapter is using a BS2 Data - Logging
Thermometer.
Your biggest problem will be logging to a device that has enough memory.
Bruce
dennis_butler@h... wrote:
> Hello
> I am new to electronics and I have lurked on this egroup for a while, hoping
that I could pick
> up enough information to build the equipment that I need for a research
project that I will be
> undertaking
> I have gone to the sites that I thought could help,but I am afraid that I just
don't have the
> back ground to understand what I am reading,I don't like asking for help But i
have got to the
> point that I have no choice,so if there is anyone out there who can help I
would appreciate it
> What I am looking for is a way to measure temperature and log it to time
> and also a light meter that also logged to time
> then be able to down load the data
> hoping someone can help thanks
>
> Dennis Butler
> AIRIGH
> 61a Marathon Rd
> Briagolong Vic
> 3860
>
> Download the Lord of the Rings Desktop at http://www.lordoftherings.net
>
> To UNSUBSCRIBE, just send mail to:
> basicstamps-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
> from the same email address that you subscribed. Text in the Subject and Body
of the message will be ignored.
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
I am new to electronics and I have lurked on this egroup for a while, hoping
that I could pick
up enough information to build the equipment that I need for a research project
that I will be
undertaking
I have gone to the sites that I thought could help,but I am afraid that I just
don't have the
back ground to understand what I am reading,I don't like asking for help But i
have got to the
point that I have no choice,so if there is anyone out there who can help I would
appreciate it
What I am looking for is a way to measure temperature and log it to time
and also a light meter that also logged to time
then be able to down load the data
hoping someone can help thanks
Dennis Butler
AIRIGH
61a Marathon Rd
Briagolong Vic
3860
Download the Lord of the Rings Desktop at http://www.lordoftherings.net
Thanks for your reply
the temperature range is 34c to 40c
I need the temp to be accurate to 1 degree c and it would be measuring the
external temp of
a water jacket
what i am looking for as regards to light is sun light only
Dennis Butler
AIRIGH
61a Marathon Rd
Briagolong Vic
3860
Download the Lord of the Rings Desktop at http://www.lordoftherings.net