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Basic Stamp Assistance — Parallax Forums

Basic Stamp Assistance

ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
edited 2004-05-11 00:38 in General Discussion
Hi, I'm a new guy.

I am not an electronics guy, but I heard from the Seattle Robotics
Club that a Basic Stamp is the way to go for my project.

I am looking for assistance, or someone who is willing to take on a
project.
I would like to operate an electric motor and a clock/timer simular
to an outdoor water timer.

I can provide more details as to what my project is about.

Thank you, Tom

Comments

  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2004-05-10 14:57
    --- In basicstamps@yahoogroups.com, "tom_miller56" <mtsue@q...> wrote:
    > Hi, I'm a new guy.
    >
    > I am not an electronics guy, but I heard from the Seattle Robotics
    > Club that a Basic Stamp is the way to go for my project.
    >
    > I am looking for assistance, or someone who is willing to take on a
    > project.
    > I would like to operate an electric motor and a clock/timer
    simular
    > to an outdoor water timer.
    >
    > I can provide more details as to what my project is about.
    >
    > Thank you, Tom

    Hi Tom,

    That sort of project is not terribly complicated.

    The Stamp is the beginners device so you are on the right track.

    If you can break your project into logical steps, we may be able to
    referr you to the Parallax data sheets on different sections.

    for the timing you can use an internal timer and run from that or you
    can use an external Real Time Clock with battery so you can use it
    like a calendar watch.

    If you want to turn on a pool motor or other device that is just ON
    or OFF, that too is really easy. There are notes about turning on
    transistors and relays and such.

    If you want to have some control over the motor, slow, fast, pause,
    reverse... that sort of thing, there are write-ups on those too.

    It's kinda like building blocks for the most part.

    Dave

    If I may put in a shameless plug, we offer a Real time clock chip for
    the Stamp with battery.

    and, we will make custom units if you need.

    New item - New prices.........
    http://www.visualmuses.com/chipcircuit/index.html
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2004-05-10 15:10
    Hi Tom,

    Dave has some good advice, and I agree that this should be easy enough to
    do. Keep in mind that there are different kinds of motors and driving each
    of them requires different techniques.

    This list is an amazing resource. You will find that asking very specific
    questions elicit excellent answers from the distributed brainpower of the
    list :-)

    So, for example, if I ask "How do I drive a motor?" I might not get many
    responses because that question is not very specific. But if I ask "How do I
    drive a stepper motor?" that will get many answers (some of which will ask
    you what kind of stepper motor).

    Of course, I might not know what kind of motor I want to use. Then I might
    be very specific about my application (which is a good idea anyway because
    others might have good ideas about how to do what I want to do). So I might
    say: "I need a motor that can rotate a gear very precisely in an arc of 45
    degrees back and forth. I don't need a lot of speed and the gear will have
    about 3 oz of load. What kind of motor do I need and how do I drive it with
    a Basic Stamp?" That would get a load of helpful answers.

    If you browse the list archive, you'll see what I mean. Really specific or
    detailed questions get great answers.

    A few other resources you might find useful. I have an unofficial Basic
    Stamp FAQ at http://www.wd5gnr.com/stampfaq.htm. My main site at
    http://www.awce.com has a lot of Stamp resources too -- including our famous
    Stamp Project of the Month.

    This all assumes you want to do it yourself, which I think you do.

    Welcome to the list!

    Al Williams
    AWC
    * Easy RS232 Prototyping
    http://www.awce.com/rs1.htm





    Original Message
    From: tom_miller56 [noparse]/noparse]mailto:[url=http://forums.parallaxinc.com/group/basicstamps/post?postID=NEsiJtD1oLOQp-pWxXV8C9FIpDjhTNk5hbzBB54ccxSjE1V8cjocYeoR_35joJoB500YyLHM]mtsue@q...[/url
    Sent: Sunday, May 09, 2004 7:10 PM
    To: basicstamps@yahoogroups.com
    Subject: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] Basic Stamp Assistance


    Hi, I'm a new guy.

    I am not an electronics guy, but I heard from the Seattle Robotics
    Club that a Basic Stamp is the way to go for my project.

    I am looking for assistance, or someone who is willing to take on a
    project.
    I would like to operate an electric motor and a clock/timer simular
    to an outdoor water timer.

    I can provide more details as to what my project is about.

    Thank you, Tom




    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.

    Yahoo! Groups Links
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2004-05-11 00:38
    Thank you Dave for the advise.

    I like your suggestion.

    Below is a reply to my request asking about basic stamp usage, so you will
    get a better understanding of what I am trying to accomplish:

    Tom,

    You can do this without a microcontroller -- you can do it with a couple of
    simple timer circuits. Funny ... about 15 years ago there was a guy at Toro
    who wanted to build exactly what you're describing and call it the "Granny
    Timer" because little-old-ladies like to do things by hand. They could run
    a cycle, and if it wasn't enough then the could do another.

    But ... you still can't do your project without understanding electronics,
    or hiring somebody who does.

    -- Jon
    Original Message
    From: Tom [noparse]/noparse]mailto:[url=http://forums.parallaxinc.com/group/basicstamps/post?postID=gjbIKPE7RMYiKt4CQrgbf_MqdFts_5wQwFCdS9eceQkysWmVFbIOk_PvA8Zq7D5yIygKhWRRE9I]mtsue@q...[/url
    Sent: Friday, March 26, 2004 1:44 PM
    To: Jon Williams
    Subject: Re: Basic Stamp


    Jon,

    Thank you for the reply. I feel I owe you a little bit more information,
    but I believe you understand my situation.

    What I am trying to do is develop a battery operated water timer such as
    Nelson or Toro. I would like the timer (it doesn't matter what functions it
    has) to be able to push a "START" button for instance (all I need is one
    button).

    Push the "START" button, the water valve opens.
    Water valve stays open for 10 minutes, then closes.
    NOW - The valve remains closed for another 10 minutes.
    During the 10 minutes, the valve may not be opened (say by pressing the
    START button again) until the 10 minutes are up.
    Then the valve may be opened again by pressing START again, and repeating
    the cycle if desired.

    Thank you, Tom



    Original Message
    From: "Dave Mucha" <davemucha@j...>
    To: <basicstamps@yahoogroups.com>
    Sent: Monday, May 10, 2004 6:57 AM
    Subject: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] Re: Basic Stamp Assistance


    > --- In basicstamps@yahoogroups.com, "tom_miller56" <mtsue@q...> wrote:
    > > Hi, I'm a new guy.
    > >
    > > I am not an electronics guy, but I heard from the Seattle Robotics
    > > Club that a Basic Stamp is the way to go for my project.
    > >
    > > I am looking for assistance, or someone who is willing to take on a
    > > project.
    > > I would like to operate an electric motor and a clock/timer
    > simular
    > > to an outdoor water timer.
    > >
    > > I can provide more details as to what my project is about.
    > >
    > > Thank you, Tom
    >
    > Hi Tom,
    >
    > That sort of project is not terribly complicated.
    >
    > The Stamp is the beginners device so you are on the right track.
    >
    > If you can break your project into logical steps, we may be able to
    > referr you to the Parallax data sheets on different sections.
    >
    > for the timing you can use an internal timer and run from that or you
    > can use an external Real Time Clock with battery so you can use it
    > like a calendar watch.
    >
    > If you want to turn on a pool motor or other device that is just ON
    > or OFF, that too is really easy. There are notes about turning on
    > transistors and relays and such.
    >
    > If you want to have some control over the motor, slow, fast, pause,
    > reverse... that sort of thing, there are write-ups on those too.
    >
    > It's kinda like building blocks for the most part.
    >
    > Dave
    >
    > If I may put in a shameless plug, we offer a Real time clock chip for
    > the Stamp with battery.
    >
    > and, we will make custom units if you need.
    >
    > New item - New prices.........
    > http://www.visualmuses.com/chipcircuit/index.html
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    > 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.
    >
    > Yahoo! Groups Links
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
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