Category: Object

Lab 2: Digital I/O

Part 1: Soldered Breakout Board

For this excercise, we created single parts of a circuits. For mine, I made 2 LEDs in parallel. This was harder as there were several wires that needed to be soldered together.

After calculating the resistance I set up the switch, resistors, and LEDs. Luckily both green and yellow LEDs have the same forward voltage so there was no need for extra calculations.

As you can see below, the soldering for the breakout board was more difficult than expected. The 100% tin solder also did not ease the process.

Part 2: Digital I/O

The next part incorporated the Arduino. For this we needed two inputs in the form of switches and an LED strip.

This schematic was particular annoying because, while I understood how it worked, I was not sure how to flatten it onto paper.

The schematic is conveniently simple with both switches and the LED strip being powered from the Arduino. Unfortunately, when I was making it I misplaced my resistors so the inputs would sometimes misfire.

For the logic I added four states made the LED light up in sequence with a correseponding color: white for both, red for one and green for the other. There was no output when neither switch was pressed.

Lab 1: Basic Electronics

For this lab, we created a few basic electronic circuits from breadboards, jumper wires, LEDs, resistors, voltage regulators, and a power supply. The objective was to create two circuits: one of LEDs in series and one of LEDs in parallel.

LEDs in Series

For my LEDs in series, I choose blue LEDs which have a draw of 3.4V and .03A. Two of these in series would require more power than a voltage regulator woulod proveide at 5V so I wen without it.

I used a 100Ω resistor which was slightly more than necessary but the piece worked charmingly.

LEDs in Parallel

For the LEDs in parallel, I was able to use the voltage regulator with two 47Ω resistors which were slightly more than what was needed. Again, I used the blue LEDs.

Custom Switch

For the custom switch, I used three pieces of foam. The top and bottom had copper pieces attached to them with the wires on top of that. The middle one had a hole in the center so when the switch was pressed the two copper sheets touched and completed the circuit.

Originally, I had added the wires under the copper so the switch would have a definite off position but the glue on the copper tape prevented a current.

Creative Enclosure

For the creative enclosure, I laser cut a box and then added holes for the LEDs, switch wires, and power supply using a drill press. I then soldered the LEDs together to a wire. I also added wires to the power side of the LEDs so they could reach the board when it is fully assembled.