Shoutbox

heyyy. i found one of these in my garage, mines um.. obviously smaller than yours but i was like MIKE HAS ONE OF THESE!

i dont know what the fuck it does though

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v383/marissaok/IMG_5919.jpg

quote:

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Originally posted by marissa
heyyy. i found one of these in my garage, mines um.. obviously smaller than yours but i was like MIKE HAS ONE OF THESE!

i dont know what the fuck it does though

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v383/marissaok/IMG_5919.jpg

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This is where you put all the electronic stuff. For example: leds, resistors, buttons, etc.
(I guess that) you can't do much without the microcontroller (which is on the green board)
I know, my explanation sucks I suppose Cookie can explain better


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I made a small change to the traffic lights project: http://mike.thedt.net/temp/MOV00307.3GP
The two new lights are for the pedestrians

I also made this the same day I posted the previous post, but I didn't post it.
http://mike.thedt.net/temp/MOV00332.3GP

Nothing new again. I just used 8 small red leds this time

quote:

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Originally posted by Mike
This is where you put all the electronic stuff. For example: leds, resistors, buttons, etc.
(I guess that) you can't do much without the microcontroller (which is on the green board)
I know, my explanation sucks I suppose Cookie can explain better

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You've explained it good though...

Such boards are also known as testing-boards or practice-boards. The proper term is breadboard.

Such boards allow you to make test cases without the need to solder wires and making real PCBs (=printed circuit board... eg: your motherboard is a big PCB consisting of multiple layers). As you can see from Mike's photos, you just need to stick the components in a cell on the board to make connections.

They are great for small experiments and for learning practices since you can change stuff around and connect whatever you want and restart over again if needed.

Once you have the proper hardware set up, you can design a PCB layout and make/print and etch a real PCB.

I bet Wiki has an even better explaination... searching...

EDIT:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breadboard
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printed_circuit_board


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quote:

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Originally posted by Mike
I also made this the same day I posted the previous post, but I didn't post it.
http://mike.thedt.net/temp/MOV00332.3GP

Nothing new again. I just used 8 small red leds this time

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!disco inferno!

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quote:

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Originally posted by Mike
I made a small change to the traffic lights project: http://mike.thedt.net/temp/MOV00307.3GP
The two new lights are for the pedestrians

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small (but dangerous.. for the pedestrians ) thingie: the green light for the pedestrians jumps on green the same time the car light jumps on red. There should be a delay between them...

Next exercise with this: add a push button: as soon as the button is pressed a delay happens, then the car lights jump on yellow, then on red and the pedestrians lights go on green (for a shorter time than in a normal sequence)... This will simulate the button pedestrians can use on lights to quickly cross the street.

if you have a infrared diode, you can add that too: only start the pedestrian request for green light when the pedestrian pushes the button and when there is no traffic: if the infrared beam isn't interrupted for, lets say, 5 seconds... (this also teaches the use of logic gates, in this case the AND gate)

Next exercise: add a circuit (can be a rocker switch) which when broken sets car lights on flashing yellow. The switch will simulate a shortcircuit or power failure in the system. eg: traffic lights out of order...




PS: if you have Lego, build a real crosspoint


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EDIT: for those who don't have a real breadboard but still want to experiment and play around with one: Java breadboard simulation:
http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/netpro/bboard/jbreadboard.html

quote:

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Originally posted by CookieRevised
EDIT: for those who don't have a real breadboard but still want to experiment and play around with one: Java breadboard simulation:
http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/netpro/bboard/jbreadboard.html

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That looks pretty sweet!

Hah.. breadboard...

Do I miss it?
No, not at all

quote:

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Originally posted by CookieRevised
small (but dangerous.. for the pedestrians (Smilie)) thingie: the green light for the pedestrians jumps on green the same time the car light jumps on red. There should be a delay between them...

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You are right
Well, that's how the book I'm reading wanted me to do it

quote:

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Originally posted by CookieRevised
Next exercise with this: add a push button: as soon as the button is pressed a delay happens, then the car lights jump on yellow, then on red and the pedestrians lights go on green (for a shorter time than in a normal sequence)... This will simulate the button pedestrians can use on lights to quickly cross the street.

if you have a infrared diode, you can add that too: only start the pedestrian request for green light when the pedestrian pushes the button and when there is no traffic: if the infrared beam isn't interrupted for, lets say, 5 seconds... (this also teaches the use of logic gates, in this case the AND gate)

Next exercise: add a circuit (can be a rocker switch) which when broken sets car lights on flashing yellow. The switch will simulate a shortcircuit or power failure in the system. eg: traffic lights out of order...

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Nice ideas you have.
I should consider them

I rebuilt the traffic lights circuit and added a button for the pedestrians.
Video here: http://mike.thedt.net/temp/MOV00356.3GP

The reason I added that blue led is because:
1) I wanted to know if I actually pushed the button
2) Because I have never seen a blue led before, and wanted to test it
3) Because it is sexy

awesome

nice