Fun with microcontrollers

[SFT2]

And for my 100th post (wait, that's it? Figured it was more than that...):

I've been messing with Arduino microcontrollers lately, mostly to put a different kind of switch in one of my transmitters, and one of the things I came up with while trying to figure out the language is this:

RC Police Lights Prototype | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

The USB cable on the right is only there for power at this point. Control is coming from the 603FF (it took a massive set of cast iron balls for me to connect a $100 receiver to a breadboard). I've now burned the code to a smaller chip:



The Arduino is now being used only as a power supply for the smal chip in the red ZIF socket, and it's actually completely out of the circuit. Since this chip doesn't like 6v, I used a couple of switching diodes to drop it from 6v to 4.6v. Now I just have to put it on a board and make a lightbar with some much smaller LEDs.

So which do I put the first one on?

[aceisback]

Cool project. Is that an ATiny you are using?

I've been messing with Arduinos also for the last couple years. A lot of interesting RC ideas have come to mine, I just have to find the time to make them.

[SFT2]

Originally Posted by aceisback

Cool project. Is that an ATiny you are using?

I've been messing with Arduinos also for the last couple years. A lot of interesting RC ideas have come to mine, I just have to find the time to make them.

Yep, an 85. I also have a couple of 84s for stuff that needs more IO. I have the chip on a piece of perfboard now and it works exactly as expected, just need to build a lightbar and wire it.

I got to thinking about it and this chip can do a bunch of stuff. I have one programmed to handle the remote start module and fuel valve on my Slayer, so now I'm working on a small board that can be programmed to do whatever is needed. To simplify things I'm going to set it up with 3 output, one input, and one pin that can be set for either, and a programming header so I won't have to stick wires all over the thing. I may wind up going the same way as an Arduino and have all the IO, power, and ground on headers so tiny (about an inch square) shields can be plugged in and wired up.

My most immediate project is putting all the stuff I need to fiddle with ideas I dream up in a box so i can play with it on vacation next week.

Servo stuff is simple with the Arduino IDE. I cheated and read the signal with pulsein, which stops the program while waiting for the pulse, but for this it works fine. Sending the signal out is just as easy with the servo library. A single command sends a pulse to the servo to set its position.

What's giving me trouble now is writing to a TFT screen. Stuff just isn't working like it should. I'll get it working eventually. I want to use one of these 1.8" TFT screens behind a cut out instrument panel in a scale plane so the instruments, GPS, etc actually work. Yeah, it's nuts, but it'll be really cool if anyone ever notices it.

[YJ_Driver]

Nice work, doing your own opens up lots of possibilities.

I went with a PIC micro to add a horn and control lights and a winch to my Wraith. The neat thing is, I control these three functions from one 3 position channel on my radio. I made a video of it:

RC Few Functions Unit (horn, lights and winch). - YouTube

It wasn't simple, I had to write most of my own software, but I like coding. Now I'm working on making a custom PCB to make it smaller and put it in other cars.

Now, if only I could do the same with an ESC I have some ideas....

[danielk]

The other day, I broke out my Arduino and messed with it the first time since buying it well over a year ago. I managed to get my wireless PS2 controller controlling some servos and whatnot. I feel pretty proud of that success.

[aceisback]

Originally Posted by SFT2

What's giving me trouble now is writing to a TFT screen. Stuff just isn't working like it should. I'll get it working eventually. I want to use one of these 1.8" TFT screens behind a cut out instrument panel in a scale plane so the instruments, GPS, etc actually work. Yeah, it's nuts, but it'll be really cool if anyone ever notices it.

I have a larger TFT screen that works, but I have not done anything with it yet. I have been using Arduinos more for my telescope projects, but I have made an optical tachometer that I use for my helis and have made servo controllers. I have also just started using Arduino based flight controller boards for my quadcopter.

I just may have to start working with this stuff again.

[SFT2]

What are you using as a sensor for the tach? I could use a tach on my motor test stand so I have more realistic numbers.