Reddit mentions: The best interfaces

I don't have anything specific I can share, but the absolute best way to start with microcontrollers, IMHO, is to pick one of the big three (PIC because it's the academic standard, Arduino, Pi) and get intimately familiar with it.

PIC controllers are the gold standard for learning embedded development in an academic setting, and there's a thousand lectures and tutorials available on youtube and a wealth of cheap textbooks on amazon and half. They're not very practical in the real world because nobody really uses them outside of academia, but they will get you safely to the wealth of knowledge you need to do real world development.

Arduinos have a huge community and tons of wiki-like resources available for consumption, plus the same amount of youtube content as PIC, and there's a million practical applications and projects right out of the gate. If you need a quick satisfaction feedback loop to keep you interested, these are a good choice.

Lastly with the Pi, they're mostly geared toward regular old programmers I'm finding, more so than your standard microcontroller lover, but they're still fantastic and let you run a full *nix environment while tinkering if that's what you're comfortable with.

Pick a microcontroller you want to work with, and get a copy of "[X] for Beginners" or even "[X] for Dummies" and walk through the whole book. Don't skip anything. Then get a book for intermediate, then advanced, and just keep going. Build as many things as you possibly can, that's the best way to learn.

If you need to learn how to read schematics to really digest what the books are throwing at you: http://www.build-electronic-circuits.com/reading-schematics/

If you're dead set on soldering shit to a board, learn to solder correctly first: http://www.aaroncake.net/electronics/solder.htm

If you'd rather do breadboard-style prototyping, pick up a few little kits like this: https://www.amazon.com/SOLDERLESS-EXPERIMENT-BREADBOARD-PROTO-TYPING-TIE-POINTS/dp/B00MED3WGU

Or hit up your local Barnes & Noble and check out their "Games / Projects / Crafts / Hobbies" section and look for breadboard kits, pretty much every store has them now. They might be branded for kids, but they're the same shit in a more colorful box. I learned in a college environment with an Engineering PhD breathing down my neck, so I'm not super familiar with picking this stuff up on your own, but that's the best advice I can give at the moment. Also, there's Reddit communities around each of these microcontrollers and I guarantee they have FAQs and beginner guides a-plenty. Go read those.

Good luck!

Well, breadboards run pretty cheap... And size matters here. Sometimes a smaller board is better, but a large board gives you more room to work with. So I'd recommend getting both! A small board will be nice for smaller projects, but larger boards will be nice for more in-depth prototyping that require more room to work with. And he can always use a small area of a large board when he doesn't need it all... but a large board won't fit into a small boat or airplane if that's what he is doing... So, at a good price, both can be beneficial.

Other than that, he'll need jumpers (male/female), and maybe a ribbon cable. Ribbon cables need a T-board (or equivalent) to connect to the breadboard with, but jumpers just plug into the GPIO pins. With a small breadboard, jumpers are favorable, as they only take up as much space as one pinhole, and they come in many different colors and lengths. A larger board can accommodate a ribbon cable and T-board more readily... a T-board can take up a LOT of space on a small breadboard REALLY quickly.

Word to the wise: if you buy a ribbon cable and T-board, you are going to want to know what type of Pi he has. The original versions had fewer GPIO pins than the B+ and the A+ versions. This means that a larger ribbon cable wouldn't work with the original Pi's. If he has an A or B, a 40 pin cable/T-board wouldn't work as they're designed for the newer B+ and A+. If you need help identifying which board he has, we can help you with a photo or a description of the board...

Also, a resistor kit and a capacitor kit would be good to have, if he doesn't already have them. Most projects require that you use resistors/capacitors somewhere, and the kits usually come with several of the most used resistors/capacitors, which should tie him over for some time.

Then you should get him an LED set. LEDs are nice because they can be used as a "proof of concept" tool. Since everything into and out of the Pi is digital, all you are doing is giving an item voltage. So it doesn't matter if you're using a buzzer, motor, servo, or LED... they will all work interchangeably. He can use an LED to prove that his code and wiring works when the light comes on... then, when it all works, he can swap the LED for a buzzer or something, and everything should still work, just with sound instead of light.

You could also buy him some sort of case, but these aren't always necessary. I don't use on on my Pi, and it works just fine... I just have to make sure I'm not shorting it on anything, or breaking it in some stupid way. These vary so much in design and price, I'll let you search for them instead of providing a link... just remember, like the ribbon cable, cases will obviously depend on the model he has.

Personally, I would stay away from potentiometers and photoresistors since the Pi only has digital inputs. Both of these items would need to be attached as analog items to work properly, and that means buying extra boards for correct functionality. The Raspberry Pi can not natively read analog inputs, so these items would only be frustrating to him since he can't use them without extra parts.

This should get him started in coding and prototyping. If he's looking for motors, servos, or speakers, you can get him those too, but they're not necessary to tinker with a Pi.

There are also kits that offer these items, but they're usually more expensive than they have to be, and they may or may not have everything you're looking for. Also, there are other places to shop for these types of things, but I use Amazon because it was the quickest and easiest place to search for examples of all of these things for this post. If you're smart with your shopping, you can get all of these items for ~$100, and might be able to have them shipped before Christmas... but you're going to have to hurry.

EDIT: Added links since you said you knew "nothing" about these items. This should make searching easier since you can actually see what I'm talking about...

Sure thing! I used a Teensy 2.0 with this code: github link. More info on using the teensy as a joystick can be found here. My code should be commented for clarity, but let me know if something doesn't make sense.

Most of the main parts came from adafruit.com or Amazon:

• Raspberry Pi 2
  
• 5 inch HDMI screen
  
• Power/recharging circuit
  
• 6600 mAh Li ion battery
  
• Audio amplifier circuit/volume control
  
• Headphone jack
  
• Tact switches for bottom buttons
  
• PCB for bottom buttons
  
• Power switch
  
• 0.5mm pitch FFC/FPC connector
  
• 0.5mm pitch adapter board
  
  Assorted wires and cables came from Amazon or adafruit, make sure to find ones that are very very thin.
  
  Using the original WiiU buttons was a nightmare. I do not recommend using the original button assemblies unless you are confident in your soldering abilities. Scrapping the original assemblies will also provide a ton of extra interior space. Connecting the 0.5mm pitch flex cable was awful, I was constantly afraid that I was going to burn through or rip something. I did actually over-solder one of the pin connectors and spent about 30 min with an iron and a needle trying to re-separate the pins. If I did this again, I would mount tact switches to a PCB and attach that to the front face of the controller. That would also save a ton of space on the inside and wouldn't require code modification.
  
  Adafruit's Super Game Pi tutorial was also a good reference for wiring the power and audio components.
  
  I'm happy that I could help you out with your project. Good luck and let us know how it goes!

I'm not sure what level you're at and I'm beginner myself so I'll just go over the stuff I've been doing. Maybe this stuff is super obvious.

> an incomprehensible jumble of jumper wires

If you're not using them already, the pre-cut and pre-bent wires are awesome for keeping things tidy (eg these).

> tightly packed components

Have multiple breadboards - they're like $3-5 at Tayda. The ones that clip together are handy. Having extra real estate to spread things out is invaluable. Although having long jumper wires can introduce more oscillations and noise once you've got things working you can always make things a bit more compact.

Use the buses - the outer two rows that run the length of the board for your power and ground. Use the columns of 5 for your signal path. This way you can just run jumpers up and down for your power/ground. Or if, for example, you have a resistor going to ground you can just connect it directly to the ground bus.

If you use a certain bit of circuitry in a lot of your builds consider making it on veroboard and having it off-board. I've built standard power filtering and reverse polarity protection on vero. You could do the same with something like a voltage doubler or inverter if you're always reusing them. Although it's only a few components it's a bit less on your breadboard and saves you redoing the same thing every time you BB up a circuit.

Try and lay out things as close as they look on the schematic as possible. Ground at the bottom, voltage from the top, signal running left to right. And if you can, down to the individual components. This can be hard sometimes, especially when dealing with transistors/3+ pin devices.

If you've got an old enclosure or something lying around where you can setup your off-board stuff to keep them all tidy makes things easier too. This guide from the Beavis Audio website is a good example. There's a few layout tips in that PDF also. There's also some sample layouts that might be worth a look over for some examples on how to layout certain circuit elements.

Not necessarily related to layout but a few other things I've found:

Test constantly - audio probe and DMM/voltmeter. Grab one of those little pocket battery amps (eg this one for $20) to have on your bench if testing with your real amp is a PITA.

I keep a printed copy of the resistor colour codes on the wall in front of my bench, makes it easy to glance up and check because yeah no way I'm memorising those any time soon.

Draw the pinouts for any ICs/transistors/things with more than two pins on your schematic for quick reference.

Have a decent understanding of the circuit first and how the stages work. I like to redraw stuff in KiCad/Eagle - forces me to learn what connects where. It's a lot easier when you can look at your board and go 'oh I'm missing a resistor that should be connected to the drain' (or whatever) without having to reference your schematic for everything.

I've also found I've been more successful when I'm putting things together to say in my head "signal goes through 68k resistor to gate", "1M resistor connects from gate to ground", "220p cap from gate to ground" etc etc, rather than just going "this thing connects to that". Helps you understand the circuit better and will make you then ask yourself things like "which pin on this component is the gate?".

Like I said, I'm still learning, so if I've said anything blatantly wrong feel free to call me out, always up for getting better.

I actually didn't tally up the cost as that wasn't really of a concern to me, but I'll try my best to provide links to the things I bought for this. Feel free to add it up for me!

• Lighting
  
  • T-5 Grow light (came with 6500K bulbs)
    
  • 2700K bulbs
    
  • Grow light hangers
    
• Grow medium
  
  • Net Cups
    
  • Black Buckets
    
  • Black lids
    
• Nutrients
  
  • General Hydroponics Flora Series
    
  • General Hydroponics pH control kit
    
  • pH/EC/Temp Meters
    
• Grow tent
  
• Air ventilation
  
  • The only thing I ended up using from this kit was the cheapest part, the ventilation duct...
    
  • The fan from this kit is way too powerful for my setup because my humidifier couldn't keep up
    
  • I didn't use the carbon filter because I'm not growing weed.
    
• Water Distiller
  
• Humidifier
  
  • The cheaper the humidifier, the better. I first bought (and destroyed) one that had some sort of digital switch, so it would always be in the off state when you first supply power to it, meaning you can't turn it on/off with just a relay.
    
• Plumbing
  
  • Aquatec 8852 booster pump
    
  • 2 Gallon accumulator tank
    
  • Pressure relief valve
    
  • Tubing
    
  • Inline Pre-filter (Sorry they must have taken the product down...)
    
  • Misting nozzle T's
    
  • Tube ball valves
    
  • Analog pressure gauge
    
  • Misting Nozzles
    
    • Note that these nozzles are meant for WAY higher pressure systems (~1000psi) and I actually had to take out the spring for them to operate correctly, but they never clogged up, are easy to clean, and worked perfectly for me!
      
• Electronics
  
  • Raspberry Pi 3 kit
    
  • Humidity sensor
    
  • Pressure sensor
    
  • Water solenoid valve
    
  • 5V 4-channel relay module
    
  • Analog-to-digital converter
    
  • 24V to 12V converter
    
  • 24V Power supply
    
  • Resistor kit
    
  • Semiconductor kit
    
  • Circuit boards
    
  • Standoffs
    
• Wiring
  
  • 22 gauge stranded wire
    
  • 22 gauge solid wire
    
  • Power supply cord
    
• Connectors
  
  • Electronic Connectors
    
    • JST-XHP Connectors
      
    • JST-SM Connectors
      
    • Dupont Connectors
      
  • Plumbing Connectors
    
    • Bulkhead connectors
      
    • Quick-connect kit
      
    • NPT to quick-connect connector
      
      I also bought various tools, like crimpers, Dremel kit, drill, etc, but I don't consider those to be project-specific as I'll have them for the foreseeable future. Let me know if there's anything you see that you think I missed!
      

Sorry for resurrecting a two-week old thread, I didn't see this earlier for some reason.

I don't bother with a lot of the steps you're talking about here. For example, I don't heat/agitate in the etching tank at all. I just wear nitrile gloves and dip the board in a plastic container of etchant, pull it out, dip it in, pull it out, occasionally turning it over... it gets enough oxygen from the air to make the process go fairly quickly. No need to get fancy, especially when working with nasty chemicals. Keep it simple, keep it safe.

My purpose in DIY PCB fab is to prototype a board and verify that a design works with a turnaround time of hours rather than days. So I aim for "good enough." If I want it pretty, with solder mask, silkscreen etc., then I'll send it off to a fabricator.

Building your own spin coater is going to be potentially dangerous work (possibly flinging carcinogenic solvents everywhere, if not the board too) and it's really, really not worth it for solder mask. When I used a spin coater for photoresist at school, we had it going at 3000 rpm, under a fume hood and yellow lights, in a cleanroom. The board was held in place on the spindle by vacuum. You can get really, really nice results etching with a 5 micron layer of photoresist.

But at home, I use a negative dry film photoresist with a laminator and UV light. I use it to etch, not for solder mask, but I'm sure you could use it for that if you wanted.
https://www.amazon.com/INSMA-Photosensitive-Circuit-Production-Photoresist/dp/B01C5SUMAC/
Use cellophane tape to separate the protective plastic film layers. Then you can use a clothes iron on the lowest setting to apply the photoresist to the board, but you'll get more consistent results with a few passes through a laminator set at about 110C.

Make sure you follow the recipe for the developer solution closely (~1% by weight of sodium carbonate to warm water, or about 10 grams per liter). If you use too much of the soda it actually takes a lot longer to develop. Even with the right mix, it's not like those presensitized boards you can buy that develop in seconds. Normally it takes about 5-10 minutes to develop, I use a soft toothbrush and nitrile gloves and just scrub gently in the developing solution for about twice as long as it looks like I need to.

Other random stuff:
I don't do solder mask, but I do put my boards in liquid tin for 5 minutes after I'm done etching them. You can re-use that stuff almost forever. It is kind of nasty, but I don't think it's any nastier than used etchant. It keeps the copper from oxidizing on the hot plate, which can make rework soldering a bitch. I also use a dremel drill press, but drilling sucks so I use SMT/SOIC parts as much as possible.

For the UV light, I don't think polarizing film will help. Sunglasses don't keep you from seeing stuff that's not directly in front of you, right? You'll still get radiation at incident angles. You probably won't need it anyway unless you're doing super fine work, in which case you would need a collimator. I guess you could make one by cutting strips of plastic and gluing them into a grid or something like that, but like I said, I wouldn't bother. If you do this, put it close to the light, you don't want it too close to the photoresist. I'd probably try moving the UV sources farther away first if I was having trouble with exposure angles. You can get really nice results with angles up to about 20 degrees, it doesn't have to be perfect.

I don't like transparencies, and neither does my laser printer, or my wallet. The good ones are a dollar each. Heavy clear vellum (tracing paper) is much cheaper, seems to take more toner, and is still UV transparent. It's a little harder to get layers lined up if you don't have a light table, but still no big deal. The thin vellum you can find at the office supply stores will work too, but tends to jam in a laser printer. I can't find heavy 95gsm clear vellum (65# in freedom units) locally, so I buy it online:
https://www.amazon.com/Vellum-Value-Pack-Pkg-Clear-95gsm/dp/B0086XIBCW

I'm an ECE that got into Raspberry Pi about a month ago. I work in microelectronics (chip design), and wanted to use it to get back into larger scale electronics hacking and to do some more hardware oriented programming and projects.

As such, I had to basically reform my electronics gadget supply at the same time since I ditched my college collection a while back when moving to a new house.

Here's some of the key things I bought to go with my Pi that I felt I needed. I'm assuming you're like me and want to work on electronics hardware (lights, switches, etc).

• Raspberry Pi B+ : I wanted the larger sized one with more memory and USB ports as the prototype environment. As I get stuff fully working, then I plan to buy an A+ for the implementation environment. I bought the Canakit Ultimate Starter Kit on Amazon
  
• You'll want a good microSD card. I swapped out the 8GB one from the Canakit for a 16GB one since I want to store some data on the card for a project I have in mind
  
• A case : I used the one from the Canakit
  
• A USB keyboard. The Logitech K400 is nice (just make sure to pair it on a PC first), or the Rii i8 Mini work nice (I have both)
  
• If you want an onboard display, look at the PiTFT from Adafruit. I used that for my initial setup, then set up my Pi to autostart a VNC server on boot and now I work without a display. If you don't want the PiTFT, you can use a TV or a monitor if it supports HDMI (or a regular monitor with an HDMI to DVI adapter).
  
• If hardware hacking, a breadboard and cobbler board : You'll want a breadboard for prototyping electronics projects before soldering to a PCB, and a cobbler board to connect the pin header of the Raspberry to your breadboard. I used the one from the Canakit but there are various ones out there you can buy
  
• To go with a breadboard, I suggest flexible breadboard wire. These or these would work.
  
• If hardware hacking, you'll want LEDs, switched, and resistors/capacitors. I really like these resistors (they came bagged and labelled), the LEDs I started out with from Radio Shack, and for switches I really like these ones. They snap right into a breadboard. The caps I just got at RadioShack.
  
• You may want to grab a multimeter as well. I have two myself with different functions (one for logic probing mainly).
  
  Beyond those basic starter components, the rest is up to your imagination and what you want to do next. In my case, I plan to drive higher current components, so I'll be using optocouples and relays eventually. And I plan to make my own PCBs to snap onto the Raspberry, so I have PCBs, headers, and soldering stuff.
  
  If you're new to the Raspberry, there's online resources out there. I also got this book off Amazon as a starter as well, which I've been coupling with online resources.
  
  On the Arduino side, that's my next purchase since I may find it easier to have the software and server side of one of my projects on a Pi, and the hardware interface on an Arduino. I'm just going to get an R3 board to start since I have the rest of the stuff they usually include in a starter pack listed above.
  
  This blog did a nice writeup comparing some Arduino R3 starter kits:
  https://www.pretzellogix.net/2014/10/09/three-arduino-starter-kits-compared-and-reviewed/

Oh cool. Are you taking a soldering iron? Then you can make multiple 'finished' projects in that time, so get a bunch of Pro Minis (and an FTDI adapter), as well as some Nanos, and some perfboard. And small wire cutters / strippers (two tools in 1).

I like ws2812b LED strips. Maybe you can spruce up your cabin or something.

Wemos D1 mini is a good ESP8266 board if you want wifi. The HC-05 is good if you want bluetooth. NRF24l01 is a good 2.4gz radio module (make two devices communicate). MPU-6050 is a good accelerometer/gyroscope. Not sure of a GPS module.

Level shifters, you'll probably want one or two if your kit doesn't come with any.

USB power banks are pretty handy ways to power a portable project.

Install PlatformIO and get it up and running before you leave. It's way better than the Arduino IDE and makes programming easier.

That sounds about right. Even if it ends up not working out I would recommend you try anyway because your next project could be a success.

This will most likely also require soldering experience. I suggest you get a pack of crappy plated perf boards and a big pack of resistors and just spend an hour or two doing nothing but soldering.

The physical assembly steps could be interesting to live stream, but be careful because a lot of people will start making suggestions that may or may not be good that you would be better off ignoring.

I do stuff like this professionally, so if you have questions that aren't getting answered (or don't want to post something publicly) feel free to PM me.

Edit: Plated perf board that will work: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072Z7Y19F

Resistor pack: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07L851T3V

Feel free to hit me up with questions. I have always wanted to design a sex toy, so I learned a lot of relevant skills, but unfortunately I have a job that uses all of those skills now and I am too busy to work on my passion projects.

These are parts I use consistently in my labs
Capacitor kit


Resistor kit


Jumper wires


Bread board(s)


Larger breadboard. Recommended for larger projects but I haven’t used it too much. Best for large IC circuits


Multimeter. This has all the right features

Other things that can be useful:


•Wire strippers


•Pliers


•Electrical Tape


•Tackle Box or tool bag (to carry everything)


•Flat jumper wires


As you get into classes you’ll need specific parts (transistors, logic gates etc) but this should get you started. I use the things I linked in every lab weekly.

Feel free to message me with any questions.

You can go pretty cheap but the absolute bottom of the barrel Aliexpress ones might have some contact issues. For peripherals it might be good to get this which gives you USB or barrel jack switching, switchable 3.3V/5V, and powers your rails. You also would want a set of prebent jumpers or jumper wire depending on whether you want board cleanliness or ease of routing, respectively.

Awesome! Thank you! I'll have to try to find something similar. That seller has zero feedback, and shipping takes way too long from Hong Kong... : \

Would I be able to find something like that, or something like this locally at a radio shack or something?

Edit

I know the amazon link I put here is 5v, I'm also asking if they make these with 1.25-1.5V Outputs too?

1. yes, ideally you need an external supply. It can be a wall wart type, a battery pack, or a brick type - anything that gives a DC supply suitable for your motor should be fine.
   
   
2. I prefer the pre-cut jumpers. either solid or flexible are fine for breadboards. I also have a bunch of this type which are very useful to link between the breadboard/arduino/devices, and keep things much neater than with seperate jumpers.
   
   

A few tips. Use a hotter setting, the faster you get in and out the less heat spreads through the board. But not so hot you burn out the flux. If your joint turns from shiny to grey it got too hot. I would recommend picking up these and practicing.

Good luck and have fun!

Wow, yeah thats super small. That looks like something that has a specific purpose. Check these out.
https://www.amazon.com/Double-Sided-Board-Prototype-Paxcoo/dp/B01N3161JP/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1522698761&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=perfboard&psc=1

EDIT: Found the problem. You searched for "Perf Board". Try "Perfboard". Here is the same thing on the DE amazon.
https://www.amazon.de/Aihasd-Lochrasterplatte-Lochrasterplatine-Leiterplatte-Universal/dp/B00VL1KHJQ/ref=sr_1_4?s=ce-de&ie=UTF8&qid=1522698858&sr=1-4&keywords=PerfBoard

Gotcha.

Go pick up an arduino kit, a few boards, an iron and solder.

The arduino kit will help with the physical electrical aspect, resistors, leds, servos, positive and negative, and it help with the theory/text book stuff such as amps, ohms, voltages etc.

Pick up a multimeter and look up how to test resistance , voltages, conductivity.

You can practice the soldering by putting led and resistors on a board. The arduino has tons of material for simple projects that include the code. So if the coding part doesn’t interest you, just copy the example
Code and build the circuit on the included breadboard. Then move the circuit into a blank soldering board

And make sure to research any questions instead of just asking someone who knows the answer. The reason I suggest research on your own first is there’s a lot to learn in the tech industry. The more you read the more you’ll familiarize yourself with key words, go to forums, and terminology.

I've used several of those boards in the past. They're more commonly known as "Perf" boards, or perforated boards, instead of PCB's, because there's really nothing "printed" on them. I found the easiest way to make connections between components is to use one of their legs as the trace between 2 points. This site has a good example of that.

Alternately, you may prefer to use a bus board or solderable bread board instead, which will have printed rails included that will keep your resulting soldering much cleaner. I'm a big fan of these Sparkfun solderable bread boards. They're really solidly made, double-sided, and even cheaper than these single-sided bus board proto boards from Amazon. You may still need to create unique traces on your own, but with the bus board or solderable bread board, it's easier to do this with jumper wire.

My biggest issue with converting anything to LED is going from AC from the magneto to the DC that most LED setups require. On top of that, you will probably need 12 Volts since most mopeds are a 6v light circuit and that's kinda weak when it comes to LEDs.

SO, with all that in mind, you will need a 12v coil and a full wave rectifier to convert that 12VAC to 12VDC. half wave will covert 12VAC to 6VDC. If you are still going to use filament bulbs, you will also need a regulator or like 14.7v or whatever it is bulbs. Even though it's a 12V coil, it will probably shit out like 14 or so and that will blow those bulbs pretty quickly if left unregulated. LED stuff usually has a range of voltage it will accept but not always, so be sure to check that.

Anyways, this coil is cheap and already has a floating ground making the DC conversion easier.

These will work well for rectifiers (i'd put one at the tail and one at the headlight) or you could get a trail tech reg/rec if you don't mind the pricetag

I hope that makes sense.

I haven't completely drained the battery yet but I would give a safe estimate of around 4 hours. Can emulate any system up to a Nintendo 64. Does PSX, SNES, GBA, GBC, and hopefully NDS here soon.


The full parts list:

pi zero - w/ microsd card.

4.3" TFT display - https://www.amazon.com/KLAREN-Backup-Monitor-Wireless-Parking/dp/B01I58BWZK/ref=sr_1_58?ie=UTF8&qid=1486466979&sr=8-58&keywords=4.3%22+TFT

proto board - https://www.amazon.com/Mudder-Pieces-Prototype-Universal-Multiple/dp/B01ER06KXE/ref=sr_1_38?rps=1&ie=UTF8&qid=1486467094&sr=8-38&keywords=protoboard&refinements=p_85%3A2470955011

buttons - SPST-NO

adafruit powerboost 1000c - https://www.adafruit.com/products/2465

power - slide switch

the aluminum tubing for the frame was found at Lowe's in their hobby section

Lipo battery - Can use anything 1s 3.7v with the adafruit powerboost module

BTW. You can buy some prototyping board (like this) and some through-hole resistor (like this) to practice your soldering, as soldering diodes and switches are pretty much the same technique, and they are super cheap. ;)

For a homebuilt project just for yourself yes. For a production something or another that you sell or give to use then no. The goal is to have the quality of the latter be what you normally do in homebuilt. Unless it's just not that critical and you're throwing something together.

But at the same time, you want to have good habits and procedures.

Dead bug construction probably is the way to go if you want to get something together with the least amount of hassle and don't care about appearances or end usage that much.

I personally never have been fond of dead bug. I've used experimenter solder boards (or something similar since Radio Shack closed. They really seem to have the right mix of convenience, solderability, and neatness all the way around that I feel good with the construction. Also, it's easier to use salvaged and other components with shorter leads like this without adding on leads.

I think you'll be happy to know moving from a breadboard to a permanent circuit can be made a lot easier. I've used those individual unconnected ones before and it's pretty miserable trying to make blob shorts all day. A piece of wire helps but i start to feel like I'm making wire origami art.

What you're looking for is called a solderable breadboard there are others that move the power rails back to the outside but this helps save space.

Honestly getting this was one of the best decisions I ever made:

https://www.amazon.com/AUSTOR-Lengths-Assorted-Preformed-Breadboard/dp/B07CJYSL2T

Buy some of these.

These are handy too for connecting to modules with header pins.

Don't get too hung up on making everything nice and neat, if you try to get everything tight to the board and the leads all routed straight it just makes it harder to change things.

http://www.amazon.com/microtivity-IB400-400-point-Experiment-Breadboard/dp/B0084A7PI8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1409954029&sr=8-2&keywords=breadboard

Any breadboard will do, just be sure they are not the small sized ones, otherwise you will run out of space soon. You also need a Pi Cobbler to connect the pi to the breadboard. There are some really good starter kits out there that only include breadboards, some wires a cobbler, some leds and a switch, have a look on Adafruit as well.

The first item looks like a good starting point for having a small collection of components and a breadboard to test your circuits. Unfortunately if you are looking to get some practice with soldering you are missing an important piece: the actual circuit board. I also use a lot of Pin Headers in my projects, but I like to make things modular and adaptable, so the headers might not be 100% necessary for everyone.
I have a screen very similar to that, and I never use it, since most of my projects are headless, and I just SSH into my Pis remotely. But people are different, you may get a lot of use out of it.
I would also say that you don't need the anti-static mat. Not to downplay ESD, because it can certainly harm your electronics, but you would be much better served with a wrist-strap that clipped onto your computer case or something else that is grounded in your work area.

If you do more custom circuit board jobs in the future you may want to get a kit similar to this one. They are meant for breadboard applications but I found they are perfect for custom circuits made on those DIY boards.

If you want to have the easiest possible transistion from breadboard, I would recommend either this , this one or these ones.

Those would be a lot easier to switch to since they already have the connected rails that you're familiar with, the only problem being the cost.

Parts list for the interested

From amazon:

[perf baord](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ARTP1J4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
) $6, or any would do really.

[Battery](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LY0W11T/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
) $8

[Screen](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0045IIZKU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
) $18

[buttons for x/y and shoulders](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0177ALAAE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
) $6


From Ebay.

[Shell](http://www.ebay.com/itm/GBA-Nintendo-Game-Boy-Advance-Replacement-Housing-Shell-Screen-Lens-Glacier-USA-/201114796639?hash=item2ed360425f:g:0Q4AAOSwV0RXufqw
) $12

[Speaker](http://www.ebay.com/itm/361510390912?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
) $5

[USB breakout board](http://www.ebay.com/itm/381578685439?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
) $0.99

From Adafruit.

Pi $5

Jst cable $0.75

Power boost 1000c $18

Mono audio amp $4

From Radio shack.

[Headphone jack](https://www.radioshack.com/collections/connectors-adapters/products/radioshack-1-8-stereo-panel-mount-phone-jack
) $3

[Volume wheel](https://www.radioshack.com/collections/trimmers-thermistors/products/radioshack-10k-ohm-wheel-potentiometer
) $2

Components for the low pass filter as also from radioshack, about $8.
Total without shipping: $100.

Snoothing caps? Is that when you put a capacitor on output, and ground of a voltage regulator? Okay thank you. A while back i bought these voltage regulators, i took a quick look at the spec image they provide, and im still new at reading that stuff but i believe max is 800mA

(12-Pcs) STMicroelectronics 3.3V 950mA, LD1117V33 Voltage Regulator, LD33V https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N09X4E8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_t.WPDbPV6QP8E

And i bought these heatsinks, and idk if they were a good choice.

50 Pcs 20x15x10mm Black Aluminum Heatsink for TO-220 Transistor https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UBUOWWG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_EcXPDbP21NCGM

You can buy them on an electronics store or online. Some people find these to be overpriced though, since all in all it's just a bunch of bent wires. I feel like they save me some time when breadboarding so I bought a couple of boxes a while ago.

> cheap out and save a 3.3v regulator (those are expensive for some reason)

Order a handful of LD1117 from Aliexpress, you can get them for $.30/ea

They aren't even that horribly priced an Amazon with prime

The current version is on one of those solderable breadboard and it's fairly neat (i.e. four rails for power/ground and then several connected horizontal lines) such as this one: [here] (http://www.amazon.com/Solderable-BreadBoard-matches-tie-point-breadboards/dp/B0040Z6OK6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377062803&sr=8-1&keywords=solderable+breadboard) .

I was hoping that protoshield was just a solderable breadboard but with Arduino connections on top of it.

Neat. that said I have so many spare perf boards for making prototypes, and that's generally what I use. perf board amazon kit

It's pretty straight forward. Here are the parts I'm using:

1. I bought this ATX plug so I didn't have to splice my power supply.
   
2. Using this PWM controller
   
3. Using these female banana plugs
   
   Those are the things I bought specifically for this project. The things I already had that helped are:
   
   
4. I really like this flexible silicone wire.
   
5. I use these USB connectors for various projects. Their pinout is .1" (2.54mm) and it comes with all kinds. Works well for slimming down a raspberry pi.
   
6. I used one of these prototype boards to solder the usb receptacles and the LED to.
   
7. I'm using a pink LED from this pack of assorted LEDs along either a 100ohm or 220ohm resistor, I can't remember.
   
8. I use one of these DPDT switches to switch between power on w/ PWM and power on w/ power to the solder fume extractor.
   
9. I used a JST connector from this JST kit to put a male header on the side so I can plug in accessories like the solder fume extractor.
   
10. Lastly, the front panel is bolted on with some M3 screws from this assortment.
    
11. The case was modeled in Rhino 5 and printed in a CR-10 using Silver eSun PLA+
    
    This post has made me realize I have way to much electronics stuff just lying around...

This is a Sky Quality Meter used for measuring the light pollution and skyglow at your location. It outputs values in uW/cm^2 for the infrared
and visible specturm in addition to your limiting magnitude in Mag/arcsec^2.


It should be mentioned that these are all Amazon Prime links with two day shipping. If you can wait longer then, you can certainly get these components for far cheaper.

Rocker switch
http://smile.amazon.com/10Pcs-Round-Button-Rocker-Switch/dp/B00AKVBEN6
10 PCS @ $2.47 = $.25

Pushbutton
http://smile.amazon.com/Momentary-Tactile-Push-Button-Switch/dp/B00974ZGPE
10 PCS @ $5.59 = $.56

TSL2591 (High range light meter)
http://smile.amazon.com/Adafruit-TSL2591-Dynamic-Digital-ADA1980/dp/B00XW2OFWW
$11.44

MSP420 Stim32 I2C 128x64 OLED display
http://smile.amazon.com/SMAKN%C2%AE-Serial-128x64-Display-Arduino/dp/B010V0I8DY
$10.80

Arduino Pro Mini 16Mhz
http://smile.amazon.com/Enhancement-ATMEGA328P-Compatible-Arduino-TE362/dp/B015MGHLNA
5 PCS @ $15.99 = $3.20

5V Voltage Regulator
http://smile.amazon.com/Addicore-Positive-Regulator-L7805CV-Antistatic/dp/B00H7KTRO6
5 PCS @ $5.95 = $1.19

Grand total $27.44

You will also need an enclosure and a battery box or some other way of connecting power to the voltage regulator. I 3D-printed my enclosure but, I'm sure you can get
them cheap. As for a battery box, I use this:
http://smile.amazon.com/WAYLLSHINE-Battery-Spring-Plastic-Holder/dp/B019XT18IQ
6 PCS @ $6.98 = $1.16

I have no idea how to price the electrical tape you're going to need in order to cover the miniature star that is the power LED on the Pro Mini.

I suppose you could just desolder it. I'm not that brave. I used a 1/2 piece of black tape and blanketed the LED. Hopefully, not that much light will leak.

Using this ADC and using this sensor hooked up to a raspberry pi and breadboard with pi cobbler type attachment. Still waiting on the ADC to come in from Amazon.

Nice switches.

How many do you have to mount?
1-5: and glue them in.
6-20: buy prototyping boards , solder switches and drill holes to mount them.
20+: design a small pcb with mounting holes and have it made in china.

Just to confirm, to use a custom PCB and non-dev board, I would by something like this? https://www.amazon.com/Mudder-Pieces-Prototype-Universal-Multiple/dp/B01ER06KXE/ and would probably need a voltage regulator and some type of serial convertor to flash?

Empty circuit boards with pre-soldered holes are excellent for small projects. Aside from learning good soldering technique, which just takes practice, there aren't really any rules. You just use a big enough piece to hold all the parts. I tend to make a lot of fairly tiny things so I end up cutting these boards into smaller pieces with a hacksaw. Waste not want not.

One popular method for Uno is to make a shield, which is a circuit board with header pins that match those on the Arduino so it plugs right in on top.

You can also stack boards, drilling holes in a circuit board to match the Arduino mounting holes and using standoffs to attach them, and running wires between the board and the Arduino. Then screw the whole thing to the underside of a countertop or whatever.

There are also tons of plastic enclosures in all shapes and sizes, with mounting holes, edge-gripping grooves, waterproof grommets, all sorts of schemes to hold things. If you have access to a 3d printer you can design and print your own custom ones.

You can also buy protoboards that have the holes joined just like a breadboard! They can be really handy for some circuits.
http://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/B0040Z6OK6

PCB Breadboard? (https://www.amazon.com/Solderable-BreadBoard-matches-tie-point-breadboards/dp/B0040Z6OK6). Thats how those LED graphs are meant to be used. I think that, in addition with resistor packs, would help keep the wiring fairly tidy. Check out this tutorial: https://create.arduino.cc/projecthub/ejshea/led-bar-graph-and-switch-array-8467e0

For the 24vac, you want a rectifier (which can be a simple diode and a small capacitor - google "half-wave rectifier" for designs) and a "buck converter"

For the 110vac, most USB chargers will work just fine for 5v output, and you can use just about any DC wall wart you might have lying around with the aforementioned buck converter.

You could also use linear regulators after the rectifier, but they are much less efficient than a buck converter.

If it helps, they sell FR4 with the bredboard layout. I use them sometimes, they're handy.

This is what I'm talking about

I don't really wanna post the code for ethical reasons (I started with some basic Adafruit code for bluetooth and turned it into a full OS). But here's a feature list:

1. Bluetooth, where time, battery percentage, and location are automagically updated by a companion app (a modified version of this app by Nordic Semiconductor.)
   
   
2. A stopwatch, accessed by pressing the left button.
   
   
3. A flashlight, turned on by one of the switches
   
   
4. A "dumb mode" in which only the time is displayed, accessed by flipping the bottom switch
   
   
5. In the future, notifications.
   
   I used u8g2's u8x8 mode for the screen drawing, as it requires no ram.
   
   ​
   
   Here are my parts:
   
   Voltage regulator (takes 8.4v down to 5v)
   
   22pF capacitors
   
   16MHz Oscillator (required for standalone board)
   
   DIYMall blue OLED
   
   Knockoff Arduino Uno
   
   Adafruit UART-Capable bluetooth module (makes sending data easier)
   
   Spare ATMega 328 processors
   
   Li-Ion" 9V" (8.4v) batteries (rechargeable)
   
   Switches
   
   9V battery clip
   
   Soldering Kit
   
   Elegoo prototyping PCBs
   
   Jumper wires (makes life easier & tidier)
   
   Elegoo Starter Kit (Comes with LEDs, resistors, and buttons)

Also, continuous vote tallies are suuuper duper close to being ready to go, and I got the ADC I need to get moisture monitoring set up, sometime...

The Naze32 was my first FC, and I had basically no prior experience with soldering. With a little reading or watching of YouTube tutorials, the soldering involved isn't very difficult. You could also pick up some cheap bits of circuit board to practice. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00FXHXT80/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1479110310&sr=8-2&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=circuit+board&dpPl=1&dpID=51sjhgnpTGL&ref=plSrch

Wouldn't recommend the Naze32 now though. You can get so much more for barely any more money.

If you are set on the style that uses pads, I'd go for KISS above Lux. I've seen too many people have issues with the 6500 gyro.

I've been looking at

this: MCP3008
and
this: Using A Joystick On The Raspberry Pi Using An MCP3008

Reckon that could work?

Because the flasher works with the resistance (or impedance) of the bulb to make it flash as a certain rate. Without the correct impedance, it will flash MUCH quicker.

Your headlight is probably running on an AC circuit right now. Do you to LED, you need a full wave bridge rectifier to convert it to DC.

This little guy will do the trick. https://www.amazon.com/NTE-Electronics-NTE53016-Rectifier-Recurrent/dp/B007Z7LXVQ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1539133809&sr=8-3&keywords=full%2Bwave%2Bbridge%2Brectifier&th=1

I suggest getting a 9V or 6V PSU and then run that through a regulator. I use L7805CV when I need a 5V regulator. I literally just used one today to power a arduino pro mini (a 5V micro controller). I suggest using decoupling capacitors with that regulator. 10μF should do the trick. Perhaps if you gave some specifics on what you're building we could be of more help. Usually the micro controllers can power components on their own. They probably wont be able to handle 3A on the 5V pins, but you can use a relay.

amazon starter $20

proto practice boards

practice resistors

Here is the mobile version of your link

Would this work? https://www.amazon.com/NTE-Electronics-NTE53016-Rectifier-Recurrent/dp/B007Z7LXVQ

You could also use an LM7805.

https://www.amazon.com/Addicore-Positive-Regulator-L7805CV-Antistatic/dp/B00H7KTRO6/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1468861711&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=lm7805

Jeg har et par af dem fra en kit.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Adafruit-MCP3008-856-Converter-Interface/dp/B00NAY3RB2/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?imprToken=8T6MevTUTkATMIt6M60Umw&keywords=MCP3008&linkCode=g13&qid=1563247307&s=gateway&sr=8-1

Breadboard

Also a Breadboard

"A breadboard (or protoboard)"

The terms aren't as clear as you are claiming. Solderless breadboards are also called "protoboards". And solderable PCB boards with pre-drilled holes are also called "breadboards". If you want everyone to understand you, you need to be more explicit than just "breadboard" or "protoboard".

Buy a speaker. Buy a little triwing screwdriver. Buy a soldering iron and a bit of thin rosin-core solder.

It's a straightforward repair, and pretty easy as far as soldering goes, but it might make some sense to buy a small section of protoboard and some segments of wire to get used to the feel of soldering, before attacking your childhood Game Boy.

Aww, come on, give OP a break, reading is hard.

Here's a basic one you can do at home:

• CPU
  
  
• Motherboard
  
  
• SSD
  
  
• Monitor
  
  
• PSU
  
  
• Some cables

This maybe? http://www.amazon.com/Solderless-Flexible-Breadboard-Jumper-100pcs/dp/B005TZJ0AM/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1341350174&sr=8-3&keywords=jumper+wire ?
I've bought a pack of 70 and had lying around too and ran out on a single project! It was so frustrating having to wait for something as simple as wires to be delivered!

It's much tidier and easier than using cut cable