Arduino-Workalike for Permanent Project

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rellik
 
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Arduino-Workalike for Permanent Project

Post by rellik »

I've made a few projects with my arduinos, but their cost & size makes it hard to leave in in projects that would otherwise be permanent. Any suggestions for microcontrollers/microprocessors that I program and leave in projects? (It's a pretty vague question, because I don't really know exactly what I want/need, but am looking for a starting point)

Thanks,
Patrick

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brucef
 
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Re: Arduino-Workalike for Permanent Project

Post by brucef »

You can use an Arduino for development and then switch to a plain AVR chip for production. Try building an Arduino on a breadboard if you're unsure of how it might work. I did that circuit but with a separate 5V power supply and this ftdi cable for my USB connection instead of the red SparkFun USB board. At that point the circuit is very simple.

If you're willing to step away from Arduino/AVR entirely, you could consider using a TI LaunchPad for your project. US $4.30 for the board and two chips, including free international express shipping. It has less flash and RAM than a 328, but if your project fits any you're really cost constrained, it's hard to beat the price of those boards. TI is almost paying you to take them.

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chatham
 
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Re: Arduino-Workalike for Permanent Project

Post by chatham »

Man, that is an amazing price on that launchpad kit! And you get a mini USB cable? Wow... Especially when you consider that it's got the circuitboard all ready to go, that looks like a great way to make things.

On the AVR side, though, getting a stand-alone programmer is cheap, and if you're really budget-conscious, some ATtiny's are really cheap ($1-3). But then again, you'll have to pay shipping, and then make your own circuitboards...

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westfw
 
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Re: Arduino-Workalike for Permanent Project

Post by westfw »

There is a whole hierarchy of cheaper-than-a-full arduino solutions for the final versions of projects. You can start by finding cheaper Arduino clones, like Adafruit's own "DC Boarduino" (17.50.) Then you can find bare boards that can be populated with only the parts of an arduino your design actually needs; again, Adafruit sells a bare board version of the DC Boarduino ($5, but it has no components at all, other than the board, so you probably need to add at least another $5 in parts.) These have the advantage of giving you full arduino compatibility. And frankly, it would be hard to make your own microcontroller board for less than $10, even if the CPU chip were free... (although you can look at stripboard, and wirewrap, and other things...)

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pburgess
 
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Re: Arduino-Workalike for Permanent Project

Post by pburgess »

I rather like Solarbotics' "Ardweeny" for leave-in projects. It's breadboard-friendly, cheap enough (ten bucks) and the bootloader is pre-installed. Arrives as a kit which takes maybe 20-ish minutes to build (or less if you have several and "assembly line" the process).

Ardweeny does require an FTDI cable for programming and any serial I/O...and if a leave-in project requires the latter, well that sort of puts a damper on any cost benefit (Ardweeny + FTDI = ~$25). A cheaper solution for something with connectivity would be either the Teensy or the Adafruit 32u4 Breakout Board+, either of which is about $20.

And yeah, the T.I. LaunchPad is amazingly affordable...downsides there are the VERY limited RAM (128 bytes) and that the community resources (code, how-tos, etc.) aren't nearly as developed as what's out there for Arduino. I'm not too fond of their Windows-only IDE either, but I'm comfortable with command-line stuff and have found mspgcc to work quite well.

rellik
 
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Re: Arduino-Workalike for Permanent Project

Post by rellik »

pburgess wrote:I rather like Solarbotics' "Ardweeny" for leave-in projects. It's breadboard-friendly, cheap enough (ten bucks) and the bootloader is pre-installed. Arrives as a kit which takes maybe 20-ish minutes to build (or less if you have several and "assembly line" the process).

Awesome, this looks perfect for what I need.

Thanks for all the info, guys.

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brucef
 
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Re: Arduino-Workalike for Permanent Project

Post by brucef »

pburgess wrote: Ardweeny does require an FTDI cable for programming and any serial I/O...and if a leave-in project requires the latter, well that sort of puts a damper on any cost benefit (Ardweeny + FTDI = ~$25). A cheaper solution for something with connectivity would be either the Teensy or the Adafruit 32u4 Breakout Board+, either of which is about $20.
The FTDI cable presumably doesn't get tied into the project, it's just something in your toolkit like your multimeter or your programmer. I already have that cable, so if I can verify that the pinout matches, I'll pick up an Ardweeny or two myself next time I get around to placing a Solarbotics order. Thanks for pointing that one out.

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rachelhe
 
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Re: Arduino-Workalike for Permanent Project

Post by rachelhe »

How do you power an ardweeny?

It looks perfect for what I want to do as well but I'll need to be able to hook a battery (9v) up to it.

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rachelhe
 
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Re: Arduino-Workalike for Permanent Project

Post by rachelhe »

Responding to my own question...

I just solder on the 9v battery leads right?

What about a voltage regulator? How/where does that work/fit?

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Franklin97355
 
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Re: Arduino-Workalike for Permanent Project

Post by Franklin97355 »

but I'll need to be able to hook a battery (9v) up to it.
Just be aware a 9V battery will not last very long. I would recommend looking at another power source or at least computing the power usage and battery life.

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michaelmeissner
 
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Re: Arduino-Workalike for Permanent Project

Post by michaelmeissner »

Rather than 9v battery (which doesn't have that great of a run time), you might think about getting rechargeable lipo's. A typical non-rechargeable 9v battery has on the order of 500 maH, plus you need to use a voltage regulator to get down the range that your Ardweeny supports. You can get a rechargeable 500 maH 3.7v lipo from Adafruit for $8 and for $6 a charger to recharge it. If you go to $10, you can get a 1200 maH battery instead of 500 maH.

If you haven't bought the Ardweeny yet, you might want to think about the Trinket (or Gemma) that Adafruit sells for $8. Now, these are ATtiny85's instead of 328's like is found in the Uno, and they have a lot less memory and fewer pins. You also have to change the code for some things (i2c, servo, serial), but if you only need to do a few simple things, they are useful and less expensive. Unlike the Ardweeny, you don't need any special cables to program it, just a standard USB mini-cable (and you can power it from USB as well).

If you are doing lots of small projects that leave the processor behind, you can go down to programming raw ATtiny85 chips at $1/chip, though I found in adding USB power supplies, small breadboards, etc. that I didn't save that much over going with the pre-made solution.

ficeto
 
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Re: Arduino-Workalike for Permanent Project

Post by ficeto »

Well for the realy-bare leave-it-on-the-board arduino, all you need is:
1 x ATmega328p with Arduino bootloader
1 x push button (between reset and ground)
1 x 16MHz Ceramic XTAL (has 3 pins and do not require capacitors)
1 x 4.7Kohm Resistor (between reset and VCC)
1 x 100nF Capacitor (between VCC and Ground)
1 x permanent proto board

What to do:
Pull the ATmega328p from your UNO and put on your proto board
Connect the XTAL to pins 9,8 and 10 (XTAL1, GND, XTAL2)
Connect the reset button and resistor (RESET is PIN 1)
Connect the capacitor between GND and VCC
Use cables to connect your naked UNO's RX, TX, Reset, 5V and GND to the corresponding ports on the breadboard
From this point on you can use the UNO to change the sketch on your breadboard and finish the circuit that you want
Once all is working, disconnect the UNO, Solder everything on the perma proto board and power it up with 5V (how you will power it is another matter and a different cost depending on the project)
The left over ATmega328p you can pop in your UNO and get ready for the next project :)

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