11.03-
15.03.

week 6

sharing thoughts about open design and the development of innovative designs in a propritary world

basic electronic knowledge with a board ,writing and reading analog and digital input and output

whats new?

what i have
done

teamed up with melissa

got a electric component working for the first time

documented how to set up the component properly

reviewed two documentations

note of the week

Not a particular one this week.

this weeks zine

documentation of electronics

Laser

electronics & open design

actuator

needs digital signal

needs 5V to work

has 3 pins, which all need to be connected

it is a selfmade part, so there is no official name

there is a identical part called KY-008 KEYES Laser

keyfacts

how to set the connections

Items you will need: (not much)

1. Arduino or Node MCU

2. one Laser Transmitter Module (available here)


Wiring Setup: (not much to do here either)

1. connect VN pin (5V) from the board with the middle pin (through breadboard)

2. connect GND from board to the pin with the minus next to it (through breadboard)

3. connect the D6 pin from board with the last pin on the Laser (has a S next to it, through breadboard)

NOTE: There are some unnecessary detours on the fritzing sketch, if you have the right cables male/female, you could skip using the breadboard e.g. when making the connection for the signal.

useful tutorials

use cases

Cat Laser Toy

and now code

Capacitive Soil Moisture Sensor v1.2 (documentation by Melissa)

Pretty basic code which will make the Laser blink (it runs hot, when you let it run permanently)

problems and solutions

I tried to make it work at home and didn't get it to work: The problem was I didn't consider the connection linage in the breadboard. Stupid mistake, which could be fixed by a experienced person like Kaj. Other then that the Module is very easy and basic. It basically works just like an LED, only difference is it needs 5V of power. So there were'nt any other problems we encountered.

keyfacts

Sensor:
Capacitive Soil Moisture Sensor v1.2

Discription:
This capacitive soil moisture sensor is distinguished from most resistive sensors on the market and uses capacitive sensing to detect soil moisture. The problem that the resistance sensor is easily corroded is avoided, and its working life is greatly extended.


Specifications:
Operating voltage: 3.3 VDC
Output voltage: 0 ~ 3.0 VDC
Interface: PH2.54-3P
Size: 98 x 23mm (LxW)

how to set the connections

and now code

void setup() {
Serial.begin(9600); // open serial port, set the baud rate as 9600 bps
}

void loop() {
int val;
val = analogRead(A0); //connect sensor to Analog 0
Serial.println(val); //print the value to serial port
delay(1000);
}

assignment

In pairs, you will spend Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday to get at least two (but rather more) new components working and document and share successful code, links and circuitry; please see the documentation details below. You are very much encouraged to find, use and share online resources for this assignment.

On Friday, each team will test the documented components of (at least) one other team (decide beforehand, no doubles), using only their documentation as their guide. On your own documentation page, use at least 100 words to describe how each test went and share suggestions or mistakes with the other team so they can repair or improve their documentation. During Interface week (coming up next) we will use sensor values to make data visualizations using the Processing platform.

starting off with electronics

In the beginning we made a little exercise to get to know the basics on electronics. This was very helpful to understand how everything works.

what else?

For starting off, we made a little electronics hands-on assignment in pairs.

- 3V battery
- conductive tape (pressure sensitive)
- 2 LEDs

exercises

We made 4 small exercises with basic components for starters. The task was to make a working cirquit on each of the sheets following the instructions. Melissa and I managed quite okay. I liked how the tasks got complexer inlittle steps. It was easy for me to follow.

The last exercise was the coolest. We used the pressure sensitive tape for altering the current. If you would press the tape while the cirquit is closed the LED would shine brighter because there is less resistance, when the tape is pressed.

working with the breadboard

After the first exercises we connected an LED with a button on the breadboard.

How this thing works:
+ and - are connected in straight rows, like the lines are running from top to bottom.

The structure in the middle works orthogonal to the + and - rows.

When assembling parts on the breadboard you have to consider that a cirquit is created. I made that mistake when making the components work, that should probably be the first thing to check when something is not working as it should be.

Before i started connecting everything I had to download Arduino and install the port we were going to use for the USB.

The Black wire is
registered als GND. (-)

The Red Wire is
registered as VCO. (+)

The Yellow is
registered as AUOT (Analog)

To connect the sensor to the breadboard we need the male-male wire combination.

If i want to connect the Sensor to the chip i will have to use the male - female wire combination.

QUICK NOTES:

VN: 5 Voltage
3V3: 3 Voltage
GND: Ground
S: Signal
A0: Analog pin
D0: Digital pin

Connect the USB kable to your laptop and connect the other side to the Node MCU.

Extend the yellow wire by using a mal/female wire. ( I used the same colors to extend the wires to avoid confusion. Connect the Yellow wire from the Sensor to the A0 pin from the Node MCU.
(The yellow wire sends the signals)

Extend the red wire by using a male/male wire. Connect the red wire to breadboard and put it in the ''+'' side.
(The red wire is the Voltage)

Than u use another red wire (male/female) to connect the breadboard to the Node MCU. Connect this wire by placing it in the same row as the other red wire. The female part of the red wire is connected to the VN pin from the Node MCU. (VN is 5V)

Extend the Black wire by using a male/male wire. Connect the black wire (GND) to the breadboard in the ''-'' section.

Than u use another black wire (male/female) to connect the breadboard to the Node MCU. Connect this wire by placing it in the same row as the other black wire. The female part of the black wire is connected to the GND pin from the Node MCU.
(GND means Ground, so -)

NOTE:
There are some unnecessary detours on the fritzing sketch, if you have the right cables male/female, you could skip using the breadboard e.g. when making the connection for the signal.

instructions

collaborative learning

Working with melissa was fine. Neither her nor me knew a lot about electronics in the beginning. I wasn't scared of them so it was still a good combination. Also a good opportunity for me to take some responsibility. We managed to understand through the exercises really quick. Later on, when we worked on the actuators and sensors it wasn't so easy for melissa I think. I felt the code part was not easily understandable for her and I tried to explain it some times. I'm not sure if that helped. I hope so. Nevertheless we manages to finish getting the parts running in teamwork until wednesday evening and we would continue documenting the part on thursday after the material district expo.

One problem of a logistic nature: I took the components with me on wednesday, which turned out to be a problem on thursday. I tought we would meet at the expo, but due to some reason we didn't see each other. As we were both not going to be at school on friday I had to give away the components to people, who were accessible to me at that moment. I gave the capacitator to Audrey to test the component for Melissa and gave mine to Moritz to test it. I would test both of their documentations, because it wasn't possible in any other way to finish the testing and giving feedback until friday. I made a very nice and helpful feedback-session with Moritz at home, I gave Audrey my feedback in school on the upcoming monday.

Testing Moritz's documentation

Testing Audrey's documentation

Feedback given:
- nice and rich documentation
- documentation is a little bit unstructured (not perfectly clear in which order to follow the steps)
- Code in pictures, not able to copy --> annoying
- don't see immediately what the code does, could be commented a bit more
- documentation on cables was understandable, still struggles with finding the correct connections (just complex)

Feedback given:
- easy to follow documentation
- no problems when connecting the parts
- very nice she put the code on github to copy easily
- code has an error: synax is compromised at one point
- got an error when running it, documented it and provided Audrey with screenshot
- tried to fix it myself, managed to fix it and told her where the mistake was, code ran afterwards

didn't accept the naming D1 due to it being a native name

one little bracket messed up the code

error displayed

impressions from MaterialDistrict Rotterdam 2019

plastics made from blood, very hard and stable

I enjoyed most the section with the experimental and unconventional projects.

bag from kangaroo ballsack (why?)

building bricks made from fecies --> super useful in general

notebook made from coffee (cover and paper)