Guidance for Starter  - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: cubansite
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 07, 2013, 06:55:57 pm
content: Hi everyone! My name is lewI have recently picked up a Velleman K8055 kit for cheap at a local Radio shack.I don't know much about electronics, but you have start somewhere and thus this kit is my first.I have fully soldered the kit together and it WORKS!!!!Now I have realized it’s not like an Arduino kit and I’m not sure where to start...1-Could anyone offer a simple project(s) using this board for me to better understand electronics?2-What should I have/buy to experiment?3-Also possibly a good source to purchase parts for making projects.Board detailshttp://www.velleman.eu/products/view/?country=be&lang=en&id=351346What I know/have- K8055 board with pic16c745-ip- Ability to control the board with c++- welder soldering iron- solder- helping hands*My ultimate goal is to have this board read water pump RPM, CPU, and GPU temperature and have the board adjust fan voltage for desired temps.LOVE THE BLOG!

author: mtbolha
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 07, 2013, 07:57:38 pm
content: I always find that good projects are repairing faulty electronics. This is nice place to start to see how things work / why dont they work. Try in your basement, I'm sure you can find old gameboy or TV that has some kind of fault. Do a research, get the board plans.. Try to figure it what is causing the fault. This is good just for old type electronics, dont try to fix iPhones because you will lose your mind how small components arestart from 80s, 90s electronics and then move up

author: Lupin III.
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 08, 2013, 12:06:09 am
content: Since you haven't written anything about what you already know it's hard to help you. As far as I know this board is just an IO-board and no programable board like an Arduino. Both of them aren't something I'd recommend for starters, especially since most of the sensors/motors you will want to talk to need more parts to read/control than a few IO pins on a micro controller.To get parts for starters old/broken TVs, radios, powersupplies or whatever you can get your hands on. Taking them apart for parts will get you a long way on resistors, capacitors, diodes, transistors maybe even switches or relais. Just buying parts without special values for a project in mind, can be a waste of money.

author: stempile
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 08, 2013, 04:47:53 am
content: A book that I have found helpful is "Practical Electronics for Inventors" by Scherz Mank. ISBN-10: 0071771336 The best part was that it wasn't sold at text book prices! There is an e-book copy, however recommend the paper because it has large pages that lay open well on the bench.The book would have been great while I was taking night classes in mechatronics.Also I have been collecting tools and books for years. In 2009 I discovered my local community college had a mechatronics program that included several electronics fundamentals classes. It started with analog and rounded out with digital. This was great because it was interesting, was a great value and got me connected to other people in my community also interested in electronics.Finally I am involved in a local club that meets monthly at a local hobby shop. Small group mostly focused on talking about projects, sharing news and supporting/challenging each other. Now a days there are so many great forums, its hard to stay active in all of them, good luck!

author: PokemonCookies
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 08, 2013, 04:54:24 am
content: I agree with the whole salvaging parts from old electronics thing. I do it all the time myself, whenever I see a broken microwave on the side of the road or a stereo I'll take it home. I've gotten all sorts stuff like bridge rectifiers or voltage regulators that while still quite cheap to buy new it saves me money in the long run.

author: cubansite
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 08, 2013, 01:36:57 pm
content: Thank you all for your responsesQuote from: mtbolha on October 07, 2013, 07:57:38 pmI don't have much junk anymore since i have recently have moved and cleaned out everything.Believe me i have changed screens on a few apple products for friends and that alone was a nightmare.Quote from: Lupin III. on October 08, 2013, 12:06:09 amI thought it would be like an Arduino at least its what the radio shack guy said,.What i do know is programming and after few lines of C++ i was able to get the board output and have the LEDs turn on.I just want this board to do more than turn on an LED.Quote from: stempile on October 08, 2013, 04:47:53 amLooks like a great book !! added it to my amazon wishlist, thanks !!Clubs are great, I've been in a few and they defiantly help.Quote from: PokemonCookies on October 08, 2013, 04:54:24 amYes, looks like i have to start looking for some garage sales and scraping whatever i can find.Again thank you all for your inputs, time to grab my tools and take things apart

author: And!
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 08, 2013, 06:17:30 pm
content: If You want to control water pump RPM, CPU, and GPU temperature and have the board adjust fan voltage for desired temps I suggest start witch digital electronics and microcontroler.Maybe if you want try arduino, You should buy arduino not "like arduino" ?Or purchase bare board some atmel MCU (AtMega or AtTiny) + Atmel studio + ISP programmer.

author: Lupin III.
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 08, 2013, 06:23:00 pm
content: Quote from: And! on October 08, 2013, 06:17:30 pmWhile buying an Arduino if you want an Arduino is a good advice, it wont really help in controlling anything more than a single LED. E. g. there's no way to connect a pump directly to a µC. Almost every thing you want to control will need at least a few more electronic parts and the understanding of how to use them.

author: zorder
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 08, 2013, 08:40:11 pm
content: As Lupin said, almost everything needs a little bit of electronics, but it's not that hard if you start by the beginning.I started a few years ago discovering the ULN2003 chip, which is basically used to "amplify" the current the microcontroller can provide, and thus connect bright leds, motors, solenoids, etc.Try to follow any basic analog electronics tutorial to learn the fundamentals, and then move to digital. Soon you will be surprised on how by many things you can do with little knowledge.

author: Paul Price
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 08, 2013, 10:37:18 pm
content: Youtube.com has lots of tutorials, some are actually very well done and easy to understand, some are not, but mostly a great way to learn the basics.

author: fluxcapacitor
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 09, 2013, 12:30:36 am
content: What are you trying to read from ? is it a PC motherboard or something else,can you give us the make/model/part numbers etc.Congrats on soldering the kit

author: cubansite
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 09, 2013, 01:37:02 am
content: Well i went on the hunt for stuff to take apart.I had a friend who had an old printer laying around and gave it to me.He also had an old RC plane that crashed and i took the main control board out of ( i also got the remote).power supply - liteon pa-1400-06hstepping motor - mitsumi m35sp-9tThe rc plane control board works after hooking it up to 5v supply.I would like to control that stepper motor (second down) with my K8055.The other two motors are regular.still looking for more electronics

author: cubansite
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 09, 2013, 02:05:17 am
content: Quote from: And! on October 08, 2013, 06:17:30 pmI would like to put the Arduino together myself rather than buying it assembled i find that to be half the fun.Quote from: zorder on October 08, 2013, 08:40:11 pmJust like the Arduino has the "shield's" which provides all the extra functions ?Quote from: fluxcapacitor on October 09, 2013, 12:30:36 amThe pump is a MCP655-B PC water pump, it takes 12vs and has a RPM cableI want to read those RPMS and have the board adjust fan RPMS to keep the temps under controlTHANKS!!!!

author: fluxcapacitor
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 09, 2013, 03:31:34 am
content: this might help you :http://www.overclock.net/t/1115943/mcp655-b-speed-control

author: stempile
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 09, 2013, 04:25:03 am
content: Here is a quick digital controlled relay board. Use it like a high voltage to high current switch that your microcomtroller can engage with. 3.3 or 5 volts signal from the micro can switch 12vs all the way to mains voltage.http://www.parallax.com/product/27115Simple to use and can be relatively safe by not hooking either high voltage or high current through your controller.