Photon Proto Shield - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: FunkyJunky
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: September 01, 2015, 02:47:02 pm
content: Hi guys,First of all, just want to say I am a big fan of the EEVblog and Dave's videos, despite me 99% of the time not having a clue what he is talking about. I am by no means an electrical engineer (I am a mobile app developer by trade) and my knowledge of the subject is pretty much limited to what they taught me at school when I was 10 and some of the things Dave has discussed in his videos.Looking at the calibre of the 'newbie questions' here, I think I may win the prize for 'easiest question of the day' - So please bare with, this is going to be trivial for you all but is genuinely confusing for me.I have been developing with a Particle Photon micro-controller. Through the use of a breadboard, I have created the world's simplest circuit - basically a push button that the micro-controller can determine has been pressed or not. Nothing ground breaking there.What I really want to do is move this from a breadboard and using some shields have a battery attached and provide the same functionality.I am acutely aware that my diagram is 1000% wrong (for a start, I forgot what a button is in a diagram so used a switch instead).I have uploaded an album (http://imgur.com/a/MAYJ8) showing the components I have bought that I believed can be used to move from a breadboard to a more compact design. I have already 'attached' the button to the shield but I am 99% sure it wont work as I expect because I am not entirely how the traces work.If anyone has some advice or pointers, that would be great. Unfortunately this is actually part of my work at the moment...which is odd because I don't remember telling them I knew anything about electronics!Thanks guys

author: Hideki
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 01, 2015, 08:35:45 pm
content: What exactly was the question?What is puzzling is why you're using both D0 and D1 for the switch. Now switches can be connected is any number of ways, but one very common method is to have one microcontroler pin, say D0, pulled up to the power supply voltage with a resistor (10k is fine), then you connect the switch between D0 and ground.For most microcontrollers you can even do without the resistor, since they usually have built in pull-up resistors on each IO pin (that must be enabled in software).What you call a button is also called a Tactile Switch (Tact Switch for short), and while other symbols can be used, the one you used is also commonly seen. Not sure what you mean about the traces. What traces?The LED driver looks good, with a proper current limiting resistor.

author: FunkyJunky
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: September 01, 2015, 10:30:52 pm
content: Thanks for the response!Quote from: Hideki on September 01, 2015, 08:35:45 pmBasically, is the equipment I have bought suitable for transferring a project from a breadboard to this prototype shield? How do the traces on that shield work and how do I tell my work I am totally out of my depth?Also, in regards to your D0/D1 question, I clearly didnt realise there was a 3v3 rail... I feel even more stupid now!

author: Hideki
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 01, 2015, 10:51:29 pm
content: Feeling stupid is a choice you make. Wouldn't it be more useful to feel something else?Yes, it is suitable, even if it's as ultra-simple as a single switch and a led. You have to start somewhere.The connections (traces?) you see on the prototype shield are easy to see on the pictures, are they not? Unlike a breadboard where you have rows of five holes that are connected together inside (hidden from view), the prototype shield does not appear to have any connections between the holes in the middle. They are just holes with a ring of copper around them, so you have a place to solder the components down. If you want a connection from one place to another, you will have to solder it in yourself. It's not spring loaded like a breadboard. Around the edges there are various signals that come from the shield below it (I guess).This isn't exactly a well known platform (unlike, for example, the Arduino) so study whatever documentation exists for it.