New Jarduino build gets started

[gregzz4]

The Source Pacific Rim Center shows 2 in stock

[daplatapus]

Hey, thanks Greg! I haven't been up there yet, but now I definitely have more motivation
I got some more goodies in the mail today. A ribbon cable for the LCD screen. I want to mount it in the hood so I don't have to open the cabinet door to see the screen.




And the 4 driver LDD mounting boards:



And thanks to Chatouille, I now realize I ordered the wrong PCB board terminals for the boards and I'll have to buy 3.5mm pitch blocks rather than the 2.45mm I have coming. Du'oh!
Good thing I only paid $1.5 for ten and free shipping.

[ScubaSteve]

Originally Posted by daplatapus

Hey, thanks Greg! I haven't been up there yet, but now I definitely have more motivation
I got some more goodies in the mail today. A ribbon cable for the LCD screen. I want to mount it in the hood so I don't have to open the cabinet door to see the screen.




And the 4 driver LDD mounting boards:
.

And thanks to Chatouille, I now realize I ordered the wrong PCB board terminals for the boards and I'll have to buy 3.5mm pitch blocks rather than the 2.45mm I have coming. Du'oh!
Good thing I only paid $1.5 for ten and free shipping.

Hey Dom,

Which of the RC guys did you get your boards from? I'm thinking I might try to grab one as well. Make sure you connect the PWM signals to ground with 10K pull down resistors.

I'm excited to see your build!

[Chatouille]

Do you mean to use the pull down resistor in case of power loss to the controller? (so that the LED’s don’t go to full power?) From what I’ve read, if you remove power to the arduino, the PWM output is already held low, and the lights will not come on. It would be a great safeguard if the physical connection is lost though, and very easy to add to the LDD boards.

Chris

[ScubaSteve]

Originally Posted by Chatouille

Do you mean to use the pull down resistor in case of power loss to the controller? (so that the LED’s don’t go to full power?) From what I’ve read, if you remove power to the arduino, the PWM output is already held low, and the lights will not come on. It would be a great safeguard if the physical connection is lost though, and very easy to add to the LDD boards.

Chris

Yes, in case if the physical connection is lost (all it takes is one loose connection). For the sake of engineering rigor and user experience, when dealing with logic or PWM values you should always use pull-up/-down resistors so that devices default to a desired state when they're unplugged. It's kinda silly for the lights to turn on 100% if you need to unplug your controller to do something, right? Imagine the amount of online bitching we'd hear if Radions did that

If the Arduino does lose power, the PWM pin should also go to ground because the -ve/ground of the Arduino is connected to the -ve of the driver, but there is also the possibility of the PWM pin of the Arduino just floating. The pull down resistors are an added safeguard in that situation as well.

[Chatouille]

Just never really thought of it like that since I planned to house controller/LDD’s within the LED pendant, so accidental disconnection shouldn’t be an issue. It is a good idea though, and something I will add.

Man it will be nice to get everything in, and get started on this project. I think I’ve changed my plans a couple of dozen times already.

[ScubaSteve]

Originally Posted by Chatouille

Man it will be nice to get everything in, and get started on this project. I think I’ve changed my plans a couple of dozen times already.

Tell me about it. I almost just want to get my build done so I can get it it of my head! Hopefully all my parts will be here by next weekend so I can finish it off.