Nevyn

As I'm currently working on a monitoring device that will sit in my cellar I want to be able to communicate to the device through my LAN. This communication can be necessary to read statistics or modify the configuration of the app running on it.

I suppose there are multiple ways to do this and I was wondering if anyone here has done this before.

Search the Project Forums for web servers.

If you are interested I wrote a Silverlight client which communicated with a web server on the N+. You caould easily modify this to write configuration parameters to and SD card so they survive resets.

Hope this helps,
Mark

I'm Italian so sorry for my (bad) English

Rest assured, your English is better than my Italian.

I forgot that I had actually written about this a while ago. I did this using a FTDI cable to convert the USB to serial. The example can be found here.

Regards,
Mark

When I plug the Netduino Plus on the PC, MFDeploy sucessfully detects "NetduinoPlus_NetduinoPlus" device, but after pushing "Erease" (with push button still pressed) I get a "Error: No Response from device"

Try releasing the push button and then pressing Erase in MFDeploy. Do it within a few seconds. I can't remember how long but I seem to remember that this time window is about 5s.

Regards,
Mark

Welcome to the community.

Is this link on High Speed Photography and use to you?

Regards,
Mark

So now i cant make it work.

When i tried to make it run it seems to be stuck and the stepper and the easydriver gets hotter.

Carlos,

Not sure if this will help but Sparkfun ran a new product post featuring stepper motors on Friday. In the post they explain how the motors work and how to work out the internal wiring.

Hope this helps,
Mark

For the past few days I have been working with the TLC5940 PWM driver chip using 16 LEDs to illustrate the control over the PWM output. I have posted an article on my blog which discusses the initial work (there is still some expansion required). The class currently allows control of 16 LEDs and the main program implements a slow breathing algorithm as shown by this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-uzXx68uKU

I have attached the initial code for the Mini which implements a control basic class and demonstrates the use producing the above video.

The code and the circuit need some further work as I believe that they will benefit from the following being implemented:

- Resetting the counter when it reaches 4096. At the moment this runs on until it reaches the maximum value.
- Use the dot correction values to allow different LEDs to be used on each pin. Different LEDs have different forward currents and this can be fine tuned using the dot correction data to allow the maximum brightness to be achieved by each individual LED.
- Look at using the CS pin on the SPI interface for the BLANK signal from the Netduino Mini to the TLC5940.
- Add some error checking code to check if the TLC5940 has detected any errors.
- Link two or more TLC5940’s together.

Why blue LEDs - I have a few left over from a previous project

Comments are always welcome.

Regards,
Mark

Edit: Added updated code.

Is-it reall multi-reading ( as real as it could be on a pc ... ) or just a way to write code ?

There is an article on threading here.

I've never tried 10 threads but I have written a few projects with two threads and they work OK. Two projects were web server based projects with the web server in it's own thread and interrupts being processed by the main program loop. I also have a persistence of vision project which has a controller program (in one thread) and a thread which updates the display.

Hope this helps,
Mark

Everythink work fine!!!!

Glad you are on your way.

Good luck with the project,
Mark

I'm new here. How can I do this?

You connect the output from the Netduino to the driver chip as you have done. You then connect the same pin on the driver chip to a resistor and the other end of the resistor goes to 5V.

Try about 5K to start with.

Do this for both I2C outputs, each having their own resistor.

Regards,
Mark

IMHO level shifter is not needed, it should work fine with [the mandatory] pull-up resistors on I2C lines connected to +5V.

That's the conclusion I came to after posting - I should really wait until after the first coffee of the day before posting.

Regards,
Mark

What is "level shifter" is it that LM7805 or it can be programming?

Just read a post by Chris and made me wonder if the level shifting is necessary.

For the record, level shifting would be used to convert 3.3V to 5V. So if you are talking to a chip which uses say 5V as logic one then you would need to convert the output from the Netduino (3.3V) to 5V in order for the chip to read a logic 1. You would do this with hardware. Thinking about it I don't think it is needed here.

Do you have pull up resistors on the I2C lines? I2C devices pull the lilnes to ground to transmit data and defaults to them being high. There's a Wikipedia article on the protocol here.

Regards,
Mark

Motor driver not working, output voltage is 0 for both channels.

The link to the driver documentation states that the I2C implementation requires 5V. Are you using a level shifter to convert the 3.3V output of the Netduino to 5V?

Regards,
Mark

Thanks for your response.....But I am planning to establish a communication between two Netduino's ...If i got it working then it will be easier to connect more servos....

You have a few comms options:
- Serial will work out of the box with the only hardware required being the cable and connectors. This is probably the simplest in terms of - programming.
- With the Netduino Plus you can use networking over CAT5 cable. A little more complex as you need to set up a client server network.
- WiFi - You will need a shield for each Netduino. There are a few around and NickDuino has recently posted some working code for a Netduino talking to an iPad.
- XBees - there are a few examples around but Terry Massey has produced a tutorial video.
- Bluetooth - hardware required but this is then back to serial programming. I connected a Windows application to the Netduino using Bluetooth and wrote about it here.

Hope this helps,
Mark

A *good* quality iron makes a world of difference. For many, many years I just used a cheap $10 iron from Radio Shack. About 6 months ago I finally broke down and bought a good, quality Weller adjustable iron. What a world of difference it made.

Cannot comment on that particular iron but I have just bought a thermostatically controlled iron and it is a far better tool. It cost 5 times what the old one did but I am finding it a lot easier to get good results. I wish I had done it years ago.

By the way, Sparkfun have a tutorial on soldering on their web site.

Mario mentioned the finish should be nice and shinny and that is true for the solder I buy but I know there is some solder on the market which is advertised as having a dull matt finish.

Hope this helps,
Mark

• I'm guessing it's not a good idea to connect them both to the netduino's 5v pins because it's above the its current threshold?<li>Is there anything guide or anything else I need? I've read a guide on relays, but wasn't sure if that was superfluous to what I'm doing

It is not a good idea to do this for more than the reason you specifed. When a motor stops it can generate a back EMF. This can put a large pulse of current back into the Netduino. In fact then using a transistor as a switch it is advised that a diode is put into the circuit to offer just this kind of protection.

There are specialist circuits for controlling motors - have a look for H-Bridges - they aren't that expensive. I can't comment on thier use as I have not needed to use one but that is where I'd start if I was working with motors.

And welcome to the community.

Hope this helps,
Mark