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There have been 39 items by Chuckles (Search limited from 05-June 23)
#50520 Another Newbie Steps into the Arena
Posted by Chuckles on 17 June 2013 - 12:59 AM in General Discussion
#50464 Another Newbie Steps into the Arena
Posted by Chuckles on 13 June 2013 - 01:38 PM in General Discussion
#50509 Another Newbie Steps into the Arena
Posted by Chuckles on 16 June 2013 - 02:00 AM in General Discussion
Thanks for the thoughts and responses.
The cars have weight restrictions, so putting things like magnets on them is off-limits. I think that takes me back to the idea of having some kind of sensor facing "up" and detecting when a car passes over them by casting a shadow. The raceway has fluorescent lights, so I think something like embedding a mini photocell (https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9088) might be a good move; but I wonder how long the wiring can be between the cell and the Netduino, what/where resistors need to be, and also if I can read 4 at a time with a Netduino Plus 2.
What do you think of using the light-detection strategy and that particular part, which was mentioned on http://johnnycode.co...h-the-netduino/ ?
Thanks again.
#50485 Another Newbie Steps into the Arena
Posted by Chuckles on 14 June 2013 - 04:55 PM in General Discussion
It did... I actually web-searched a bit, read through his stuff, and that is how I landed here and discovered the Netduino platform. And it was a happy discovery!
I plan to attempt something a little different than what Jarrod created.
I was thinking of a configuration where space for each sensor is cut into the track, and as a car rolls over them, time is captured (via IR or pressure or sound or something (I need at minimum thousandths of a second precision, prefer ten-thousandths). I am trying to remove the need to have a paired sensor, remove the need to have hardware above/below the finish line. Just something that points "up" and can tell when something is over it.
I saw the below sensors via web searches but am not sure if Netduino driver support exists for 4 simultaneous sensors, and if they would actually "work" for that purpose and can be powered by the Netduino itself.
http://www.adafruit.com/products/164
or
http://www.amazon.co...=A10EAPE4CAYC9P
or
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9375
or ?
The time captured would be displayed on a simple web page and also on a 4-line LCD (reason why I'm leaning towards a Netduino Plus 2).
I am also trying to think through how to start the timing (open/close start gate?). The sky is the limit there.
I have several months to get this done, so all thoughts appreciated on how to get started properly.
#51363 Bezels for Cases?
Posted by Chuckles on 11 July 2013 - 08:15 PM in General Discussion
I have this serial display for connecting to my Netuino 2 Plus:
http://www.amazon.co...0?ie=UTF8&psc=1
and now I am looking for a way to properly mount the display. I think what I want is a "bezel", so that any hole I nibble in my plastic case can have finished look. If that is the right term, where should I go for them?
Thanks.
[EDIT]
I think I found something. It just took a while for me to determine the keywords needed for the search engines.
#51382 Bezels for Cases?
Posted by Chuckles on 12 July 2013 - 02:38 PM in General Discussion
This looks like it had promise, once upon a time:
https://forum.sparkf...t=16946#p100892
but the links from there are long dead.
I wonder why an LCD-ready enclosure (with a couple of cable glands) is such a rarity? Is everyone just exposing naked electronics, hoping their cat/dog/kid/curious friend doesn't touch anything?
#57160 Bezels for Cases?
Posted by Chuckles on 27 March 2014 - 03:09 AM in General Discussion
Dave, yes, that is what I am looking for.
#50640 Cheap + Good Cases / Enclosures - Continuing to Beat on this Topic
Posted by Chuckles on 19 June 2013 - 06:30 PM in General Discussion
Like many other newbies/lightweights, I looked around for something permanent-ish to hold my Netduino ][+ with an LCD and/or other gadgets. I followed a link to http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:48939 and uploaded it to www.sculpteo.com, who quoted me ~$80. When an open holder costs more than my device, I am sure I am doing something wrong.
So.... Can anyone recommend a "big enough" case for a Netduino Plus 2 in the $20-$30 range? It seems like this should be easier to find than it is. I am sure I am missing something. Or maybe this is a market waiting to be cracked?
Thanks.
#53879 Config File Usage?
Posted by Chuckles on 08 November 2013 - 01:19 AM in General Discussion
Grant, that does help a bit.... In the non-Micro .NET Framework, the System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager class wraps a well-defined XML structure for containing strongly typed key/value pairs of data, and other meta-info. If you have written something yourself then there is probably no baked-in equivalent to ConfigurationManager, so I will write something myself, as you have already done.
Thanks.
#53874 Config File Usage?
Posted by Chuckles on 08 November 2013 - 12:16 AM in General Discussion
What are experienced folks doing to read configuration information from files?
I did not see a way to use the System.Configuration bits, and I would like to set a destination address for sending output via a file to avoid hardcoding.
All ideas appreciated.
Thanks.
(.NET MF2, NetDuino Plus 2, Visual Studio 2012)
#54142 Interrupts and Events Continue Firing
Posted by Chuckles on 18 November 2013 - 02:53 AM in General Discussion
Personally, I would use a photo-transistor instead, it is easier to use and it will work much better.
Thanks for the detailed response. I have re-evaluated what I am trying to do... And now am shopping for "photo transistors". My typical part suppliers have been Adafruit and Sparkfun, neither of which appears to carry what you are talking about. Do you have a vendor recommendation?
Thanks!
#54149 Interrupts and Events Continue Firing
Posted by Chuckles on 18 November 2013 - 03:21 PM in General Discussion
For this kind of derby race, cars run on top of wood guides. My plan was to drill small holes in a section of the track (image shows pink dots where holes could go), place the sensors there, and detect the shadow of the car as it passes over the holes. The crowd watching the race does not have an obscured view of the finish line. Cars have strict requirements about weight and dimensions and add-ons, so they cannot have anything added to them like reflective tape.There is approximately 3mm between the bottom of the car and the wood guide, so my plan was to drill small holes in each slot, embed the sensor in the hole, and run wiring though the hole and under the bottom of the track.
I thought that a light sensor would fit these requirements the best, detect when a shadow is cast over a sensor and mark the time.
As you can see, I am now having trouble with the detection part....
If I went with https://www.sparkfun.com/products/246 , what other hardware would I need to go with it? The video at seems to indicate it can accurately/quickly detect the difference between light and shadow.
I am also looking through stuff at Mouser (http://www.mouser.co...nsistor&FS=True) to get more clue.
All newbie help is very much appreciated!
Thanks.
#54088 Interrupts and Events Continue Firing
Posted by Chuckles on 14 November 2013 - 09:26 PM in General Discussion
Hey All. I have a Netduino Plus 2 with a Sparkfun photocell sensor wired up to Analog1 with a 10k resistor in the mix (equivalent to what you see in http://bildr.org/201...sistor-arduino/).
In my program.cs, I can drop a breakpoint at the event that is fired when the interrupt occurs, and after the first time the sensor interrupt occurs, the event is fired "forever", it does not ever stop.
After the event fires, I am logging the datetime ticks that the event happened, but then I do not want the event to fire again.
What is the proper programming pattern to accept the interrupt/event one time?
Thanks.
#54102 Interrupts and Events Continue Firing
Posted by Chuckles on 15 November 2013 - 02:22 PM in General Discussion
Chris, thanks for taking a look at this. I am putting in a big chunk of the program in the hopes that you can help me think though the right way to do eventing. This is code for a model car race track; a switch is closed and a race starts, when a car passes over a light sensor the time is logged, and if nothing happens in 10 seconds then the time is logged anyway and then a new race heat can begin.
// extraneous code removedpublic class Program{ private static InterruptPort _laneSensor = null; private static InterruptPort _buttonOnboard ; private static InterruptPort _gateSwitch = null; private static Timer _heatTimer; public static void Main() { OnboardHardwarePrep(); SensorsReset(); StartGateSwitchPrep(); TimeContainerPrep(); Thread.Sleep( Timeout.Infinite ); } private static void OnboardHardwarePrep() { _ledOnboard = new OutputPort( Pins.ONBOARD_LED, false ); _buttonOnboard = new InterruptPort ( Pins.ONBOARD_SW1, true , Port.ResistorMode.Disabled, Port.InterruptMode.InterruptEdgeBoth ); _buttonOnboard.OnInterrupt += new NativeEventHandler ( buttonOnboard_Fire ); _ledOnboard.Write ( false ); } private static void SensorsReset() { try { _laneSensor = new InterruptPort( Pins.GPIO_PIN_A1, false, Port.ResistorMode.Disabled, Port.InterruptMode.InterruptEdgeBoth ); _laneSensor.OnInterrupt += new NativeEventHandler( laneSensor_Fire ); } catch (Exception xxx) { Debug.Print( xxx.ToString() ); // Why do I only get the text "System.Exception" and not rich problem info? } } private static void StartGateSwitchPrep() { _gateSwitch = new InterruptPort( Pins.GPIO_PIN_D12, false, Port.ResistorMode.Disabled, Port.InterruptMode.InterruptEdgeBoth ); _gateSwitch.OnInterrupt += new NativeEventHandler( gateSwitch_Fire ); } static void gateSwitch_Fire( uint data1, uint data2, DateTime time ) { RaceHeatBegin(); } static void RaceHeatBegin() { _ledOnboard.Write( true ); TimerCallback timerCallback = new TimerCallback( Tick ); _heatTimer = new Timer( timerCallback , null , 9999 , 9999 ); _laneTimeBegin = Utility.GetMachineTime().Ticks; _ledOnboard.Write( false ); } static public void Tick( Object stateInfo ) { Debug.Print( "Timer elapsed for the heat (9.999 seconds)." ); buttonOnboard_Fire( 0, 0, DateTime.Now ); } static void buttonOnboard_Fire( uint data1, uint data2, DateTime time ) { try { if (null != _heatTimer) { _heatTimer.Dispose(); } } catch (Exception xxx) { Debug.Print( xxx.Message ); } TimingLog(); _ledOnboard.Write ( false ); } private static void MessagePrint( string messageToSay ) { Debug.Print( messageToSay ); buttonOnboard_Fire( 0, 0, DateTime.Now ); } static void laneSensor_Fire( uint data1, uint data2, DateTime time ) { _laneSensor.OnInterrupt -= laneSensor_Fire; _laneTimesEnd[1] = Utility.GetMachineTime().Ticks; MessagePrint( "Lane 1 : " + _laneTimesEnd[1] ); } }
Also, the Micro Framework appears to throw and Exception if a property is assigned to an Interrupt port more than once (a tactic I tried in order to "reset" the hardware). Is that as-designed behavior?
Thanks.
#54223 Interrupts and Events Continue Firing
Posted by Chuckles on 22 November 2013 - 02:46 AM in General Discussion
I am still digging....
I saw this tutorial : http://bildr.org/201...ensors-arduino/ and it is leading me to believe that I can get this to work:
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/246
the same as this :
http://www.mouser.co...pb%2bGHLi3qmps=
Is that true? The track is running indoors in a US school gymnasium (lights are fluorescent and 15+ meters in the air) so I think there should be no IR interference.
All comments welcomed, I don't want to buy the wrong sensors twice!
#54310 Interrupts and Events Continue Firing
Posted by Chuckles on 26 November 2013 - 02:37 AM in General Discussion
...bump...
Anyone?
#50794 Large LED for Drolling Tweets
Posted by Chuckles on 25 June 2013 - 01:07 PM in General Discussion
[EDIT]
The title should be "Large LED for Scrolling Tweets" but iOS autocorrect bit me again. And I don't seem to be able to edit the title or delete bad posts.
[EDIT]
I am probably getting ahead of myself since I am only past the 2nd blinky experiment, but I was wondering where I might be able to find a ready-to-plug (no soldering required) serial LED display that would emulate this on a Netduino+2: https://sites.google...tmatrixdisplay/ My general web searches have not turned up anything decent, and Sparkfun and Adafruit don't seem to have anything available. All ideas appreciated, thanks!
#50471 Library for HC_SR04 Ultrasonic Rangefinder
Posted by Chuckles on 14 June 2013 - 02:21 AM in Netduino 2 (and Netduino 1)
This looks really cool.
Could 4 sensors be connected to a single Netduino Plus 2? I am thinking of using a set to collect simultaneous data at the same time; 4 are lined up within 1" of each other, pointing at the sky, and when something rolls over each one, the Datetime could be saved/displayed for each acquisition.
#50571 Mocking Inputs?
Posted by Chuckles on 17 June 2013 - 04:32 PM in General Discussion
I have gotten a lot of mileage out of .NET using Mocks for unit and integration tests in Visual Studio.
Is there an equivalent for the Micro Framework?
My eventual goal is to read from 4 sensors and do something with the captured information. Before I get to that goal, I was thinking that I could exercise the other parts of the system by creating "fake inputs", injecting known data into their structures/wrappers, and then debugging with that fake stuff.
Is that possible?
Thanks.
#50728 Netduino + Video Experimenter shield
Posted by Chuckles on 23 June 2013 - 12:43 AM in Netduino Plus 2 (and Netduino Plus 1)
#54224 Netduino to Netduino?
Posted by Chuckles on 22 November 2013 - 03:18 AM in General Discussion
What would be the benefit/drawback of connecting two Netduino units directly for communication? I have no real application in mind, just thinking that there might be a use to say have a 'mini detect a certain condition and then push a signal to a Plus 2. Just a random thought. All comments appreciated.
Thanksk.
#51134 OT: Lamp Powered by Ethernet Switch?
Posted by Chuckles on 06 July 2013 - 01:41 AM in General Discussion
#51114 OT: Lamp Powered by Ethernet Switch?
Posted by Chuckles on 05 July 2013 - 03:00 PM in General Discussion
#50524 OT: Why no Long Jumper Wires?
Posted by Chuckles on 17 June 2013 - 02:43 AM in General Discussion
#50692 OT: Why no Long Jumper Wires?
Posted by Chuckles on 21 June 2013 - 01:12 PM in General Discussion
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