sensors

12/3/20
Using pre-existing examples on the program: file - examples - basic - blink. This gives us the code for an LED light to flash. Once the code is up you verify, then upload it. There was an error. We went on tools, port and connected it back up making sure the board was Arduino/uno (the make of our board) and made sure the pins were in the right place as the error said the port was not found.

The smaller the delay the faster it blinks. As the example code provided, the delay(1000) means wait for 1 second, so changing it to 100 creates a rapid blink.

I managed to get the LED light to blink using the breadboard which we couldn't figure how to do before

Motor

From the images/video below we used the Arduino to power the motor meaning that we didn't need to use code (creative cheating)

We learnt that the ground and 5V had to be connected to the positive and negative in the breadboard as shown below so those columns have power 

Then we added two more wires connecting from the positive and negative into the other side ( J9 , J13) so that all 9 across and 13 across will have power. Then connecting the two wires of the motor in 9 and 13 allowed the motor to spin.

A variable resistor can be added to control the voltage going into the motor.

Evaluation

We experimented with 2 different sensors, a motor and light.  When the motor starts, it uses the most current but as it continues it will need significantly less. plugging the USB into the PC gives it more voltage than a battery would. The board is simple to use and is pretty small which makes it a bit difficult to make sure the right pin is in the right hole otherwise the project may not work.

1/5/20

Due to Covid-19 lessons had to end shortly and continued a bit of research about smoke sensors in arduino:

With a smoke sensor, you can set up a buzzer and an led for if there is smoke nearby. In the code if the output of the sensor reaches a certain limit then it will trigger the buzzer and led. Where the input would be the smoke sensor that will take an input from the sensor and delivers it to Arduino. There are different type of smoke sensors that all have a set potentiometer that allows you to adjust the digital sensor output threshold.

(1)

Reference
Muhammad, Aqib (2017) 'How to use a smoke sensor, [online] accessed 1/5/20 - https://maker.pro/arduino/projects/iot-smoke-alarm-arduino-esp8266-gas-sensor

Image
(1) Smoke sensor diagram, accessed 1/5/20 - https://create.arduino.cc/projecthub/Aritro/smoke-detection-using-mq-2-gas-sensor-79c54a