2/6/2012

Today in class we spent some of the beginning of class putting the final touches on our circuit boards so they would be in working order for programming.  We discussed the basics of using our breadboards and how they are used to test and prototype.  We also discussed the differences between "sourcing" and "sinking" and how each configuration can be used.  We used are circuit board along with a breadboard and a simple program in PICAXE to cause an LED to blink on and off.  Using the breadboard, we made a circuit using a resistor and LED then wired it to our circuit board for power and the micro controller for instructions.  While we were writing the program, we learned some of the words used in PICAXE such as high, low, pause and symbol.  We wired this circuit to demonstrate both sourcing and sinking.  The last item we talked about in class was servo motors and Pulse Width Modulation (PWM).

 

In the above picture a connection is made to the circuit board from the laptop from the three pin connector on the board, through the modified DB9 cable, which connects to a USB adapter and finally into the laptop.  Power is supplied by the 9.6 volt battery.

The video above shows the result of the first program we wrote for our circuit boards.  The LED turns on for two seconds then turns off for two seconds.  This will repeat until power is turned off to the board.