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This is the start page for our series of over fifty Arduino tutorials. Each tutorial from chapter zero to
thirteen will cover a variety of topics and lessons, then from chapter fourteen each chapter will cover
a particular topic.
If you are looking to learn about the world of Arduino this is a great place for beginners to start, or for
more experienced users to brush up on their knowledge. Scroll down to read the contents of each chapter.
New tutorials, lessons and other articles of interest are announced via twitter, Google+, RSS feed and by
email to keep up, subscribe using the form in the column to the right.
If youd rather have a great book on Arduino check out my new book Arduino Workshop from
No Starch Press.
But what is it? From their web page:
Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use
hardware and software. Its intended for artists, designers, hobbyists, and anyone interested in
creating interactive objects or environments.
Arduino can sense the environment by receiving input from a variety of sensors and can affect
its surroundings by controlling lights, motors, and other actuators. The microcontroller on the
board is programmed using the Arduino programming language (based on Wiring) and the
Arduino development environment (based on Processing). Arduino projects can be stand-alone
or they can communicate with software on running on a computer (e.g. Flash,
Processing,MaxMSP).
The boards can be built by hand or purchased preassembled; the software can be downloaded
for free. The hardware reference designs (CAD files) are available under an open-source

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license, you are free to adapt them to your needs.

Arduino received an Honorary Mention in the Digital Communities section of the 2006 Ars
Electronica Prix. The Arduino team is: Massimo Banzi, David Cuartielles, Tom Igoe,Gianluca
Martino, and David Mellis.

If you are shopping for your first Arduino board, please dont use an Arduino Leonardo the pinouts vary
and for some chapters of this tutorial the board will not work and is not supported here. There isnt anything
wrong with the Leonardo, it just isnt fully backwards compatible with Uno boards.
Over semi-regular intervals you will find a new instalment of my tutorials. If you have not used the system
before, please start with Chapter Zero! In the first few chapters of the tutorials we refer to the book Getting
Started with Arduino by Massimo Banzi.
Technical support for the tutorials is available by asking a question in the Tronixstuff forum. After a few
weeks I would hope that you have enough building blocks of knowledge to be able to bring your ideas to
life!
Update 04/02/2014: I have written these tutorials in a period spanning over three years. During this
time several versions of the Arduino IDE have been published. I am endeavoring to update the tutorials
so that they work with the latest Arduino v1.0.6 (or newer) IDE. In the meanwhile, you can run both v23
(old) and v1.0.1 (and more) on the same machine. Any tutorial noted as updated on 24/11/2012 or later
works with the new IDE. Dates are in day-month-year format. Any questions contact us.
So without further ado, beginners start at chapter zero or choose your topic of interest:
Chapter Zero - updated 24/11/2012

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Introduction to the Arduino system

Basic digital outputs
Lots of blinking LEDs!
Chapter One - updated 24/11/2012
learn about electricity
the for loop
random numbers
pulse-width modulation
fun with RGB LEDs
reading analogue inputs
building a voltmeter
Chapter Two
sensing temperature with the Analog Devices TMP36
sending data back to the host PC with the serial outputs
libraries
building a digital thermometer
LCD modules- please see chapter 24
Chapter Three updated 09/01/2013
controlling relays to switch heavy current loads
creating your own functions
interrupts
having lots of fun with servos
building an analogue electronic thermometer
Chapter Four
learning about binary numbers
getting more output pins using the 74HC595 shift register
making noises with buzzers and sounds with speakers
understanding arrays
building a temperature data logger
Chapter Five
Controlling more than one 74HC595 shift register
Using 7-segment LED displays
build a binary quiz game testing your ability to convert binary to base-10
Chapter Six
Using 4-digit 7-segment LED display modules with shift registers
Examining the Sharp infra-red distance sensor
Making our first protoshield

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build a device to display values from an analogue sensor

Chapter Six (addendum)
more about using 4-digit 7-segment LED display modules
Chapter Seven
Hexadecimal numbers
Binary-coded decimal numbers
the switchcase function
introduction to the I2C bus (two wire interface)
Using the Maxim DS1307 real time clock IC
make our own digital clocks!
Chapter Eight
Some more timing with the Maxim DS1307
receive user input via the serial monitor box
control physical movement with the serial input data
make our own analogue clock!
Chapter Nine
Blink more LEDs with an 88 LED matrix display module
Spend some time considering user interfaces with our projects
create a function to use a potentiometer to return a number in a desired range of numbers (0~x)
implement a user-interface on the digital clock from Chapter Seven
build our own digital alarm clock!
Chapter Ten
Creating a minimal Arduino board using a bootrom
Using Arduino to control a relay with an on/off timer
build our own dual timer control system with various timing options
Chapter Eleven
Start using wireless data link modules
Control digital pins remotely using wireless
Investigate rotary encoders
Chapter Twelve
More about rotary encoders
Using common-anode LED display modules
Create a button board
Start the series of making a prototype into a product
Chapter Thirteen

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examine piezoelectric buzzers

continue with our alarm clock, adding a snooze function
using wireless radio modules to create some remote control systems and sending various data over the
airwaves.
Chapter Fourteen - updated 02/03/2013
A detailed yet simple introduction to using the XBee wireless data transceivers with Arduino projects
Chapter Fifteen updated 19/11/2013
A beginners guide to RFID with Arduino and RDM630 Build RFID tag/card readers, RFID control
systems, and an RFID data logger with time, date and so on
Click here for a version that uses Innovations ID-12 or ID-20 RFID readers
Chapter Sixteen updated 06/12/2013
Getting started with using Ethernet and Arduino
Chapter Seventeen updated 14/01/2014
Getting started with using EM406A GPS receivers and Arduino
Chapter Eighteen awaiting update
Chapter Nineteen updated 15/01/2014
Getting started with using MediaTek 3329 GPS receivers and Arduino
Chapter Twenty - updated 28/11/2014
Arduino and the I2C bus. We learn the basics of reading and writing data to various I2C devices, in
preparation for future tutorials.
Chapter Twenty-one - updated 28/11/2014
More on Arduino and the I2C bus, including I/O expanders and EEPROM use
Chapter Twenty-two - updated 12/12/2013
Arduino and the AREF pin
Chapter Twenty-three updated 19/01/2013
Arduino and the touch-screen
Chapter Twenty-four
Arduino and monochrome LCDs (both character and graphical)

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Chapter Twenty-five - updated 14/03/2013

Using analog input to read multiple buttons
Chapter Twenty-six - updated 15/01/20014
Arduino and GSM cellular using SM5100B and Arduino Uno
Chapter Twenty-seven updated 18/01/2014
Arduino and GSM cellular using SM5100B and Arduino Mega
Chapter Twenty-eight updated 03/02/2014
Arduino and a colour LCD shield
Chapter Twenty-nine
Arduino and a TFT LCD touch screen shield
Chapter Thirty updated 16/04/2014
Arduino and twitter.
Chapter Thirty-one - updated 09/01/2013
Arduinos inbuilt EEPROM
Chapter Thirty-two updated 10/07/2013
Arduino and infra-red remote control
Chapter Thirty-three updated 02/03/2013
Control AC power outlets via SMS
Chapter Thirty-four updated 10/01/2013
Arduino and the SPI bus (part one)
Chapter Thirty-five - updated 10/01/2013
Arduino and video out
Chapter Thirty-six - updated 10/01/2013
Arduino and the SPI bus (part two)
Chapter Thirty-seven updated 19/01/2013
Timing applications with millis()

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Chapter Thirty-eight - updated 05/02/2013

Thermal printer!
Chapter Thirty-nine updated 11/06/2013
How to use the NXP SAA1064 4-digit LED display driver IC with our Arduino systems
Chapter Forty - updated 19/01/2013
Arduino and single thumb-wheel switches.
Arduino and four-digit thumb-wheel switch combinations updated 24/11/2012
Chapter Forty-One updated 04/12/2014
Using one Microchip MCP023017 to add 16 digital I/O ports to your Arduino
Chapter Forty-Two updated 16/12/13
Arduino and Numeric Keypads
Chapter Forty-three - updated 19/01/13
I/O Port Manipulation
Chapter Forty-four - updated 07/10/2014
Using an ATtiny45/85 with Arduino software
Chapter Forty-five updated 05/02/2013
Parallax Ping))) Ultrasonic Sensor
Chapter Forty-six updated 19/01/2013
Using an analog input pin to read four buttons
Chapter Forty-seven updated 24/11/2012
Internet-controlled relays
Chapter Forty-eight updated 31/01/2013
Arduino and the MSGEQ7 Spectrum Analyzer
Chapter Forty-nine updated 11/03/2013
Arduino and KTM-S1201 LCD modules
Chapter Fifty - updated 26/04/2013
Arduino and ILI9325 colour TFT LCD modules

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Chapter Fifty-one - updated 12/05/2013

using MC14489 LED display driver ICs
Chapter Fifty-two updated 17/06/2013
add analogue-to-digital and digital-to-analogue to your Arduino with the NXP PCF8591
Chapter Fifty-three updated 02/07/2013
learn how to use the Texas Instruments ADS1110 16-bit analogue-to-digtal converter
Chapter Fifty-four updated 20/08/2013
learn how to use the NXP PCF8563 real time clock IC
Chapter Fifty-five updated 14/02/2014
First chapter in using popular /nd inexpensive SIM900 GSM shields with Arduino
Chapter Fifty-six updated 11/10/2013
Using the MAX7219 LED driver IC to control LED matrix modules and numeric LED displays
Chapter Fifty-seven updated 21/10/2013
Controlling LEDs and servos with the TI TLC5940 16-channel LED driver IC
Chapter Fifty-eight updated 24/09/2014
Using PCF8574 serial LCD backpacks
Chapter Fifty-nine updated 25/11/2014
Controlling DC motors and stepper motors with the L298N H-bridge module
Chapter Sixty updated 01/12/2014
Using DS1307 and DS3231 real-time clock modules with Arduino
Chapter Sixty-one
Follow me on twitter to find out when the next article is published

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Arduino Yn tutorials
We also have a growing number of tutorials specific to the Arduino Yn
Subscribe to keep up to date see top-right of this page.
All the original material in these tutorials, unless noted otherwise, is published under a Creative Commons
Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike v3.0 license. If you would like to use the work in other situations,
please email me at john (at) tronixstuff dot com. Feedback, comments, and constructive criticism is always
welcome dont be shy!
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Arduino Tutorials
Click for Detailed Chapter Index
Chapters 0 1 2 3 4
Chapters 5 6 6a 7 8
Chapters 9 10 11 12 13
Ch. 14 - XBee
Ch. 15 - RFID - RDM-630
Ch. 15a - RFID - ID-20
Ch. 16 - Ethernet
Ch. 17 - GPS - EM406A
Ch. 18 - RGB matrix - awaiting update
Ch. 19 - GPS - MediaTek 3329
Ch. 20 - I2C bus part I
Ch. 21 - I2C bus part II
Ch. 22 - AREF pin
Ch. 23 - Touch screen
Ch. 24 - Monochrome LCD
Ch. 25 - Analog buttons
Ch. 26 - GSM - SM5100 Uno
Ch. 27 - GSM - SM5100 Mega
Ch. 28 - Colour LCD
Ch. 29 - TFT LCD touch screen
Ch. 30 - Arduino + twitter
Ch. 31 - Inbuilt EEPROM
Ch. 32 - Infra-red control
Ch. 33 - Control AC via SMS
Ch. 34 - SPI bus part I
Ch. 35 - Video-out
Ch. 36 - SPI bus part II
Ch. 37 - Timing with millis()
Ch. 38 - Thermal Printer
Ch. 39 - NXP SAA1064
Ch. 40 - Push wheel switches

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Ch. 40a - Wheel switches II

Ch. 41 - More digital I/O
Ch. 42 - Numeric keypads
Ch. 43 - Port Manipulation - Uno
Ch. 44 - ATtiny+Arduino
Ch. 45 - Ultrasonic Sensor
Ch. 46 - Analog + buttons II
Ch. 47 - Internet-controlled relays
Ch. 48 - MSGEQ7 Spectrum Analyzer
First look - Arduino Due
Ch. 49 - KTM-S1201 LCD modules
Ch. 50 - ILI9325 colour TFT LCD modules
Ch. 51 - MC14489 LED display driver IC
Ch. 52 - NXP PCF8591 ADC/DAC IC
Ch. 53 - TI ADS1110 16-bit ADC IC
Ch. 54 - NXP PCF8563 RTC
Ch. 55 - GSM - SIM900
Ch. 56 - MAX7219 LED driver IC
Ch. 57 - TI TLC5940 LED driver IC
Ch. 58 - Serial PCF8574 LCD Backpacks
Ch. 59 - L298 Motor Control
Ch. 60 - DS1307 and DS3231 RTC part I
Arduino Yn tutorials
pcDuino tutorials

Australian Electronics!
Buy and support Silicon Chip - Australia's only Electronics Magazine.

Interesting Sites
David L. Jones' eev blog
Freetronics Arduino Geniuses!
Silicon Chip magazine Always a great read!
Talking Electronics
Amazing Arduino Shield Directory
Dangerous Prototypes
The Amp Hour podcast
EEWeb Elec Engineering Forum
Superhouse.tv High-tech home renovation
Mr Dick Smith OA

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tronixstuff.com by John Boxall is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-

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