2/8/2017

Arduino and Electronics Crash Course

with Eric Bogatin, Tinkermill ([email protected])
• Goals: Who’s here
today:
 Get you from the ground floor to the second floor Eric
Newton
 Build your confidence

• Objectives for today:

 Talk to your Arduino, see what it can do
 Learn some important principles
 Have fun

• My approach:
 I do
 We do
 You do
www.EricBogatin.com slide 1

Three Sections

• Arduino from the ground floor

 Light: LED Heartbeat (Hello world)
 Sound: tone and music
 Motion: servo arms
• Electronics
 Voltage, current, resistance
 Measuring with DMM
 Engineering LED circuits
 Resistor pots and voltage dividers
• Projects:
 3 color LEDs
 Sensors
 Motors, and more

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Vocabulary

• IDE: Integrated development environment

• Arduino: family of boards, compatible with the IDE
• Microcontroller: the actual specialized processor chip on the board
(Uno uses Atmel 328)
• Sketch: the actual program that runs on the microcontroller
• Upload: the process of moving the sketch from the IDE on your PC
to the microcontroller on the Arduino board.
• Shield: add on board that just plugs into the specific form factor
of the pins on the Arduino board
• Library: special drivers that allow us to use high level commands to
drive special features in the shields

www.EricBogatin.com slide 3

Experiments Section 1

• Installing the IDE

• Running a blank sketch
• Creating a heartbeat
• Tone() and buzzer
• Servo motors
• Where to find new sketches

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Experiment: Setting up the Arduino IDE

(Integrated Development Environment)

• Goal: install and get familiar with the IDE

• Download from Arduino.cc
• Install
• Run
• Sketch format: void setup(), void loop()
• Preferences file:
• Tools/auto format
• Help/references
www.EricBogatin.com slide 5

Experiment: NEW Sketch-1

• Goal: Run your first Arduino sketch

• File/new
• Review the elements
 1st step: save as
 File name
 Verify check
 Upload arrow
 Void setup()
 Void loop()
 {…}
 // comments

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Experiment: NEW Sketch-2

• Test connection to Arduino:
 Tools/boards: select Uno
 Tools/boards: com# checked

• Upload the code with right pointing arrow

 Any errors?
 Any lights flashing on board?
 Uploading blank sketch will “erase” the Arduino

• If port is greyed out:

 Is the power light lit on the Arduino?
 Disconnect and re-connect USB cable on both ends
 Is correct port selected AND checked?
 Try another com port
 Unplug USB, Close and open IDE, plug in USB
 Check device manager for comm port error:
 Unplug USB, Reinstall IDE, plug in USB
 Unplug USB, reboot computer, plug in USB
 May need to manual upgrade the UART driver
 Try another Arduino board

www.EricBogatin.com slide 7

Experiment: Heartbeat-1

• Goal: create a first sketch

• Each digital pin has a pin number
• Pin 13 is special: has an on-board LED attached
• Changing state of digital pin is 2 steps:
• In void setup()
 pinMode(pin#, OUTPUT, INPUT) //sets up the pin for output

• In void loop()
 digitalWrite(pin#, HIGH, LOW) //changes state

• Where to find information about commands?

 References
 Highlight a term and right mouse click

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void setup() { // put your setup code here, to run once: pinMode(13,OUTPUT); } void loop() { // put your main code here, to run repeatedly: digitalWrite(13,HIGH

Heartbeat-2

• Turning on and off the LED on pin 13

www.EricBogatin.com slide 9

Heartbeat-3
• Waiting using the delay() function
• Delay(500) waits for 500 msec = ½ second
• Hint: use tools/auto format to clean up the code
• Turning LED off and on with delay

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Heartbeat-4

• Make LED thump like heartbeat: thump-

thump…thump-thump….
• How fast can you turn the LED off and on
and still see it flash?
• How short a flash can you see?
• How short an off can you see?

www.EricBogatin.com slide 11

Experiment Variables-1
• Variable: a place in memory to hold a piece of data
• Location identified with a name
• Two common types of numbers:
 Integers (whole numbers, -3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3)
 Floating point (with a decimal point: 3.1415 x 103)

• Declare at beginning, all variables and their type

 Long (rather than int) iName1 //iName1 is the variable name
 Float V_sensor1_v // V_sensor1_v is the sensor name

• Long: can count from +/- 2,140,000,000

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Variables-2

• Declare them in the beginning

• Use smart names- “self documenting”
 for an integer, use an ‘i’ in front
 Default is float
 Add units at the end

• Declare them at beginning and they are “global”

 Can be used inside all functions

www.EricBogatin.com slide 13

Variables-3

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Experiment: Connect External LED

• Goal: get familiar with electrical properties
of LEDs
• LED: Light emitting diode
• Important properties:
 Current only flows thru it in one direction.
Which direction?
 Symbol for a diode is an arrow (points in
direction of current flow)
 Physical diode has a flat side (short leg) (low
voltage side)
 Max current rating ~ 20 mA
 May carry > 40 mA before damage
 Typical design current ~ 10 mA

www.EricBogatin.com slide 15

External LED -2

• Plug low side of LED (short lead) to

gnd
• Plug in high side, long lead, to pin 13
• There will be a lot! Of current thru
LED
• May blow out LED, may blow out
Arduino pin, but probably not.
• What limits the current through the
LED?
 Hint: output resistance of pin is about 50 Ohms

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LED -3

• Measure the current

thru the LED with
DMM
• DMM is in series
with the LED current
• May need to keep
LED on for more
than 4 sec to get
stable reading

www.EricBogatin.com slide 17

Experiment: Tone-1

• Goal: do some coding

 Get familiar with tone() function
 Use “for loops”
 Use “random() function”
 Write your own functions

• The tone() function:

 tone(pin, frequency, duration (optional))
 noTone(pin) (turns off the tone function)
 Frequency in Hz
 Duration in msec (optional)
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Experiment: Tone-2

• Testing tone:
 Open up and use a NEW sketch to exercise any function
 On pin 11, play a note for 2 second, then a different one

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Tone-3

• Connect up a buzzer
• Pin spacing between the buzzer
leads = 3 pins
• One side to pin 11 with tone, pin 8
as other pin
• Pin 8 set to HIGH or to LOW
• Remember pinMode

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Tone-4

• Simple exercises:
 Play a single frequency for 0.3 sec
 Play multiple tones

• Use the random() function to play random notes

• The random() function:
 Integer (use long)
 random (100) returns random integers from 0 to 100
 Play random frequencies. For 0.3 seconds each

www.EricBogatin.com slide 21

Tone-5

• The for loop:

 Using For loop, play rising frequencies
from lowest to highest freq
 Sit at each note for 100 msec
 Hard code values, then make them
variables

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Tone-6

• Use function to ramp tone up

• Call a function with
func_RampUp()
• Define a function by:
• Void func_RampUp () {

 }

• Good habits:
 name your functions with func_ as the
beginning of the name
 Initialize all variable at beginning of sketch
(as global variables)

www.EricBogatin.com slide 23

Experiment Servo Motors

• Geared down DC motor with a shaft encoder (resistor pot)
• Transistor current amplifier to drive motor
• Pot on shaft senses absolute position (% of Vcc)
• Input signal to motor is a PWM signal
• IC compares average input voltage to pot ref value
• Motor spins to match pot position to average input voltage
value
 Proportional control
 Pulse period = 20 msec
 0 deg = 1.5 msec (1.5/20 = 7.5% of Vcc)
 -90 deg = 1 msec = (1/20 = 5% of Vcc)
 +90 deg = 2 msec = (2/20 = 10% of Vcc)
 (brown = gnd, red = +5, orange = pulses)

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Servo Motors-2

0 degrees

180 degrees

www.EricBogatin.com slide 25

Servo Motors-3

• Need to install servo library

 Define servo object: Servo
myservo
• In setup():
 myservo.attach(9), defines
pin for servo input
• In loop():
 Myservo.write(angle in
degrees (0 to 180))
• File/example/servo/Knob

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Servo Motors-4

• Examples:
 Use for loop to sweep servo back and forth like
a radar sweep
 How fast can you sweep?
 How to adjust the sweep time?
 Use servo with arrow as analog voltage meter

www.EricBogatin.com slide 27

Experiment: Find new sketches

• Goal: be aware of other places to get starting code
• “Sketches” tell Arduino what to do
• Fastest way to a solution:
 use someone else’s code (code re-use) or hacking!
• Where to get code?
 File/examples…
 www.Arduino.cc
 www.SparkFun.com
 www.AdaFruit.com
 http://www.instructables.com/howto/ardunio/
 google search: “Arduino sketches”

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Section 2

• Electronics

www.EricBogatin.com slide 29

Experiment: An Electricity Analogy

• Goal: build some intuition about voltage,
current, resistance
• Water in a pipe analogy:
 Pipes = wires (conductors)
 Water = free charges
 Pressure difference = voltage difference (volts)
 Water flow = current (Amps)
 Pipe geometry = resistance (Ohms)

• In conductors, current flows from higher

pressure (voltage) to lower pressure
(voltage)
 Label the lowest voltage point: ground (gnd)

• Two points of confusion:

http://www.windows2universe.org/physical_science/physics/electricity/circuit_analogy_water_pipes.html
 Current is moving charge carriers
 Inside pumps (batteries), current flows from
lower pressure to higher pressure
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An Electricity Analogy-2

• Questions
 What is the sign of the charge carriers?
 What direction does current flow in a
circuit?
 What direction does current flow in a
battery?
 What drives the current?
 What limits the current?
 What is the resistance in a wire?
 If the voltage increases, what happens to the
current in a circuit?
 If resistance increases, what happens to the
http://www.windows2universe.org/physical_science/physics/electricity/circuit_analogy_water_pipes.html

current in a circuit?
 What is ground?
EricBogatin.com slide 31

An Electricity Analogy-3

• Questions
 What would happen if:

5v =

There are “real: elements and “ideal” elements. Be

aware of the difference and limitations to real ones.

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Experiment:
Using DMM to measure voltages-1
• Goal: get comfortable with voltage
measurements
• Principles:
 Voltage is always the voltage difference
between two points
 Voltage difference is the “pressure” that
drives current
 How much current depends on the voltage
and series resistance
 “gnd” is the label for the lowest voltage in
circuit, usually a pin of the power supply
• Good habits:
 Black is always com
 Red is always multi function
 Use the most sensitive scale that is still
not off scale
www.EricBogatin.com slide 33

Using DMM to measure voltages-2

• Use DMM on voltage scale to
measure voltage of Arduino
pins
 Measure voltage difference
between gnd (low voltage side)
and…
5v
 3.3 v
 Vin
 Pin 13
 Others?
 What if you only connect one pin?
 What if you reverse the leads?
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Experiment: Use DMM continuity to check

solderless breadboard connections
Goal: check out connections in solderless breadboard
A good conductor (low resistance) makes buzzer beep

• Note: the labels on solderless breadboard are purely arbitrary and

don’t mean anything
www.EricBogatin.com slide 35

Experiment: Resistor Properties-1

• Goal: get comfortable with the properties of resistors

• The relationship between the voltage across a resistive device
and the current through it (Ohm’s Law)

I
+ -
DV
V V IR
V  IR V
I V
V
R I R R 
I
R I
V
R
I
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Resistor Properties-2

• V = 5 v supply
 R = 100 Ohms, What is I?
V
 R = 15 Ohms, what is I?

• I = 100 mA
 R = 100 Ohms, what is V? I R
 R = 0.1 Ohms, what is V?

• R = 1 Ohm
 V = 0.2 v, what is I?
 V = 10 v, what is I?

HackingPhysics.com slide 37

Experiment: Resistor Properties-3

I V V
+ - V IR I R
DV R I

 In words: the higher the voltage, the higher the current, or as we

increase the current through a device, the voltage across it increases
proportional to the current
 In a graph:

V  R I
voltage

Slope of the line = R,

defines the parameter of the resistor
current

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Resistor Properties-4

• Find a resistor (~ 300 Ohms)

• Measure the resistance with DMM (Ohms scale)
• Calculate the resistance by measuring voltage across a resistor
and the current thru it
• Need 2 DMMs (find a partner)
 Before you do a measurement, ALWAYS anticipate what you expect to see.
 With 5 V across resistor, how much current do you expect to flow?

V V 5V
R I  
I R 330
www.EricBogatin.com slide 39

Resistor Properties-5

current
V
voltage R
I

How well does your estimate

match your measurement?

Does it matter where the

ammeter is inserted?

What if you reverse the leads?

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Experiment: Controlling Current in LED

• Goal: get familiar with electrical properties of
LEDs
• LED: Light emitting diode
• Important properties:
 Current only flows thru it in one direction. Which
direction?
 Symbol for a diode is an arrow (points in direction
of current flow)
 Physical diode has a flat side (short leg) (low
voltage side)
 Max current rating ~ 20 mA
 May carry > 40 mA before damage
 Typical design current ~ 10 mA

• DOES NOT obey Ohm’s law

 With 10 mA thru it, voltage drop is 2 V
 With 40 mA thru it, voltage drop is about 2 v

www.EricBogatin.com slide 41

Experiment: Controlling Current in LED-2

• Measure Current thru and

Voltage across LED
current
• Need to create voltage source:
pin 13 (high) voltage

• Need to adjust current: 330

Ohm resistor
• Measure current thru LED,
voltage across it
• Then remove resistor and
connect pin 13 directly to LED-
 what is the current?
 What is voltage drop across LED?
 What is limiting the current?
 What is voltage out of pin 13?

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Experiment
Engineer an LED Circuit
• Goal: Engineer a circuit to drive 10
mA thru LED
• What value resistor to use?
• When the LED is on, voltage across
it is about 2 V, independent of the
current.
• If pin voltage is 5 V, what is the
voltage across the resistor?
• For 10 mA, what resistance do you
need?
V 5  2V 3V
• Build it, measure it R    300 
I 0.01A 0.01A
www.EricBogatin.com slide 43

Experiment: Double or half the current

through an LED
• Goal: Make the current twice as much or half thru the
LED using combinations of resistors
• Two important properties of resistors:
 Equivalent resistance of two in series, is higher than either one

Requiv  R1  R 2 Requiv  R1  R1  2  R1

 Equivalent resistance of two in parallel is lower than either one

1 1 1
 
R equiv R1 R 2 1
Re quiv  R1
1 1 1 2 2
  
Requiv R1 R1 R1
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Double or half the current through an LED-2

• Verify these relationships

Requiv  2  R1
• Build a circuit with two 330 Ohm resistors in series.
 What do you expect the resistance to be?
 Measure each one separately with a DMM
 Measure the series combination with a DMM

• Build a circuit with two resistors in parallel

 What do you expect the resistance to be?
 Measure each one separately with a DMM
 Measure the parallel combination with a DMM

• Replace the single resistor with the two in series or 1

two in parallel Requiv  R1
2
• In each case,
 What do you expect the current to be?
 What should happen to the LED brightness?
 Try it and see.

www.EricBogatin.com slide 45

Experiment Introducing the Scope

Voltage

Time

• Basically graphs how the voltage changes over time

• A DMM measures and displays the voltage, but
measured every ~ 1 sec.
• A scope can measure the voltage every 1 usec or faster.
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Introducing the Scope-2

• Many low end scope Old, analog scopes: $50  $200

options:
Analog, or digital
Bandwidth: 10 MHz
 1 GHz
Standalone, USB
Old, new Recommended, best
value first scope:
PicoScope 2204A
1 channel  4 https://www.picotech.com/

channel products/oscilloscope

www.EricBogatin.com slide 47

Introducing the Scope-3

• 2204A specs: (lowest end scope)

 2 channels
 5 instruments in one: scope, spectrum analyzer,
arbitrary waveform generator, frequency
response analyzer, serial link decoder,
 8 bit vertical resolution, +/- 50 mV full scale
(0.4 mV/bit)
 Up to 10 MHz bandwidth, 100 MSps (10 nsec/
sample)
 Up to 8 kS buffer memory
 Strip chart mode
 Export data to csv file
 Decode 15 serial protocols as standard
 USB connected and powered
 Windows, Linux and Mac software

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Introducing the Scope-4

• Measuring tone signals
 The frequency, the amplitude

www.EricBogatin.com slide 49

Projects

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Experiment: Print to Serial Monitor

• Goal: get familiar with serial monitor displays

• Use AnalogInOutSerial
• In void setup()
 Serial.begin (9600);

• In void loop():
 Serial.print(iVar1);
 Serial.println(iVar2); (as the last line)
 Delay (100);

• To view serial monitor: Open tools/serial monitor

• Debug tip: Make sure baud rate at bottom right of
screen matches Serial.begin()
EricBogatin.com
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Print to Serial Monitor-2

• Serial.print(number)
• Serial.print(“text”) // prints on same line
• Serial.println(number) // line feed
• Exercises:
 Print the integers from 1 to 32000
 (hint, use iValue=iValue++)
 How fast a baud rate can you go?
 Print the random frequency values generated in 10-150 Tone, as it
plays
 Copy and paste numbers into an excel spreadsheet
 Open serial plotter

EricBogatin.com
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Experiment
PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) output

• Goal: get familiar with analog output function

• analogWrite pins with a “~” in front: 3, 5, 6, 9, ..
• Output signal is string of pulses
 Average value = analog value
 8 bit resolution: 0  28 -1 = 255 (adu)

• What converts the pulses into an average value?

 DMM
 Our eye looking at LED
 Inertia of a motor
 NOT a speaker
 NOT a scope

www.EricBogatin.com slide 53

PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) output-2

• Use analogWrite(pinLED,255) // uses 0 to 255 values,

no need use pinMode()
• start with new sketch
• Add analogWrite(9,200);
• We refer to the analog value, 0  255 in units of adu
(analog digital units)
• Vary voltage level
• Can be very simple code
• Don’t be intimidated about writing quick, simple code

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Experiment: A Throbbing Heartbeat

• Goal: use PWM to modulate LED brightness

making it “throb”
 Instead of blinking on and off, throb
 Get brighter, peak, dimmer, pause, repeat, wait.
 Ramp up, damp down, off, repeat
 Note: won’t work on pin 13.
 Hard code numbers initially
 Re-write with functions, variables
 Try making heart beat throb
www.EricBogatin.com slide 55

10-160 A Throbbing Heartbeat-2

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Experiment: 10-170 3-color LED

• Goal: drive a 3-color LED to
make any color
 Control max current with a
resistor to each LED
 Make any color by using
combinations of each color
 Select a different pin to control
each color
 What will the wiring diagram look
like? For 10 mA max current, 20
mA, max current?

www.EricBogatin.com slide 57

10-170 3-color LED-2

• Open examples/10 starter

kit/p04_colorMixingLamp

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10-170 3-color LED-3

Set up wiring
Try color coding the wires
9
11
10

Experiment: 10-180 Measuring Temperature

• Goal:
 Read an analog voltage
 Print to serial monitor
 Display on serial plotter

• Arduino uno ADC is 0 to 5v, 10 bit

 0 to 1023 steps in 5v
 1 step = 1 adu = 5v/1023 = 5 mV

• If sensor outputs voltage, read it directly

• Use temperature sensor:
• Serial plotter:
 Each variable separated by “,”

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10988

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10-180 Measuring Temperature-2

• Resolution
 At 10 bit: 0  1023 adu and 0 v  5 v
 1 bit = 1 adu is 5 V/1023 adu ~ 5 mV/bit= 5 mV/adu = 0.005 V/adu
 Temperature sensor is 10 mV/deg C = 0.01 V/degC, or 100 degC/V
 Resolution is 100 degC/V x 0.005 V/adu = 0.5 degC/adu
 Sketch: read A0, convert to temperature

• Types of variables
 Integers: long, -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647, whole numbers
 Float: -3.4028235E+38 to 3.4028235E+38

• Adu should be as integers, long

• Voltage, temperature should be as float

www.EricBogatin.com slide 61

10-180 Measuring Temperature-3

Scaling:

0 V = -50 degC, 100 degC/V

T[degC] =(V x 100 degC/V) - 50 degC

T[degF] = T[degC]*9/5 + 32

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10-180 Measuring Temperature-4

• Algorithm
 Read the analog channel (A0): analogRead(A0)
 Add the units to the end of the variable
 Convert adu  voltage
 Convert voltage  temperature degC
 Convert temperature degC  temperature degF
 Print to serial monitor: Serial.println(temp_degF)
 Look on serial plotter (plots variable on strip chart)

www.EricBogatin.com slide 63

10-180 Measuring Temperature-5

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Experiment:
10-190 The Resistance Potentiometer (pot)

• Resistor pot as special component

• Goal:
 Measure resistance properties of pot

• Measure resistance between pins with

DMM, rotate knob
 What is A B?
 What is A  C?
 What is B C?

• How to connect it to make it a voltage

source?
www.EricBogatin.com slide 65

10-190 The Resistance Potentiometer (pot)-2

• Convert a resistance to a voltage

V2 = R1 x I
Vsource
• Goal: generate a variable voltage
source V1 = R1 x I
• The voltage divider:
Vsource R1
• Resistor pot DV1  R1  I  R1
R1  R2
 Vsource
R1  R2

 Connect up resistor pot

 Measure voltage across 2 pins
 Read voltage with analogRead(A0);
 Print monitor
 Plot monitor

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Experiment 10-200
Turn a Resistive Sensor into a Voltage
• Sensors: flex, pressure, thermistor

Rsensor
Vout  Vsource
R1  Rsensor

What’s the best value of R1 to use?

If Rsensor >> R1, then V1 is small voltage

If Rsensor << R1, then not much change in voltage

• Measure flex sensor with DMM
• Measure A0, convert to voltage Best value is R2 ~ R1

• Convert to R of sensor
Vout
• Print R sensor Rsensor  R1
Vsource  Vout
• Plot R of sensor

EricBogatin.com slide 67

Experiment 10-210 Boosting output current

with a transistor

• Max rated output current from Arduino pin = 40 mA

• Output impedance ~ 55 Ohms
 If shorted, current is I = 5 V/55 Ohms = 90 mA

• A load resistance can be low:

 Small dc motor ~ @ 5 v, 10-50 Ohms  require ~200 mA
 Small light bulb ~ @ 2.5 v, 10 Ohms  require 250 mA
 Large LED ~ 10 W is 3 A of current!
 Speaker ~ 10 Ohms I ~ 250 mA

• What do we do?

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10-210 Boosting output current with a

transistor-2
• 2n3904 NPN transistor
• https://www.sparkfun.com/datasheets/Components/2N
3904.pdf

www.EricBogatin.com slide 69

10-210 Boosting output current with a

transistor-3
Ic Essential principles:
• Voltage between B and E ~ 0.6 v, a diode drop)
• IE ~ h x IB
• h is the current gain ~ 50 -100
IB IE • IE = IB + IC ~ IC
• A transistor is like a current valve

• Basic “follower” amplifier (simple model)

 Vin= 0.6 V + Vout
 Vout = Vin – 0.6 V ( output “follows” input with small offset)
 But, IE = h x IB
 Current through R2 can be 50-100x current into base
 Current gain: great for driving low impedance loads that run at 5 V

• Like:
 Motors
 Speakers
 Big LEDs (still need current limiting resistor)
 Large relays

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10-210 Boosting output current with a

transistor-4

• Driving a motor
• Normally rated at 5 v, but needs 100 mA- 200 mA
• Arduino digital pin ~ 40 mA-90 mA (can’t drive the motor)
• Use transistor follower circuit
• Add R1 = 1k Ohms as safety- limits max pin current to 5 V/ 1 kOhm = 5 mA
• Now motor can get art least 5 mA x 50 = 250 mA current

www.EricBogatin.com slide 71

Experiment: 10-230
What the Heck is Ground?
• The is no such thing as an absolute voltage.
• There is only voltage difference.
• We measure the voltage of one node relative to or “with
respect to” another location
• We call the low voltage side of a circuit, “circuit ground.”
• All circuit ground nodes in a circuit are connected together.
• Voltages in a circuit are really voltage differences from the
low side as the reference.
• There are really 3 kinds of “ground”. Each are different.

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10-230 What the Heck is Ground? -2

• Earth Ground
• Earth ground is literally the connection to the physical
ground, with a copper stake in the ground.
 Voltage difference between different stakes typically very small
 Defines a convenient reference point

• Earth ground wire connects to the round hole in 3 hole AC

wall mount panels
• Generally, most metal things you encounter are connected
to earth ground-
 Parts of the house, pipes, duct work…
 Appliance with metal housing
 Most metal surfaces
• Earth ground is a safety feature. If all metal you encounter
is connected to earth ground, you will never see a voltage
difference, and not get shocked.

HackingPhysics.com slide 73

10-230 What the Heck is Ground? -3

• Chassis Ground
• If the enclosure is metal, there
is a screw drilled into it
connected to a wire.
• Can be connected to earth
ground (required by UL), but
doesn’t have to be.
• Sometimes connected to circuit
ground, but not always.
• Plastic enclosures do not have a
chassis ground.

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10-230 What the Heck is Ground? -4

• Floating Ground
• “Circuit ground” is often the low voltage side in a circuit or power supply
• If the circuit ground is not connected to earth ground, we say, the low side is “ground”
but “floats” above earth ground.
• Floating grounds are in:
 Cars
 Planes
 Satellites
 Cell phones
 Battery powered devices
 Devices plugged into the wall with two prong plugs
 Devices plugged into wall with “wall adapters”
 Watch out!

HackingPhysics.com slide 75

Experiment 10-240 Input Resistance of a

Voltmeter
• What is the ”input resistance” of a voltmeter?
• Use DMM with Ohmmeter to measure the
output resistance of real voltmeter.
 What is source resistance?
 What is measured voltage?
 On each voltage scale?
real
ideal

Input resistance of
an ideal voltmeter
= infinite R = 1 MegOhm

slide 76

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Experiment 10-250 How an Ammeter Works

• What is internal series resistance of sense resistor?

• Put a resistor in series with a voltage source (battery,
Arduino pin…)
• Measure voltage across ammeter
• What is the internal resistance?
V
Rinternal 
I
• What is the typical voltage drop (voltage load), on each
current scale?

slide 77

Experiment 10-260 How an Ohmmeter Works

• How does Ohmmeter work:
 Attach resistor, measure voltage across it, measure current
thru it.

• What is open circuit voltage of meter? V

• What is internal resistance of meter?
 Measure open circuit voltage.
 Attach external resistor and measure new voltage- a voltage
divider I
Re Vopen  Vmeas
Vmeas  Vopen Ri  Re
Re  Ri Vmeas

Rinternal
• What is internal R?
• How does it vary with scale?
Rexternal

slide 78

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Experiment 10-270 Measure the Output

impedance of a Voltage Source
• Goal: measure the output resistance of any power
source like:
 A battery Rinternal
 A wall wart supply Vopen
 The USB pin
 An Arduino digitial pin
 Other?

• Measure the open circuit voltage Vopen Vloaded

• Connect a known resistive load
I Rload
• Measure the loaded voltage
• Calculate the voltage drop
• Calculate the internal R

slide 79

10-270 Output impedance of Voltage Source-2

• Measure the open circuit voltage
• Connect a known resistive load
• Measure the loaded voltage Rinternal
Vopen
• Calculate the voltage drop
• Calculate the internal R

Vopen Vloaded Vloaded

Vopen  Vloaded  Rint ernal  I  Rint ernal 
Rload
I Rload

Vopen  Vloaded
Rint ernal  Rload
Vloaded Vloaded
I
Rload

slide 80

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10-270 Output impedance of Voltage Source-3

• Measure the Vopen, internal resistance of:

Vopen Vloaded
 A battery
 A wall wart supply
I Rload
 The USB pin
 An Arduino digital pin
 Other?

Vopen  Vloaded
Rint ernal  Rload
Vloaded

Arduino digital pin 8:

Vopen = 5.24 V 5.24  4.88
Rload = 329 Ohms Rint ernal  329  24
4.88
Vloaded = 4.88
Rinternal= 24 Ohms

slide 81

10-270 Output impedance of Voltage Source-4

Arduino USB powered power supply

Vopen = 5.256 V Vopen Vloaded
Rload = 329 Ohms
Vloaded = 5.235 I Rload
Rinternal= 1.32 Ohms

Vopen  Vloaded
Rint ernal  Rload
Vloaded

5.256  5.235
Rint ernal  329  1.32
5.235

slide 82

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10-270 Output impedance of Voltage Source-5

Voltage source:
Vopen = Vopen Vloaded
Rload =
Vloaded = I Rload
Rinternal=

Vopen  Vloaded
Rint ernal  Rload
Vloaded

slide 83

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