Don Wilcher - Learn Electronics with Arduino

Learn Electronics with Arduino Donald Wilcher Learn Electronics with Arduino Copyright 2012 by Donald Wilcher This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. Exempted from this legal reservation are brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis or material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the Copyright Law of the Publishers location, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer. Permissions for use may be obtained through RightsLink at the Copyright Clearance Center. Violations are liable to prosecution under the respective Copyright Law.

ISBN-13 (pbk): 978-1-4302-4266-6 ISBN-13 (electronic): 978-1-4302-4267-3 Trademarked names, logos, and images may appear in this book. Rather than use a trademark symbol with every occurrence of a trademarked name, logo, or image we use the names, logos, and images only in an editorial fashion and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the trademark. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication, neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein. President and Publisher: Paul Manning Lead Editor: Tom Welsh Technical Reviewer: Razvan Chiriac Editorial Board: Steve Anglin, Ewan Buckingham, Gary Cornell, Louise Corrigan, Morgan Ertel, Jonathan Gennick, Jonathan Hassell, Robert Hutchinson, Michelle Lowman, James Markham, Matthew Moodie, Jeff Olson, Jeffrey Pepper, Douglas Pundick, Ben Renow-Clarke, Dominic Shakeshaft, Gwenan Spearing, Matt Wade, Tom Welsh Coordinating Editor: Corbin Collins Copy Editors: Damon Larson and Mary Behr Compositor: SPi Global Indexer: SPi Global Artist: SPi Global Cover Designer: Anna Ishchenko Distributed to the book trade worldwide by Springer Science+Business Media New York., 233 Spring Street, 6th Floor,
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For detailed information about how to locate your books source code, go to www.apress.com/source-code . To Mattalene, Tiana, DVonn, and DMar. Thanks for being supportive
and understanding. I love you all.
Donald Wilcher Contents at a Glance Contents Foreword Don Wilcher is a gifted experimenter and circuit designer who has applied his creativity and engineering abilities to producing a series of electronics books and articles. In this latest book, Don presents an array of Arduino projects, each in a standalone chapter that zeroes in on a specific aspect of electronics. He includes various experiments, describes how to use electronic test instruments, and introduces the reader to the world of Arduino microcontroller software development.

Projects in this book include an LED sequencer, a DC motor controller, a music box, a sound effects generator, an interactive LCD display, and more. Like Dons other books, this new volume is packed with details and diagrams. For example, when Don describes how to control a relay using an Arduino, he includes a helpful explanation of why a diode is connected across the relay coil to bypass the voltage spike generated when current suddenly stops flowing through the coil. He also provides detailed explanations for transistor driver circuits, LEDs, sensors, circuit testing, and other topics, using Multisim circuit simulation when appropriate. Don is no novice, for he has worked as an electrical engineer and as a columnist and feature writer for Nuts and Volts magazine. He has considerable experience with LEGO Mindstorms as well as the Basic Stamp, the PICAXE, and the Arduino microcontrollers.

In between tinkering with the projects in this book, you can learn much more about Don, his many interests and activities, and his advocacy of engineering education at www.family-science.net . Forrest Mims III About the Author Donald Wilcher has 26 years of electrical engineering experience. Hes worked on industrial robotic systems, automotive electronic modules and systems, and embedded wireless controls for small consumer appliances. While working at Chrysler Corporation, he developed a weekend enrichment pre-engineering program for inner-city kids. In addition, hes the author of LEGO Mindstorms Interfacing and LEGO Mindstorms Mechatronics (McGraw-Hill) and one self-published book on sci-tech and robotic gadgets. He writes for inventors, students, and engineering educators.

Hes taught computer and electronics engineering technology classes at universities, community colleges, and technical institutes. About the Technical Reviewer Razvan Chiriac was born in Bucharest, Romania and went to school there until tenth grade, when he and his family moved to the United States. He was fascinated by electronics and physics at a young age. Electronics was a mystery and physics had the answers to everything around him. Once in the States, he started making robots and programming microchips such as Arduino and Teensy. He likes programming in C for the microchips and Java for computer programming.

He has worked on many projects with the Arduino, which is his favorite microcontroller. Acknowledgments Many thanks to the Arduino Team, who created a wonderful tool to teach electronics. I would like to thank Technical Reviewer Razvan Chiriac for reviewing the circuits, sketches, and Fritzing models with a critical eye. Thanks also to Development Editor and writing coach Tom Welsh of Apress for challenging me to let my voice be heard in the pages of this book and to Michelle Lowman, Apress Acquisitions Editor, who saw the real subject matter of this book from my sketchy proposal. I would also like to thank Limor Fried of Adafruit for providing a wealth of technical Arduino resources on her web site. Thanks to Forrest Mims III for writing a wonderful foreword.