rainbowduino? radio transmitter?

Good morning,

I am new to electronics. I read about the arduino, illuminato and seeduino. I love the mini USB connector! I love the reset button access! I love the cost! I love the colour…RED (or purple or pink).

I would like to order a Seeeduino; but, people are warning me against it. I was told I -will- burn MCU as a student experimenter. I need a board that I can replace the MCU… which lead me to your Rainbow: When will that be sold? I need a USB connector for RainbowD?

Radio transmitter and receiver question:
I am looking for a transmitter that can transmit +100ft/30meters? I am not transmitting long data strings. I’m transmitting one-way (two way not needed but if cost is low, I’ll consider it) non-secure, Identification, ON/OFF command over 100ft.

Can you make a suggestion on which transmitter/receiver I need? Will any of the following fit my needs? Do you offer a transmitter similar to xbee www.digi.com/products/wireless/point-mu … module.jsp but cheaper?

2.4G RF module - nRF24L01
www.seeedstudio.com/depot/24g-rf-module … p-214.html

2KM Long Rang RF link kits w/ encoder and decoder
www.seeedstudio.com/depot/2km-long-rang … p-321.html

315Mhz remote relay switch kits - 2 channels
315Mhz remote relay switch kits - 4 channels
315Mhz RF link kit $4.90 <--------------------- good price, I don’t know if I have 100ft.
315Mhz RF link kits - with encoder and decoder Model: MISRF315EncDec Price: $9.50
433Mhz RF link kit Model: MISRF433 Price: $4.90

thank you

Rainbowduino will be SMT…sorry but that’s the limitation on 2 layer board. And it’s more for RGB dot matrix or similar applications. As a general experiement you could choose Arduino or Freeduino, while in my opinion that there is little chance you burn the MCU easily.

For the RF link, you may choose 315Mhz modules, 30 meters is easy to reach.

Bon voyage :wink:

Sorry if this posted twice.

okay, if it’s surface mount, is there an option of a socket for the MCU?

The reason I’m paranoid about burning out the MCU is that I want to work with higher voltage and opticouplers. I fear accidentally running 350vdc thru the board. I’m a novice, I don’t have experience with MCU and I don’t know if I will burn out the MCU or not.

Right now, I’m down to three candidate board: Seeeduino, Freeduino and…Illuminato (whenever the next batch of pcb is made).

I’ll decide over the weekend.

What is shipping to ship to Cleveland Ohio 44114 if I order the following items?

I believe I will be ordering (Still under consideration):

1 freeduino complete kit
1 Arduino ProtoShield kit remixed v1.0
1 20 in 1!Basic components mixed pack
1 315Mhz RF link kit
1 433Mhz RF link kit (Would 433Mhz be better than 315Mhz? what will 433Mhz offer me compare to a 315Mhz and 2.4Ghz?)
1 Breadborad jumper wire 75pcs pack
1 Basic Bread board - 17.1*6.2 cm
2 Mini Bread board 4.5x3.5CM
2 Infrared Remote Control Receiver Module
1 Digital Storage Oscilloscope DIY Kit with Panels) (not sure if I -need- an oxcilloscope???)
1 Pull the trigger! L135A Desoldering pump
2 6N137 High CMR high speed TTL compatible optocoupler
1 Rotary Encoder with Switch
1 5mm IR LED - 850nm 60 degree
1 5mm IR LED - 940nm
1 Original Osram IR LED - SFH485P
2 5mm Triple Output LED RGB - Common Anode
1 ATmega168-20PU (28-pin DIP) w/ Arduino Bootloader

thank you

Don’t know why you would destroy the microprocessor, as long as you double check your connections before applying power.

On that note wether or not you are using an replaceable microprocessor, if you pump 350v DC though any arduino board you are going to destroy a lot more then the microprocessor. The seeeduino is nice because it’s cheap and also very discrete, and with the SMD version of the atmega you also get 2 extra analog inputs over the standard DIP version, they come in very handy, a lot of people seem to look that over.

Thanks for explaining the Rainbow. Personally, I like the Seeeduino with it’s easy access reset button. I’m still puzzled at why engineers (Arduino team) would place a reset switch that will be covered by a other hardware.

Also, I am very sure that I will not burn out the MCU. In life, strange things can happen. Even if I’m operating <6v, strange things can happen.

Starfire, I have -no- intent of pumping 400v thru an arduino/clone/copy/MCU. Accidents can happen. As a new student to electronic… As a -new student- to electronic, -any- student, are you absolutely sure that -no- student ever made a mistake?

I am -confident- that I will not run 400v thru the MCU. I have NO intent on making a mistake; but, are you 100% positive that NO student ever made a mistake?

Instead of my trying to defend my opinion of having a user-replaceable parts and you trying to defend the wonderful Seeeduinno design (and I do like the Seeeduino design…if I didn’t like the Seeeduino, I wouldn’t be on here asking questions about it). How about this:

I WILL buy a Seeeduino (or wait for 2.0) if you offer a 365days (1 year) -replacement warranty- if I made a mistake and electrocute the board? How about a 6mo warranty.

It seems to me you, Starfire, don’t believe people can make mistakes… no MCU ever got fried in the world. No students (amuture, me) ever makes mistakes.

As a potential customers, are my concerns ‘legitimate’? Let me rephrase that question: I have a shopping cart in Seed Depot for +140.00 (not final until I see what Seeeduino2 looks like). I want to buy more in the future. I am looking to fab some PCB in the future (2side board, 2cm x 3cm estimate. +100 pieces initial order). Are my concerns legitimate?

It’s one thing to say: “Thank you for your input. We know you will be could be potentially buying our products, we appreciate the time you took to make the suggestion. We are examining your suggestions for future versions. At the moment, we believe the current design offers the best feature to our customers and our customers loves this design.”

It’s another thing to say: "Don’t know why you would destroy the microprocessor, as long as you double check your connections before applying power. "

You’re saying “mistakes NEVER happens”? You’re saying “As long as I double check the connectionn, NOTHING else can go wrong”?

Starfire, are you saying you never made a mistake in your life? Are you saying you never had to make contingency plans? Are you saying everyone who worked in electronic is -perfect-? Thomas Edison was perfect? Edison selected the correct material for his light bulb the first time? Edison never destroyed any prototype bulbs?

Again, I’m confident I won’t electrocute an arduino/clone/copy. Having been an experimenter/hobbist for a long enough, I know mistakes can happen.

Again, will Seeedstudio give me a warrenty if I do electrocute the board? Will Seeedstudio replace my board if I electrocute it?

try to be helpful and make a suggestion for me to find a socket for that mcu. I am willing to solder a chip socket onto the Seeeduino board…the problem: I can’t find it in DigiKey (I’m not sure what to look for nor how it’s listed. I’ll call Atmel if I can’t find the information)

I think starfire is just trying to help…
Customers’ concern is always legimate, does not matter if you are buying one single Seeeduino or many dozens. Sorry but our warranty does not include high voltage damages, proper usage is appreciated.

Thanks for being interested :wink:

Relax!! I’m not trying to say you won’t make a mistake I’m just trying to say that if you accidently pass that much voltage it won’t make a difference if you have a hard soldered board or a user replaceable board, the whole board will be fired not just the processor, so clones are cheaper then the real thing and do just as well so I’m just suggesting buying clones.

God knows how many times I’ve fried something, just trying to save you some bucks, you might want to go the standalone route where you just buy a pre-bootloaded chip and plop it in a bread board, there’s not much to wire up and could really save if you make a mistake, you can literally wire up a working breadboard arduino in like 5 mins downside is you need a usb to serial board, but there cheap and once you have it you can use it on so many different arduinos

Please don’t take any offense, you can buy any clone you want I myself have a real arduino board, 2 seeeduinos, a RBBB (real bare bones board), a couple of chips that i just breadboard and a design I made my own.

Lookie here: arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaB … 1241074431 :smiley: :smiley: :mrgreen: