This week, we learned more about electronics : How to create a simple circuit with a LED, how to use the code with an Arduino board, how to solder, and what means current, voltage or resistance... After that in pair we worked with two components : a sensor and an actuator. We try to understand how it works and make a tutorial in order to use it. At the end of the week, we tested other people's components to see if their tutorials are correct. Before the tutorial, you can find some definitions of electrician terms to understand how a circuit works.

Things that convert other forms of energy (such as light, or movement) into electrical energy are often called sensors.

Things that convert electrical energy into other forms of energy (such as light, or movement) are often called actuators.

You will be building circuits (closed loops of conducting material and a power source) to move electricity through different components.


Voltage (V) is the difference in charge between two points. VOLTS (V)

Current (I) is the rate at which charge is flowing. AMPÈRES (A)

Resistance (R) is a material’s tendency to resist the flow of current. OHM (Ω)

4 NUMBERED, 7- SEGMENTED DISPLAY

Actuator
You don’t have to install any additional libraries.

MY PARTNER?
Duy

WHAT DID I LEARN?

TECHNICS:
- Coding
- Electricity

MATERIALS:
- Arduino board
- Electronic components

MACHINES/SOFTWARES:
- Soldering iron
- Arduino
- Fritzing

TUTORIAL 

You need an Arduino board with the code software, 12 wires, 4 numbered_7-Segmented display.
The display shows 4 numbers, and the component has 12 pins. Each number is formed with sticks. Each stick is controlled by a pin.

To simplify and schematize the component, you can name each stick, each number and each pin with a letter or a number. To bring the information to the component, you have to use pins. Each pin will be connected to the Arduino board with a wire. You can create a table to list the connections between the component and the Arduino board. You can use the Fritzing schematic to connect the display to the board.

This component allows you to count or display a value. It can also be used to indicate the time. Beyond this common use, it can be used to display a four-letter word or an onomatopoeia, and why not a coded language?





I encountered several problems during my experiment. The first one was about the general functioning of the component. So, in order to understand more the different connections between the Arduino board and pins of the 7-segmented display, I made a schematic of the component and a board with all the connections.

The second one was about the board. At the beginning, I used a simple one with 10 pins but in this case we need 12 pins to connect the display to the board. So, finally, I used an Arduino one.

The last problem was about the Arduino code. At the beginning I copied and pasted the code from the tutorial, but it didn't work. So I had to understand how the beginning of the code works to be able to complete it. Finally I managed to recreate a code that works.

USES

PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED

After that, you have to paste or write the Arduino code. This code just displays a count from 0 to 9 in a loop for the four numbers. Once you understand the logic, you can then easily modify the code to make it more complex.

You can see the beginning of the code in the right side and you can paste all the code in this link :

Voilà! It's done!

We start by assigning each pin of the display to a number from the Arduino board before assigning it an action. (setup)

After that, an action is defined for each pin. LOW means that the stick is visible. On the contrary, HIGH means that the stick is not visible in the screen. So, you have to build each number like that, stick by stick. A one-second delay was associated for each action before showing the next one.
(loop)

For this week, I had to do a lot of research to understand how my actuator works. I looked at several tutorials to learn how to use it. I searched for different Arduino codes to create my own tutorial.

This week I worked with Duy. He had already done electronics so he was able to help me understand how it works. We each worked on a different component. Kaj and Moritz have helped me a lot to understand how my component works. Anna was able to give feedback on my tutorial by testing it so that I could improve it. These exchanges were very interesting.

I was able to learn a lot about electronics and basic electrical circuits through Kaj's course. This class allowed me to understand how a circuit works and how to use different components. Then I learned how to use Arduino code, but also how to write a tutorial so that it is accessible, clear and understandable.

Feedbacks from Melissa's documentation
 
I tested Melissa's component. At first sight, the description of the sensor seemed clear to me but I didn't understand what to use it with to test it. It was a good idea to show how to connect it with a real photo in addition to the diagram, it helped me.

When I entered the code in Arduino, it didn't work. At first I thought the problem was with the code and then I understood that it was with the parameters. Indeed, I had used an Arduino board before and it a smaller board, so I had to change the parameters, it should have been specified.

Suggestions : Perhaps it would be interesting to add some information about the reading of the final data that appear and their meanings.