Arduino Sensor Shield V4 digital analog module

 Finnius 44 points

Sorry, for use on an Arduino Uno...

 Alexander Garcia 1 points

yes it can, as long as it is properly wired and coded

 nicademus 23 points

I would utilise Relays and/or some DC isolation... so-as not to draw directly from the Arduino's and also reduce signal issues from the inductors.

 Geoff 40 points

it depends... this is a sensor shield. If you are just wanting to set it up to run motors there is a motor shield.

 linh 20 points

yes, you will need an ESC and separate battery for connection: battery -> ESC motor -> ESC -> this sensor shield

 nicademus 23 points

Any of the 5V lines on the Shield are tied back to the 5V lines on the arduino, so the last thing you want to do is supply another Power source in on the shield (unless it is exactly same voltage as the Arudino's supply. Suggestion would be that for any power you need to supply to any devices off the Shield perhaps use Relays any DC isolation. Generally tie the Ground to Shield and Servos along with signal cable, then ground to external power source and only to servos, not to shield

 Geoff 40 points

the servos are three phase... so you can run the red line to another power source if you need more than 5v...

 Chanudet 6 points

This is juste a shield to plug sensors to your arduino board without having to solder or use a breadboard. What you need is an Arduino Uno board and some programming skill... what you want to do seems possible!

 nicademus 23 points

Completely possibly - just look up "Soil Moisture Sensor" for arduino you'll find them for about 5 bucks, next you will need code that will drive relays attached to solenoids to allow water flow (in bursts or slow drip one would suggest.

 Geoff 40 points

if you do a capacitance based sensor (I.E. a resistor that tells you how wet it is) you can use this you help feed that info to your system. But you could also do that through the analog inputs on the arduio it's self.

 plasticbaldy 352 points

Rasberrys ? Duuuuh. They'll spoil in the post silly. Don't you have a fresh fruit store nearby ? Yep, see, re your reply down the page I know NOTHING about electronics except how to turn my PC on and off. I can use a lathe, mill welder & cut & glue & sandpaper & paint balsa nicely though. This hobby has changed (for the better) so much now we have techno geeks involved. 2.4Ghz, LiPo, ESC, solid state gyros, auto pilots. . . . Woohoooo. Not like when I owned my first single channel OS Pixi RC or 10 channel Bang Bang (5 function non proportional) Radio. Next thing you'll be telling me there's no valves in radio sets.

 Geoff 40 points

the problem with the rasberry is the weight for what you get. There are much more useful commercially available products. Let me put it this way. Why not use a smartphone... it has wifi and apps that are already written...

 helinoob 13 points

Hi Geoff.. I agree that the pi might not be the best solution on board RC fight projects (eg.. hdmi, ethernet).. but I also think to a degree the same could be said for the (uno type) arduino board.. in the end nothing will be as efficient (footprint wise) as a custom SMT solution.. I also regard the atmega chip as more hardware focused at embedded hardware solutions than the pi (on chip uart/spi/pwm .. and its cheap).. but that does not mean that it would not be cool for HK to also get on the pi bandwagon.. I'm often hitting the 2k ram limit of the atmega and for more complex (eg robotic) projects the extra cpu power of a pi could be useful.. I don't have my pi yet (been waiting for months to get delivered) but I think pi and arduino (atmega328) combo will be pretty exciting.. as for using a smart phone.. (IMHO) that's a different (software centric) paradigm all together.. //end of rant..phew.. :-)

 Geoff 40 points

yeah... but as a programmer you always need to do the EE's job anyways... Are you mapping? Using a SLAM type topographic based algorithm? I found a dissertation of this guy (Agarwal Saurav) doing it for a quadcopter...

 helinoob 13 points

.. to be honest Ive just been using arduinos for generic (non rc related) projects.. nothing anywhere as fancy as mapping.. I'm just amateur hobbyist and by no means an EE (or programming) expert.. (eg. yotube / watch?v=UyfL1tuQap4) but for me at least .. the atmega seems to run out of ram well before it runs of i/o pins :-)

 Geoff 40 points

that may be where you are mistaken. An interest in this is all it takes and reading through a few books. My programs so far have no Ai so they are small how do you use up the memory?

 helinoob 13 points

just the usual data buffers and local vars.. (depends on the project).. I always end up using progmem where possible. To be really honest I'm not saying its a big problem and am probably exaggerating a bit saying it happens all the time.. but I do often find I have spare pins and spare clock cycles and could have more in my project if I just had a bit more heap space.. I still love the atmega/arduino .. unbelievable bang for buck !!

 mouchadino 372 points

pin compatible on my megaboard

 alvaro.calle@ya 7 points

It is compatible with Uno, not with Mega. Rgds

 Minkey 18 points

it works with my mega that I bought from here

 nicademus 23 points

Compatible with pretty much most of the large format Arduinos, Mega, Uno, Ether, etc. they all have a standardised pinout...That being said I have an EtherMega and I can't quite fit it straight on as the Etherplug sits too high and the end A0-A4 plugs plins hit it on the underside, but I get around that by using extra risers...

 Rangarid 275 points

If you never programmed before you will never make it fly. You need pretty much experience to make your own Autopilot. An you don't just nee this boar, but sensors as well. An the ArduPilot code wont work on this, as its adjusted to the ardupilot boards.

 mouchadino 372 points

this board extension only ...no sensor etc

 Rangarid 275 points

No, there are no sensors on it.

 stewart479 13 points

Sorry I mean can add sensors to this board and use it with my ardupilot mega in place of there IMU board? Just that there IMU board is 199.00 I really am looking for a cheaper solution.. Kinda wish I had not bought it now.. I have had it over a year and have not did squat with it...

 Rangarid 275 points

Dont really know, but the code of the sensor board is open source, so you should make something similiar if you use the same sensors. The board oes not cost 199$, its just 150$. You even get clones from china with IMU Pilot for 199$.

 Adi 1 points

Hey there Stewart, The answer is yes and no :) To connect sensors you will be most likely using the I2C lines which on the Mega are pins 20 and 21. If this is the case, then this board doesn't support these pins, which anyway you can take from the Mega itself. As for servos you can easily connect them and if you intend to use ESCs to drive your engines, you can connect the to the regular pins (I connect pins 2-5 for my Quad) and the ground pins. One major problem is if you want to connect the ESCs to the nicely put 3 pins sets (pins 0..13) you cannot as far as I know. The ESCs drive 5V power to the center pin (red) when powered by the battery (via the BEC). Unless I am absolutely wrong, you cannot connect this pin back (to the nice 3 pins GVS configuration), as the center pin should drive current OUT!!! Anyways, just sharing a bit of my pain. Did anyone solve this one?

 Adi 1 points

To correct a small slip in my answer - you can also connect your IMU sensors via the side port which serves for communication and drive SCL/SDA/VCC/GRD, however - make sure that your sensors require 5V input. Many sensors require 3.3V input which you can take from the 3V3 pin on this board.

 nikhilup 22 points

This will be useful if you are building your own quadrotor, tricopter or any multirotor or anywhere where you are using servos and/or sensors with arduino.

 helinoob 13 points

the arduino itself (not this board) is a platform to build stuff using a microcontroller.. A microcontroller is a small computer on a chip. If your a hobbyist into electronics and/or computers they are pretty cool.. the arduino (check google) has made this stuff pretty easy.. but you do need to know some basic electronics and programming to get into it.. This board (as far as I can tell) makes it easier to attach things to an arduino.. I dont think it adds any functionality to it .. just makes it easier to plug things in... if your at all into electronics and programming the arduino is well worth looking into..

 Geoff 40 points

this is an epic addition for things like... ultra sonic range finding (obstetrical avoidance and height above ground), inferred (tracking) and gps. Basically, this can be the hub of your navigation... but telemetry packages are easy to work with.

 Eagle 340 points

dear friends, please tell me...what is it good for?

 flymypretty 86 points

this is a breakout board for the arduino. It basically takes all the digital and analogue pins and makes them easy to connect to things like servos, sesnors and so forth. You should get a book like 'Arduino for the Evil Genius' (search amazon) which will explain a lot for you.

 JohnCS 57 points

I'd just like to thank Eagle for getting Edwin Star's "War" stuck in my head...

 barfy 54 points

Absolutely nothin'

 Heli-Yeah! 10 points

Say it again yall!

 oliver 16 points

Not clear about the connection to the UNO board, do bottom leads extend long enough to plug into the Uno board from the top ?

 beezlebub 226 points

that's how shields usually attach, yes.

 FlyCH 163 points

Happily surprised to find Arduino featured on HK. I was sketching out some future RC projects based on Arduino today. For anyone interested do search for Arduino on YouTube –* it will set your creative juices running. You will most probably come back to buy one of these once you have seen how elegantly servos can be controlled.