hitechnic experimenters kit

[megamindstorm]

I have had one of these experimenters kits for a while now (about a year) and i did many of the designs in the pdf. I dont really understand how any of it works and the guide didnt really teach me anything. I was challenging myself to make a simple board with no instructions with an led that turns on when i flip the switch. Thats when the problem came I have no idea where to put the wires to connected to the legs of the prototype board and then how to program it (using nxt-g for now).

I was wondering if anyone who knows how to use this and how these works would either direct me to some guides that are easy to understand that will leave me knowing how to make my own stuff on this board, or someone who is willing to give up some time to teach me how this works.

thanks

[mattallen37]

I think you should have a relatively good foundation in electronic circuits and design before attempting to do much with it. If you are new to electronics, I suggest you get something like a Radio Shack lab kit (I got the following one http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... Id=3814337). When I got it, I knew almost NOTHING about electronics, but after working through some of the projects, and experimenting on my own, I was able to understand basic electronics very well. I still use the lab to build my circuits on for the NXT (and other stuff). The kit comes with two books that include the projects, but also a lot of other information. You should know what stuff does before attempting to venture too much on your own.

Go to the product page here http://www.hitechnic.com/cgi-bin/commer ... ey=NPS1055 for a ton of information about the HT interface board, and how to use the NXT-G block.

[mightor]

When I was a kid I had one of those Radio Shack (called Tandy here in Europe) kits. It had about 150 experiments you could do with it. It was the best thing ever. Just found a picture of it:



These are so worth getting (a modern one, of course)

- Xander

[jose2005]

I played with something similar, and enjoyed it a lot!

[gloomyandy]

I had one of these...


and yes that really is an analogue meter! It taught me an lot about basic electronics...

[nxtreme]

I have the Maxitronix 500-in-one electronics kit (same thing as the kit here). It doesn't explain basic things that you don't know if your just getting into electronics but if you know what a resistor is and how a breadboard connects internally than it is quite nice.

However, you probably didn't post here to find out who had/has what electronics kit . In this case you will need a resistor, a LED and a switch or push-button. You will want to use a digital I/O pin to turn the LED on and off. Connect the positive lead (longer lead) to anyone of the digital pins and connect the negative lead (shorter side) to a resistor. You probably want to use the 220 ohm resistor because the 4.7 kOhm resistor might make the LED quite dim. Then, connect the other end of the resistor to GND. Now you can turn the LED on and off from the NXT. If you want to use the touch sensor to toggle the LED you could but if you want, you can use the push-button. Attach one side to a digital I/O pin, doesn't matter which just so long as its not the same pin that the LED uses. Then, tie the other end into 3.3v. I'm afraid I can't help you on the programming right now but you pretty much want to write a one to the digital port your using for the LED to turn it on; a zero to turn it off. Read the switch to find out whether it is on or off; one means its on, zero means its off.

You might want to start out by just getting the LED turning on and off without the push-button, then once you've gotten it working move up to using the push-button. Have to go but if you have questions just ask.

Oh and you might need a pull-down resistor for the push-button. I've never played with the HT board so someone else will have to clarify.

[megamindstorm]

my brother has one of those radioshack boards (slightly older but basically looks like the one now) but he doesnt let me use it. I may buy my own sometime. Does anyone know if the parallax boards teach much? their activity board seems to be pretty nice but I have never opened the book and seen what it has.

I have basically the whole cypress.com products in my garage but they arent really meant for teaching and they dont exactly have guides so I never figured out how to use them.

well i guess the answer is get a new radioshack board. i was just hoping someone would give me time XD

[mightor]

my brother has one of those radioshack boards (slightly older but basically looks like the one now) but he doesnt let me use it. I may buy my own sometime. Does anyone know if the parallax boards teach much? their activity board seems to be pretty nice but I have never opened the book and seen what it has.

What board are you specifically looking at? I restarted my robotics with the Basic Stamp II a few years back. I bought the BOEBot and loved it. It comes with a great guide. I think you can download the guides from the Parallax website, just look around there.

I have basically the whole cypress.com products in my garage but they arent really meant for teaching and they dont exactly have guides so I never figured out how to use them.

The guides might be online, did you look?

well i guess the answer is get a new radioshack board. i was just hoping someone would give me time XD

Well, first try to figure out what it is you're after. Do you want to learn how to use a new microcontroller or do you want to learn about analogue electronics?

- Xander

[megamindstorm]

What board are you specifically looking at? I restarted my robotics with the Basic Stamp II a few years back. I bought the BOEBot and loved it. It comes with a great guide. I think you can download the guides from the Parallax website, just look around there.

I was looking at the radioshack one that the first replier said. and i was looking at the parallax basicstamp activity kit http://www.parallax.com/Store/Microcont ... fault.aspx

The guides might be online, did you look?

yes indeed I did look and there really isnt much on it. But actually I am started to barely learn psoc express (the simple programming software for their boards, kinda obsolete but it is like comparing nxt-g to labview kinda they are both graphical but psoc express is just easier than psoc designer).

Well, first try to figure out what it is you're after. Do you want to learn how to use a new microcontroller or do you want to learn about analogue electronics?

I kinda want to learn it all.

[mattallen37]

For price compared to what you get, I think that the Radio Shack kit that I gave a link to is the best lab (the one NXTreme mentioned is probably the best reasonably priced one, though more expensive). I started with the analog and logic electronics, and it has made a really good base to build off of. Even when programming, it helps me to have that background. Once you understand a little of the basics, then get into using a controller.

Having a good electrical background will be a HUGE help for many things (almost too many for me, as now I have to fix all our broken appliances ).

I went from just analog and logic electronics, to interfacing to the RCX, and that was quite a leap. I started really using the RCX as just a robotic platform, as many do with the Arduino's. Now, I use the NXT as an interface between intelligence and my electronics.