[How To - Arduino Nano] Starfleet Starship Running & Strobe Lights

[TK Iain]

Me again!

Have trolled the forums for the answer to my next question but can't find anything so here it is:-

"Is there a limit as to how many LEDs can be plugged into one socket on the board"?. I am in no way an electronics expert but whilst mucking about about with the board I have (subsequently discovered it is a copy of an Arduino but it works for me) there ended being a medusa type mass of wires connected to the board.

I have shelved the 1701E after a bummer of a weekend but plan on using the board on my next build but plan on just having x4 red/green nav lights and at the most x4 strobes (probably only two) and I wondered if it would be safe enough to wire up the 2 circuits to only one corresponding hole/s on the board. Like it would be on a Tena board with the navs wired up to x1 +/- connection and so on with the strobes?

I have just read over that again and hopefully it makes some kind of sense.

Thanks for any pointers folks.

[Gadgetron_3000]

"Is there a limit as to how many LEDs can be plugged into one socket on the board"?. I am in no way an electronics expert but whilst mucking about about with the board I have (subsequently discovered it is a copy of an Arduino but it works for me) there ended being a medusa type mass of wires connected to the board.

I have shelved the 1701E after a bummer of a weekend but plan on using the board on my next build but plan on just having x4 red/green nav lights and at the most x4 strobes (probably only two) and I wondered if it would be safe enough to wire up the 2 circuits to only one corresponding hole/s on the board. Like it would be on a Tena board with the navs wired up to x1 +/- connection and so on with the strobes?

Each output pin on an Arduino can provide or receive a maximum of 40mA.  That is enough to run single LEDs attached to each pin as one LED can draw between 20mA and 30mA.

If you want to add many LEDs to one pin, it can be done using transistors.  I'll actually be updating my threads to show how this is done once I get in the transistors that I will be ordering soon.  That should make the rat's nest of wires look a little more organized.

[pakratt840]

I'm a bit behind the class here, so please forgive me if I ask a question or ten that's been covered before. I just got these little buggers in the mail this past week, and just today had a chance to get started. I tried the link for the Windows driver download, but was lost immediately in Japanese text. I managed to connect to the website address listed on the card that came with them, but only on my desktop, not my laptop. Both are running 8.1 Windows (64bit). I think I downloaded the driver, but there was no notification of start or completion when I clicked the download button. My download folder is still empty, but when I clicked the button again a red '!' popped up with some Japanese text I took to mean it was done already or in progress. If I plug in the board and there is no driver, will it just give a cannot connect error code, or will something else unpleasant happen?

[RossW]

Have you tried plugging it in? I would think that Windows would already have a driver for it - you probably don't need to download a special one, unless it's not an Arduino board clone.

[DarthVader]

Very nice work Gadgetron_3000,wish I had the knowledge how to work with Arduino,the only really good thing I am fairly good at is building computers which I been doing for the last 5 to 6 years now at least for myself the landlords and a couple friends I know..

Keep up the great work my good friend..

Clarence

[pakratt840]

Have you tried plugging it in? I would think that Windows would already have a driver for it - you probably don't need to download a special one, unless it's not an Arduino board clone.

There the same ones that Gadgetron bought. Got the EBay link from his post. Maybe that's why nothing happened when I tried to download the driver, it may already be there.

[Gadgetron_3000]

There the same ones that Gadgetron bought. Got the EBay link from his post. Maybe that's why nothing happened when I tried to download the driver, it may already be there.

Check Device Manager in Windows.  If the drivers auto-installed like what happened with me, then you should see something like the following:



If you see that, you won't need to download or manually install the drivers.

[Gadgetron_3000]

Very nice work Gadgetron_3000,wish I had the knowledge how to work with Arduino,the only really good thing I am fairly good at is building computers which I been doing for the last 5 to 6 years now at least for myself the landlords and a couple friends I know..

Keep up the great work my good friend..

Thanks, Clarence!

My goal with these particular threads is to encourage and allow people to have basic lighting effects functionality without having to learn much about the actual coding itself.  Just flash the Arduino board with the given code and away you go.

[pakratt840]

There the same ones that Gadgetron bought. Got the EBay link from his post. Maybe that's why nothing happened when I tried to download the driver, it may already be there.

Check Device Manager in Windows.  If the drivers auto-installed like what happened with me, then you should see something like the following:



If you see that, you won't need to download or manually install the drivers.

Nope, it's not there. Guess I can try again. Not tonight though. Thanks Gadgetron.

[Gadgetron_3000]

Nope, it's not there. Guess I can try again.

I plugged in the Chinese-made Arduino Nano for the first time into a Windows 7 64-bit system, and got the exact same result as when I plugged it into a Windows 8.1 64-bit system...the USB-SERIAL CH340 driver (version 3.3.2011.11 / driver date 11/4/2011 / driver provider wch.cn) automatically installed.

I was then able to manually update the driver to version 3.4.2014.8 (driver date 8/8/2014 / driver provider wch.cn) by downloading the driver ZIP file (CH341SER.ZIP) from here:

www.wch.cn/download/CH341SER_ZIP.html

If the initial driver is not automatically installing for you, it should still leave a USB serial port with an incomplete installation yellow bang (exclamation mark) in Device Manager.  It might be listed as something such as 'USB2.0-Serial' under 'Other devices' in Device Manger.  If you have that, then you should be able to download the version 3.4 driver mentioned above, unzip the contents, and then manually update everything through the Device Manager entry.

Let us know what you see in your Device Manager after you plug your Nano into your computer.

[pakratt840]

Plugged in the Nano to my laptop, running Windows 8.1. No change in the Device Manager. The Nano had the 2 LEDs lit, one blinking and one static. Apparently the Nano was getting power but nothing transmitted the other way.

[pakratt840]

Okay, not sure what's different, but I plugged the Nano into my desktop, also running 8.1, and the auto download worked. The driver is right where it should be. Wonder why the auto download didn't work on the laptop? I'll get to the updated driver in a day or two. Then I can start basic kindergarten for Arduino.

Edit: Ah-ha! I figured out the laptop question. The key is to plug in the USB cord/cable first, then plug in the Nano. Worked like a charm. Everything in their proper order.

[sfmodeller]

Boyd just put me onto this section of the forum last night (Labor Day Weekend 2015) hangout, so please excuse my lateness to the party.

I just bought a few of these on eBay (look like your pic on page 1), but am wondering if I'm the only Mac user here. Connected the board via USB - got steady on and blinking lights. Tried to use Arduino program, but it won't recognize the USB connection in the Port menu.

Installed the FTBI USB driver, restarted the program and the computer, still nothing USB in the Port menu.

Installed the CH341 driver, restarted the program and the computer, still nothing USB in the Port menu.

Using OS X.9.5.

If this doesn't work, guess my only lit kits will be with lighting kits, as I can't seem to get electronics/wiring down.

Or I could just sell off my stash...

[RossW]

Boyd just put me onto this section of the forum last night (Labor Day Weekend 2015) hangout, so please excuse my lateness to the party.

I just bought a few of these on eBay (look like your pic on page 1), but am wondering if I'm the only Mac user here. Connected the board via USB - got steady on and blinking lights. Tried to use Arduino program, but it won't recognize the USB connection in the Port menu.

Installed the FTBI USB driver, restarted the program and the computer, still nothing USB in the Port menu.

Installed the CH341 driver, restarted the program and the computer, still nothing USB in the Port menu.

Using OS X.9.5.

If this doesn't work, guess my only lit kits will be with lighting kits, as I can't seem to get electronics/wiring down.

Or I could just sell off my stash...

I'm also a Mac user (Mavericks 10.9.5, Arduino 1.6.5) but I had no problems connecting the board to my computer. Did you select the right board from the drop down? And what do you see when you look at the ports when it's connected?

I'd go to the Arduino support forum and post a question there.

[Tankton]

They should come up as a COM port not USB.