R/C Traxxas Slash with Arduino and 1Sheeld

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received the JBtek, 1Sheeld and DIYmall products for free so that I could provide product feedback to the company and post a product review. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's requirements.

I have been playing with my Arduino boards lately, and I wanted to try out the servo control.  I didn't have any spare servos laying around, but I did have a Traxxas Slash R/C truck with a servo mounted in it.  I decided to play around with the steering servo, and then I got ideas of how to control it using some of the 1Sheeld capabilities.

I decided that I wanted to use my smartphone to control the truck just by tilting the phone (left/right for steering, forward/back for power).  After some time playing around with the code and hardware, I had a rough working setup.

Main components I used (full list is on the Hackster.io project page):
- DIYmall Arduino compatible UNO R3
- 1Sheeld
- Traxxas Slash (2wd)

For the software, I just played around with samples for Servo control and the 1Sheeld orientation sensors until I got a good understanding of how everything operated.

To prepare the Traxxas Slash, I removed the waterproof cover from the receiver and disconnected the two cables (steering servo and electronic speed control).  It was very simple, and I can return it back to R/C mode very easily once I am done.  I then mounted the breadboard with the breadboard power supply on the Slash chassis, and also put the UNO + 1Sheeld on the breadboard using a rubber band to keep things in place.  After that, I just had to connect my setup.

WARNING: For normal servos, you would connect the red cable from the servo to your + voltage however with an Electronic Speed Control the unit typically does not need power (since it is connected to the battery).  In fact, on my unit the ESC was providing 6V on the red wire so if you did connect that to your 5V supply bad things could happen.

Close up of breadboard with components

R/C receiver with one of the servo cables removed

Shot of the entire setup

Once the software + hardware was ready, I turned on the breadboard power supply but left the Electronic Speed Control (ESC) off.  This would allow me to test the steering without the truck moving.  The steering seemed to work fine, not as smooth as the regular R/C setup but not bad.  Next, I turned on the ESC and tilted the phone to confirm the wheels got power.

After I confirmed everything was working, I did a quick test inside the house and then took it outside to play around.  It was pretty neat being able to just tilt the phone to control the truck.

Here is video of the truck running:

Here is a simple wiring diagram:

Click to enlarge

Check out the project at Hackster.io to see the code/diagram:

https://www.hackster.io/bigboystoys13/rc-traxxas-slash-with-arduino-and-1sheeld

JBtek breadboard power supply module Review

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this product for free so that I could provide product feedback to the company and post a product review. I was not required to write a positive review and I do not rate products higher than they should have been. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's requirements.

I recently received a JBtek breadboard power supply module for a product review. The packaging just included the module itself, two of the pins were slightly bent but it was an easy fix.

Top of power supply module

Bottom of power supply module

Power supply module mounted on breadboard

Side shot of power supply module on breadboard

To provide power to the board you can either use the USB port, or the barrel socket DC jack.  Each of the two sides/rails of the power supply can have 5V or 3.3V supplied to it.  The board also has a simple on/off power switch, and a green LED to indicate if the board has power or not.

You can use 5V on one rail and 3.3V on the other providing flexibility for your project.  The board also has 8 pins ( four ground, two 3.3V and two 5V ) for additional connectivity options.

Close up of power supply module mounted on breadboard

Using the power supply module to test a JBtek relay board

Using a USB power supply, I tested the voltage output and read the following:

5.4V on the 5V rail (no load)
3.42V on the 3.3V rail (no load)

The board as a 12V max, so I would suggest not using a random 12V power supply you grabbed from another device as it may exceed that limit.  Also, I would assume you should only use one of the two inputs at a time.

Here are the main points I noticed about this product:

Input options: You can use a USB or barrel socket plus to power the unit, just make sure you stay within the limits.

Output options: Each of the two rail outputs can be configured to output 3.3V or 5V, and you can use both 3.3V and 5V at the same time.

Other Features: The board includes an on/off switch to control your project, a power LED, and additional pin header with 3.3V / 5V and ground available for connection.

Bottom line: If you do projects on a breadboard this power supply is a great way to supply power.

Amazon Product Page: http://amzn.com/B010UJFVTU

1Sheeld Review

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received the 1Sheeld, SainSmart, and DIYmall products for free so that I could provide product feedback to the company and post a product review. I was not required to write a positive review and I do not rate products higher than they should have been. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's requirements.

NOTE: For readers of my blog, you can use the discount code "bigboystoys" (which expires September 20th, 2015) to get a 25% discount at ( http://1sheeld.com/buy ).

I recently received a 1Sheeld for Arduino and Android for a product review. The package just included the 1Sheeld device itself, the documentation and Android software is online.

This product is very interesting, because it allows you to use your Android smartphone or tablet to act as various shields for your Arduino device.  This approach can help the new user simulate various input/output devices without actually wiring any hardware or allows the experienced user to make some creative projects.

Top of 1Sheeld

Bottom of 1Sheeld

The shields that this 1Sheeld can emulate are grouped as follows:

Basic I/O: Buzzer Shield , Gamepad Shield , LED Shield , Toggle Button Shield , Seven Segments Shield , Slider Shield , Push Button Shield

Communication: Email Shield , Skype Shield , SMS Shield , Phone Shield , Internet Shield

Sensors: Accelerometer Shield , GPS Shield , Gyroscope Shield , Mic Shield , Proximity Shield , Magnetometer Shield , Pressure Shield , Gravity Shield , Temperature Shield , Light Sensor Shield , Orientation Shield

Social Media: Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare

Special: Camera Shield , Music Player Shield , Notifications Shield , Terminal Shield , Text-To-Speech Shield , Voice Recognition Shield , Keyboard Shield , LCD Shield , Clock Shield , Pattern Shield

I used the getting started tutorial ( http://1sheeld.com/tutorials/getting-started/ ) to get everything setup and tested.  If you see a prompt about an update, go ahead and update your board.

Arduino UNO R3 w/ 1Sheeld, OLED display and Nexus 7 running 1Sheeld App

Close up of x/y/z axis information from accelerometer
Left : OLED information is from Arduino/1Sheeld
Right : Nexus 7 screen from 1Sheeld app

Once the 1Sheeld was mounted on my Arduino board and everything was working, I started to play around with various examples and try a few different things.  Here are a few things I tried:

• Tested the advanced “Text to speech” sample which shows the text-to-speech and voice recognition capabilities.
• Created sample code to pull GPS coordinates and display and the LCD shield
• Tested the simple “Internet” sample which connected to a website and displayed the HTML code in the terminal shield
• Pulled x/y/z axis information from accelerometer, displayed on a small OLED screen (as shown above).  My Arduino code had a delay between sampling, so the numbers do not match exactly.

Bottom line: Overall, the 1Sheeld is very impressive - you can use it to mock certain hardware components in projects before you actually setup the hardware or you can actually use your smartphone/tablet as part of your project - a great way to give new life to an old device.

1Sheeld Product Page: www.1sheeld.com
1Sheeld Amazon Product Page: http://amzn.com/B00L2LM3WY

NOTE: For readers of my blog, you can use the discount code "bigboystoys" (which expires September 20th, 2015) to get a 25% discount at ( http://1sheeld.com/buy ).

Other components used/mentioned:

OLED from DIYmall ( check out my review )
Arduino UNO R3, breadboard and jumpers from a SainSmart Basic Start Kit ( check out my review of the kit )

JBtek 4 Channel Relay Module with 6 pin cable Review

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this product for free so that I could provide product feedback to the company and post a product review. I was not required to write a positive review and I do not rate products higher than they should have been. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's requirements.

I recently received a JBtek 4 Channel Relay Module with 6 pin cable for a product review. The package just included the relay module and the 6 pin cable.  One of the plastic covers on the pin was missing, but that wasn’t an issue for me and the company advised they would resolve the issue if needed.

Relay Module and Cable

Close up of connection to control relays

Close up of connections that are controlled by relay

 The relay module did not have any documentation with it, so I had to do a little research online to figure out how to use it.  The board pins were labeled, but I wasn’t sure what signal to send to the relay pins -- it seems you need to connect the pin to ground/low signal to active the relay.

Close up of Songle SRD-05VDC-SL-C relay

Bottom of relay module

Each of the 4 relays has a normally open and normally closed connection, so you can decide which one you need for your project.  Each relay also has a corresponding LED on the module which is a great way to confirm which one is active/not active.

Using my Arduino board, I was able to do a few simple tests and have the relays turn off and on just to ensure everything is working.

Testing the relay module with a JBtek breadboard power supply

Here are the main points I noticed about this product:

Easy to Wire: Wiring everything was fairly simple, the connections you need on the relay module for power and signal have pins you can connect to and the connections controlled by the relays have screw terminals.

Easy to Use: Once you connect the power, you just need to use a switch or microcontroller to provide the correct low/ground signal to active the relay.

Neat for projects: This relay module allows you to control power to other devices, opening up a wide range of potential projects.

Bottom line: If you are looking for a relay module, this is a great option to consider and JBtek has other options ( 2 channel and 8 channel ) to match your needs.

Amazon Product Page: http://amzn.com/B00ZEETFZS

DIYmall 0.96" inch yellow and blue OLED display module review

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this product for free so that I could provide product feedback to the company and post a product review. I was not required to write a positive review and I do not rate products higher than they should have been. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's requirements.

I recently received a DIYmall 0.96" inch yellow and blue OLED display module for a product review. The package just included the display itself, nothing else.

Size comparison with a quarter

The display is very small, and this model has a strip of yellow on the top part of the display and the rest is blue, but DIYmall does have other options if you don’t like that.  After doing some guesswork and research, I was able to get the display working using method 1 below but after reading other review comments, it seems method 2 below also works.

Method 1)

Here are the steps I took to get my display working for some simple steps (I think I wrote down all the steps NOTE: The steps are for an Arduino Uno):

1) Download documentation from website on Amazon listing
2) Extract Files
3) Open the folder that ends with (SSD1306), it should be the only folder
4) Open the folder that starts with Arduino and ends with (UNO)
5) Open the top of the two folders, it should have a "Adafruit_ssd1306syp"
6) Copy the "Adafruit_ssd1306syp" and paste it in the "C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\libraries" folder
7) Open the Arduino app, go the menu "File > Examples > Adafruit_ssd1306syp" and choose "ssd1306syp_test"

Once the software is ready, wire up the hardware as follows:

VCC <> 5V
GND <> GND
SDA <> Digital 8
SCL <> Digital 9

Method 2)

In the Arduino app
- Go to menu option "Sketch > Include Library > Manage Libraries" and install "Adafruit GFX Library" and "Adafruit SSD1306"
- Go to menu option "File > Examples > Adafruit SSD1306 > ssd1306_128x64_i2c"
- In the example, find the line with "display.begin(SSD1306_SWITCHCAPVCC, 0x3D);" and changed it to "display.begin(SSD1306_SWITCHCAPVCC, 0x3C);"

Once the software is ready, wire up the hardware as follows:

VCC <> 5V
GND <> GND
SDA <> A4
SCL <> A5

After following either method, you should be able to load and run the sample.  They both worked fine for me.  I think method 2 takes up more space when you compile but gives more functions - seems like method 1 has less capabilities, but for simple text output it works fine.  Part of the fun of all this is figuring things out, so try them both.

Simple volt meter

Once I finished my initial function test, I modified the code for method 1 to make a simple volt meter (0-5V) that would read the voltage and display it on the screen.  I connected the voltage input to a potentiometer, and was able to see the voltage change on the screen as I adjusted it.

Overall, it worked and was really simple to wire up the hardware.  Figuring out the software was a bit more interesting, and I still need to do more research to find other examples of what you can really do but for anyone doing projects this is a great way to display variables or even status messages.

Bottom line: If you are looking for display options for your microcontroller project, this is a really neat option.

DIYmall Product Page: http://www.diymalls.com/product/modules/16.html
Amazon Product Page: http://amzn.com/B00O2LLT30

RAVPower 13000mAh Deluxe Series External Battery Pack Review ( model RP-PB22 )

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this product for free so that I could provide product feedback to the company and post a product review. I was not required to write a positive review and I do not rate products higher than they should have been. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's requirements.

I recently received a RAVPower 13000mAh Deluxe Series External Battery Pack ( model RP-PB22 ) for a product review. In addition to the battery pack itself, the package included two USB to microUSB cables and a travel pouch.

Left to Right : Travel pouch, battery pack, two cables

Side view

The USB battery pack is rated to handle 4.5A max across two ports.  To test the battery bank, I used a USB meter and near 2A load on each port for a total of almost 4A load across the two ports.  Once the battery pack turned off, I calculated the measured was about 58% of the rated mAh which is a bit lower than average but still not the lowest I have seen.  Once I charge/discharge a few times, that might improve.  The device seemed able to handle the load I placed on it with no problem.

For real world tests, I had no problems charging my tablet and smartphone.  The built-in flashlight is a handy feature - if you need to move around at night, or have a power outage, it is nice to have.

Here are the main points I noticed about this product:

Output Handling: With a rated 4.5A rated output, it should be able to handle two power hungry devices with no problem.

Capacity: With a rated capacity of 13000 mAh, this battery pack should be able fully charge your devices more than once.

Other Features: The travel pouch is a nice way to keep everything together, and the LED flashlight is pretty handy - one of those things you don’t realize you would use until you have it.

Bottom line: If you are looking for a high capacity battery pack with nice features this is a great option.

Amazon Product Page: http://amzn.com/B00MPIGPUY