2 Signs Up One to Go

Checking for accuracy.  Yes my fat ass did rip my pants today.

The public already interacting.

It's correct! 

Sign #2 Complete

I also made a slight change to the G to improve legibility.  Hopefully I'll finish the 3rd tomorrow.

Off to the printer.

The signs files are off to the printer today.  As for the hardware build, the shades are complete.  The software is in Beta, just needs some final Q/A to make sure everything lines up correctly.  Just a couple weeks to go.

Intermediate Trails Final

Today I finished the Intermediate trail setup.  All of the matrixes are mounted in their housings and everything is wired in the order they will appear on the sign.  I should be able to get all of the other signs built this week and then we'll just have to mount them,solder all of the final connections and bring it outside.  I think it's looking good though.

Micro SD Trials and Tribulations

So I decided I needed some sort of fall back plan if the wireless system to the sign goes down for a significant period of time. While browsing the internet I came across this MicroSD shield from Sparkfun.com .  I thought it would be just as easy and hooking up a few wires and bam I'd be saving away on the card.  Well it should have been.  But I struggled all day with this. I could get it to recognize the card, finally I was able to write to the card with the library that sparkfun had on their site.  However I couldn't read to it. I found all sorts of great libraries for FAT16 file systems out on the internet, but most had the wiring to the arduino done differently.  Even if I went into the code of the library to change the pin setup it still wouldn't work.  I couldn't understand why sparkfun had the final pin to the micro SD holder go to pin 8 instead of 10 like everyone else.  So this morning I rewired the shield to my arduino and low and behold we're writing and aving info just like that.  Almost made yesterday worth it, almost.  I wouldn't hesitate purchasing the shield from sparkfun I would however be aware that it isn't going to sit properly on top of your arduino.  You'll have to think of some other wiring system.

Design for LED Housing

Here is a quick sketch of how each sign will be built. The back part (smaller) will be mounted to the sign. I will mount the LED boards to the front section, then slide it over the smaller once and secure them togther. When finished we will have 6 different sized housing from 6 LEDs to 1 LED. Placing an order with TAP Plastics today

2 sets running wireless

I've got the beginner and intermediate trails running and parsing their select data from the wireless feed. It seems like power will not be and issue at all.

External Power

So I did some reading and some internet searching, and think I have at least part of the power issue figured out. I purchased a 7805 +5VDC Voltage Regulator, wired up my 1/2 size breadboard as my external power supply and added an led to that board and to 3 others down the line as a visual to see if power is being routed properly. Now with just the ground from the Arduino going into the circuit I can get everything operating properly. So the next test will be to get a Voltage Regulator with a higher current rating and a heat sink to get up to the current I need to drive all of the leds. 2 internet posts that helped a bunch. *ITP Physical Computing & *http://pixelriot.com/pmatp/node/285

Also http://www.tkk.fi/Misc/Electronics/circuits/psu_5v.html

Wiring things properly helps

So my knowledge of how breadboards work or lack there-of may of been stopping me from adding more matrixes to my test system. I now have 3 working, although one only can show green as I'm waiting for more Max7219s. They should be here tomorrow, so hopefully I can get 5 (the amount I've purchased so far) matrixes up and running. I still need to figure out the solar system for the 3 signs on hill and how to add extra power after the arduino runs of of forward current to drive the matrixes. Hopefully I can find that threshold.

If anyone out there in internet land can help me with these calculations I would be greatly appreciatative. Here are the datasheets for all of the parts. AT Mega 328(Arduino), XBee, 8x8 Led, Max 7219.

Cutting the cord

Well one of them. We're now offcially wireless. I got 2 xbees talking to each other and was able to move my 2 matrixes across the room. This article here helped a lot with setting up the xbees. Next step will be power. Preferably we'd run on solar power (I can get one matrix running & xbee if I plug straight into the solar panel) still working on wiring up the battery and running off of that.

Of note I didn't have to change my arduino code at all, just plugged one xbee straight into the iobridge, GND->GND, 5V->5V, Rx->Tx & Tx ->Rx. The other xbee went to the arduino, 3.3v ->3v, GND->GND, Rx ->Tx & Tx ->Rx. Simple as that. Photos shortly, gotta charge my camera.

Really Web Connected

So last week while searching for information on solar power I came across this post. Not only did this cover XBee wireless and some solar but it sparked my interest in the ioBridge.

My shiny new ioBridge came in yesterday and quickly it was connected to the internet and my arduino matrix setup. With a little change to my arduino code, adding a few simple if statements to decide what to show on the screens based on the serial input, I was able to type X, O, or G into a web page I created (with help from this post and this post) and instantly display it on my matrixes.

The next step would be to write a script that sent this information everytime the Snow Report system was updated.

Coming soon

Wireless connection with Xbee, solar power and more. The items are ordered and on their way.