Month: November 2022

Most electronic circuits are completely defined by two things: 1) which components are used and 2) how they are to be connected. By capturing only this information as clearly as possible, a schematic diagram is the clearest way to visualise and communicate an electronic circuit. A schematic diagram intentionally does not convey the size, shape,… Continue reading Electronic Schematic Diagrams

What kind of relays do we need? It depends on how much current the water valves need. Most garden valves seem to use 300 milliamps. This is a small amount of current, and so a small relay is enough. Relays that can be operated at different voltages are available; we’ll use one that uses 5 V… Continue reading Testing the Relays

When I plan to use a device that is new to me, I like to first verify that I understand how it works, before designing the whole system. Because the RTC is new to you, let’s take a look at how it works. The main part of an RTC is the chip itself. The most… Continue reading Testing the Real Time Clock (RTC)

Start by thinking about what you want to achieve and what bits and pieces you’ll need. This project will use common gardening electric water valves, available in home improvement stores. While at the store, you will also need one power supply, or transformer, suitable for these water valves. How to use a MOSFET to control a… Continue reading Planning

What you had learned about Arduino into a project, the Arduino Networked Lamp. Part of the fun was to combine some of the simple exercises into a practical project. You also learned about the Processing language and how to use it to create a proxy on your computer to do things that would be difficult… Continue reading Untitled