So I want to start a car- Explain to me like i'm five
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I'm still doing all of my research into everything. I need to hurry up and just buy the arduino, board, and ring and just start messing with everything. That'll honestly be the best way for me to figure it out.
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Definitely. For the prototyping stage you might be best to get an Uno or Mega, figure out what you'll need at bare minimum and then perhaps back it off to a nano or pro mini.
The mega would be good fun to play with though, and you'd be able to reuse it for later prototyping once you've got a dedicated unit put together for a car.
That's what I tend to do anyhow, start off on a mega and then once I've decided properly what I'm doing, scale it back for the permanent unit. -
I'm sorry I'm honestly confused on what you mean by the Uno or Mega. Sorry still a Noob.
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Lol, my bad.
Arduino Uno is the basic full sized board, you can pick them up on eBay easily enough. They run an atmega328p and have a 'standard' amount of IO pins.
The Arduino Mega 2560 runs a more capable atmega chip, with more memory for program space and more IO pins.
They will both run the same Arduino code, with some allowances for pin out differences.
I like to start with a Mega with the capability of putting everything if can think of onto it, then condense things down until it's a little more efficient. That way you can then see if you're able to shift your prototype down to a less costly Uno unit or maybe even a Pro Mini or Nano. Both of those are cheap, and small enough to incorporate into a prototype breadboard or basic circuit. -
Ah Okay thank you for explaining that! Makes total sense now. This will definitely help me out. I think I'll do the same as you and just start out with the Mega.
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A good suggestion, and perhaps Lokki has also done this, is to use and become familiar with the software Fritzing. http://fritzing.org/home/
It's free software(That appreciates donation) for planning and prototyping arduino circuits and breadboard/protoboards in you computer to test. It has lots of help and a community willing to help and share projects. You can even order a custom fabbed PCB board for your project. -
Yup. I use fritzing sometimes when I'm not using Eagle... but I have a bad habit of letting everything happen organically and then trying to diagram it afterwards.
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Hey all newbie here so please keep up the great work at being patient,,,so I'm in the same boat as the op. However I think he had even more experience than I have.....if we have any Australians around would it be possible to get their advice on where to source.... I get the feeling maybe Loki is a oz boy?
I'm hoping that with advice I can get this done and maybe put a nice wiki or step by step as to how it's done for all of those like me who really struggle.....
So I guess first things first....where should I start....I'm ordering my ring on Monday and I would like to have the basics up and running for when it arrives.
I understand the basic circuit but not the arduino bit....is it a chip or a whole board?does it have a USB port of something like that?
Thanks to all who get back to me in advance
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@MarkGabb G'day. 'Straya! lol
What state you in mate? I float between SA and Victoria at the moment, if you're somewhere around or in between we might be able to catch up or whatever.I think if you've got absolutely zero experience in electronics or whatnot you might be best off seeing if @MrStein is selling his car starter boards yet. They're a bloody nice design and should be basically adaptable for anything you can think of - with a couple of caveats. You must, must be aware that going full NFC start will require removal or modification of an existing mechanical steering lock.
This is going to be true of any change in the starting circuit really, you'll either need to retain the key for steering unlock (or vehicle activation in newer models) or mod the hell out of it.Anywho, if you've got a bit more knowledge I believe he has the files up here somewhere for download, he's done a version that takes a whole Arduino Nano (which has a USB port for programming) and he's also working on a version which uses only the chip, which is a bit more involved for programming but isn't insurmountable.
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Loki. I'm a gippslander down in victoria
Well I guess you could put it this way. I did electronics in school so I know the basics of soldering and electronics and can work from a diagram.
I'm a IT admin so I should be able to work with anything that has a USB portIt will just be connecting the dots that will involve the effort
If anyone is able to point me to the spec diagrams that would be great, I can check them out and see how I go....
I guess I just ned to make sure that for future use, it's also capable of handling a second io to run the doors, as it seems to make sense to me to have it run al off one controller -
And I suppose the other the I need to do is understand what all this stuff is about public and private keys
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@lokki cheers for the upvote.... so basically from my own research I think I just need to get the parts.... which means I need to play with a design.... hunting though the forums now to find a basic design of the board to start with
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Hi @MarkGabb - sorry I didn't do more than that, I got distracted mid answer.
My thread really doesn't have much design info, but you can see from the way the sketch is written which outputs are being used to do what, and then from there you can add transistor/resistor/relay etc to get it working. It's all pretty basic really, and I may be goaded into doing some kind of drawing. I've been slack about that. -
@lokki. Cheers...I guess ill just have to look up what parts I need and start it from there....I'm seeing alot of disagreement on which type of chip and reader to use... any sugestion
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If you're building yourself and you want a usb port to program (it really is easier that way) then just ebay an arduino nano and grab an elechouse PN532 V3 reader. YMMV but that should do the trick for you.
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@lokki Awesome. Ymmv?
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Your Mileage May Vary. ;-)
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Cheers man. Your a great shops. I'll do up my shopping list tomorrow and start my notes. If I start uploading diagrams can you look them over and make sure I've got it right?
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Yeah no worries @MarkGabb. Just tag me in the post to make sure I see.
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first PCB design
IgNition Barrel part
@lokki so take 1...what did i miss? :D
had to use a link as i cant seem to add picture direct to thread...**updated to include ignition barrel part so i know its right
***ok so upon further reading i cant just use any pin i want on the arduino nano, and i have to use specific points...which ones thoug is a bit harder
****after looking at @lokki pictures of his boards again im realizing that i really have no idea what im getting myself into, but perserverence is the key i think
