Brains behind Arduino Lawn Mower!

Finally got a delivery from China.  It is the new Arduino Mega 2560 R3 compatible MCU along with a the v2 Sensor Shield.  (this combination had the same pin to usb short I discussed in an earlier post.  Be sure to check that post for the fix or it will fry your mega 2560! (Arduino Mega 2560 shorts against v2 Sensor Shield)

 It took a couple weeks to be delivered,  but the price is less than a quarter of what the cheapest price vendors are offering it here in the U. S..  Not only do a lot of local vendors order them from china,  but a lot of auction sellers will take your money and have it drop shipped from china.  Well worth it to do some research and cut out the middle-man! 

Now that I started to put the components into the battery box,  it is getting very tight with the new SLA 12Ah 12v battery.  The solution is to build a multi-level control board that will slip right in beside the battery. Seems like it works very well,  but it might get a little tight after I start adding sensors and more wiring. 

Arduino Bot is hot... Wait, no.. IT'S ON FIRE!!

For 3 nights I stayed up till 3am trying to figure out the insane wiring on this thing and trying to get everything correct. Finally completed it today, typed in some sample code and get ready to test it.  I flip the switch,  The lights come on, a good sign... Then they all go out.  A couple seconds to see if anything is going to happen and....  Nothing.  Damn,  now I have to trouble-shoot and do more research. But wait,  what is that I smell?  Plastic burning?  Yep I smell plastic!  Now I see smoke coming from the wiring/mounting holes.  The power is off so what the heck?  I see more and more smoke coming from the motor compartment and can't get to it because I tightened all the cover screws!  A race to get the cover off and remove the batteries before the whole thing goes up.

Arduino Mega 2560 + Raspberry Pi experimental platform

First experiment with a mobile platform using the Raspberry Pi and the Arduino mega 2560.  The kit comes from Sainsmart.com and is a very basic starter kit with the mega 2560, motor driver board and the sensor shield as well as most of the car parts themselves. I purchased them from Amazon.com for about $80 each.  Not bad when the Mega alone sells for $60+ bucks.