Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
Objective complete - mini debriefing
The assembly shown in the image is sufficient to test this example. You can add more
features to the design. For example, you can add slots on the acrylic board to embed a
7-Segment display, 8x8 LED matrix, or a BlinkM RGB LED to the design.
In this example, the Arduino is the low-level controller, which drives the RGB LED strip,
stepper motor, and so on, while the weather data is obtained from the Internet using
the Raspberry Pi. We will discuss the Arduino code in the first part of our task.
Flow of data and control in this Weasley Clock project
Controlling the stepper using the
Arduino
The part number of the stepper motor used in this example is
28BJY-48
(
http://www.
adafruit.com/product/858
)
. A stepper motor is a type of motor that is operated by
energizing its coils in several steps. The coil energizaion in several steps enables the stepper to
rotate in precise angular steps. This precise movement aids the use of a stepper motor in open
loop systems. Since the working principle of a stepper motor is beyond the scope of the topic,
let's discuss its control technique.
