Arduino Nano PI Main Discussion

[Qiaozhi]

would it be possible to get a schematic in PDF form?

DipTrace does not have the facility to export a PDF file, but if you download DipTrace (it's FREE) and load the schematic, you can print it out.

[wallaby]

would it be possible to get a schematic in PDF form?

[Carl-NC]

Yup, ordered mine yesterday.

[Qiaozhi]

I'd love to buy a copy of this book but Amazon says it's OUT OF STOCK. Isn't it on KDP?

I assume you looked on the Amazon Italian site?
It's definitely not out of stock as it's a print-on-demand book.

https://www.amazon.it/s?k=arduino+nano+pulse+induction+metal+detector+book&__mk_it_IT=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&ref=nb_sb_noss

Also there is no ebook ... before anyone asks.

[MartyJ1963]

Brilliant little book George! Had a read through it today and love the really clear schematic images. I will be reading it a bit more thorough when I have everything together to begin building. I'm really pleased with the detection range you have detailed in the book and I'm looking forward to this new and interesting project. Thanks again for the 'Gift' and congratulations on your book. Regards, Marty.

[Bodhi3]

I'd love to buy a copy of this book but Amazon says it's OUT OF STOCK. Isn't it on KDP?

[surfdetector]

My copy of the book has just arrived, so it is time to start reading

[MartyJ1963]

Brilliant progress George! Looking forward to the upcoming progress on both projects. Thanks, Marty.

[Qiaozhi]

Would be nice to convert the Voodoo project to run on Arduino

Funnily enough I've already created an adapter for the Arduino Nano that plugs into the current position occupied by the PIC processor on the Voodoo PCB. I currently have the PI channel working successfully. Unfortunately there are a few changes required to the adapter PCB as some of the connections need to be swapped around. If I can get the rest of the detector working then I'll create a new revision of the adapter board. I'm working on this in the background as an experiment, and once the DISC channel is working, I will start a discussion in the Voodoo Project thread and post the details there. The adapter currently has support for both an LCD or an OLED, and the push buttons have been eliminated as well as the menu system. I'm not sure whether to keep the OLED support though, as the 1.3" display is tiny compared to the LCD, and the library consumes a lot of memory even when configured in non-buffered mode.
If anyone has any thoughts on this subject, then please continue discussions in the Voodoo Project thread.

[waltr]

Yes, I wrote the Arduino PI sketch.

I found the Arduino environment very easy to learn when compared to Microchip PICs, and I know others have struggled to get going with PICs, which is why I put this project together in the first place. Also, I wanted to make the design data open-source so that the project would be more accessible and provide a platform from which to experiment further.

I'm a PIC user but mostly due to doing PICs for years and knowing them and the MPLab IDE.
Arduino's are more than capable to run PI detectors and have many advantages over the PIC such as code is more independent of which processor is used. This issue showed up in the VooDoo project when others wished to use a different PIC but requires code changes.

Arduino platform and Arduino IDE designers should be nominated for Nobel prize.
And i am not joking about that.
Considering how huge Arduino population is today.
How many people worldwide were educated well and fast thanks to that platform.
This is serious achievement.

Yes, this is true. The Arduino coding is much easier to learn than PIC or STM and a great platform for people who need to get a processor up and running without to much time spent learning the processor details.

Would be nice to convert the Voodoo project to run on Arduino

This is a great idea.

[Xtrem]

I found the Arduino environment very easy to learn when compared to Microchip PICs,

Would be nice to convert the Voodoo project to run on Arduino

[ivconic]

Even my Ender3 runs on customized Arduino.
...
Arduino platform and Arduino IDE designers should be nominated for Nobel prize.
And i am not joking about that.
Considering how huge Arduino population is today.
How many people worldwide were educated well and fast thanks to that platform.
This is serious achievement.

[ivconic]

Don't know about Pico, i am having for longer time Raspberry 3+.
It is a power hog. Eats amperes.
What's worse; they put micro USB to supply it!??!
Other words; splendid conditions to produce magic smoke, sooner or later... or at least to have it most of the time in limbo state.
So i gave up of it.
Next one i am trying is ESP32 (Wroom board). I am pleasantly surprised with number of features and performances.
What's even better; lately everything can be done in Arduino IDE. ESP32 is having very good support.
Only small drawback; also power hog. Can drain 80-260mA, depends on the active modules.
My most recent works are all related to ESP32.
Doing lot of experimenting with multiple UARTs and recently with mems.
What especially impresses me is it's ADC and possibility to configure&use it, all done in Cpp and IDE.
It is time&energy consuming to often switch between the tools. Once used on some programming tool; i tend to stay with it.
Since i am not getting any younger.
That's why Arduino IDE is my favorite. Day by day it expands and you can improve its capability by adding more features on it.
...
P.S.
Hate to say "I told you!"...

[Qiaozhi]

i'm not sure if you wrote the Arduino pi sketch, it does seem will organized( im far from being an expert in IDE) and not very big at 3114 bits only around 10% of the memory, leaves a lot of room for future iterations, and good news for those on a budget, basically even the cheapest of the cheap China Nano would work just fine.

Yes, I wrote the Arduino PI sketch.

I found the Arduino environment very easy to learn when compared to Microchip PICs, and I know others have struggled to get going with PICs, which is why I put this project together in the first place. Also, I wanted to make the design data open-source so that the project would be more accessible and provide a platform from which to experiment further.

Personally I'm very pleased with how the Arduino Nano PI project has turned out.

I've also been experimenting with the new Raspberry PI Pico, but I'm not sure whether it makes a good candidate for a metal detector project. It's physically bigger than the Arduino Nano (despite being called Pico) and is more difficult to set up. The Pico can be programmed using MicroPython (I've used Python before, and it's somewhat similar) but my impression at this point is that the Arduino is an overall more pleasant experience. Obviously the Pico is a more powerful device than the Nano, with a lot more memory, so I might change my mind later as I get more familiar with it.

[ivconic]

https://github.com/HobbyComponents/CH340-Drivers/tree/master/CH341SER

https://github.com/ExploreEmbedded/CP2102-Usb2Serial-Drivers