Arduino Nano PI Main Discussion

[Tibuck19]

I ran the sketch on my Arduino Nano clone and it returned the correct signature bytes. However the other "reserved" bytes were nearly all different to the ones shown in the video.

Indeed a well optimized code solves lots of issues, Out of the 2 dozen of the El cheapos,( which the price has double since i bought them) little less than half had the FF's like in the video and yet only a few could not run a modified version of GRBL that I use. 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. I never had any issues either with the drivers, as long as the baud rate in device manager and the Ide or Xloader match bobs your uncle. Anyways, Good luck on the publication! once again i congratulate you, Just writing is a challenge for myself, lol let alone publish something, After all, Unless a modern day you know who decides to start burning books again, all publications out live their authors.Cheers

[Qiaozhi]

Yes, i did mean the Ch340 and the 328p i had bought two dozen of them at a good price of 2$CAD each to make various little cnc projects like eggbots and small uv laser powered pcb exposures on to dry film photoresist... there were a few of the El cheapo Nano's that simply would work even though it looked like it had programed the Nano correctly, Long story short, after watching Kevin Darrah's video on testing the memory ( Video found here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeDC1m7ANJI&t=158s ) it was easy to figure out what was happening with some of mine had fake chips. I ll include his Sketch to test them out.

I ran the sketch on my Arduino Nano clone and it returned the correct signature bytes. However the other "reserved" bytes were nearly all different to the ones shown in the video. I suspect these "reserved" bytes do not have any real importance anyway, as they're reserved for future use. As far as I can see, the only problem some people have is when installing the driver for the non-standard CH340 chip. Personally I haven't discovered any other issues with these clones.

Sometimes you'll see people crying help in the Arduino forums when their program starts doing wacky things that look like the memory is full, even though the code uploaded successfully to the Arduino device. This problem is caused by the memory architecture of the processor. The heap and the stack can collide in certain conditions when you get close to the maximum memory. In this case you have to use certain techniques to reorganize the code and reduce the possibility of this happening. Since the Nano does not have a lot of memory available, this can easily happen if you include some resource hungry libraries.

[Tibuck19]

I haven't heard anything about memory problems on clone boards. Where did you hear about that?

Yes, i did mean the Ch340 and the 328p i had bought two dozen of them at a good price of 2$CAD each to make various little cnc projects like eggbots and small uv laser powered pcb exposures on to dry film photoresist... there were a few of the El cheapo Nano's that simply would work even though it looked like it had programed the Nano correctly, Long story short, after watching Kevin Darrah's video on testing the memory ( Video found here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeDC1m7ANJI&t=158s ) it was easy to figure out what was happening with some of mine had fake chips. I ll include his Sketch to test them out.

[Qiaozhi]

Oh ok, An Arduino IDE programmable detector,nice, i remember a long while ago there was talk in geotech about something like that, it is nice to see new published projects, I did buy a Surfpi board with a programmable chip from a geotech member at one point, Anyways, Only reason i asked, when i clicked the link to Andy's page the only newish board was the Voodoo and its charger board i though maybe the were related. Have you ran into any issues using the 2$ china Nano's, aka the bad clones that fail the memory test?

Andy has the PCBs on order, and I expect he will update the website when they arrive. He was able to replicate the project because I sent him a PCB.

The Arduino Nanos I used were from Elegoo. These boards have the CH340 chip instead of the original FT232 USB UART IC, but in programming terms these boards are 100% compatible. Linux Mint already has the correct driver loaded. However, Windows may not have this pre-installed. If so, the manufacturers will have a suitable driver on their website.

I haven't heard anything about memory problems on clone boards. Where did you hear about that?

[Tibuck19]

This particular project is based around an Arduino Nano, and all the design is open-source. The PCB is designed using DipTrace, and the software is an Arduino sketch (which is C-like). This will make it more accessible to everyone.

Oh ok, An Arduino IDE programmable detector,nice, i remember a long while ago there was talk in geotech about something like that, it is nice to see new published projects, I did buy a Surfpi board with a programmable chip from a geotech member at one point, Anyways, Only reason i asked, when i clicked the link to Andy's page the only newish board was the Voodoo and its charger board i though maybe the were related. Have you ran into any issues using the 2$ china Nano's, aka the bad clones that fail the memory test?

[Qiaozhi]

Congrats on the publication, i am sure it will be another fine and informative read.I have not been fallowing the latest geotech projects, Is this the Voodoo?

This project is not related to the Voodoo Project, which is a Microchip-based detector with the PCB designed using Easy-PC, and the software written using mikroElektroniksa's mikroC compiler, plus it provides ferrous rejection that does not involve target conductivity.

This particular project is based around an Arduino Nano, and all the design is open-source. The PCB is designed using DipTrace, and the software is an Arduino sketch (which is C-like). This will make it more accessible to everyone.

[surfdetector]

Congrats on the publication, i am sure it will be another fine and informative read.I have not been fallowing the latest geotech projects, Is this the Voodoo?

As per post #1 above:
"The eagle-eyed amongst you will spot that the underlying architecture for the Arduino Nano PI detector is based on the Surf-PI. During the development process I took a Surf-PI longboard and connected it to an Arduino Uno. Once the detector was functioning to my satisfaction, I then connected an Arduino Nano in place of the Uno without any requirement to make any changes to the software. Finally the schematic was entered in DipTrace and a PCB layout created. Boards were then ordered from JLCPCB, and a complete Arduino Nano based PI detector was born."

[Tibuck19]

Congrats on the publication, i am sure it will be another fine and informative read.I have not been fallowing the latest geotech projects, Is this the Voodoo?

[Qiaozhi]

... before you permanently solder the nano in, make sure to can program it first, ...

I soldered two 15-pin SIL headers in the PCB so that I can remove the Nano in the same way as the other ICs.

[6666]

Well you are full of surprises George , looks like a nice project, If anybody has not used a nano before make sure you buy one that comes with the (BLUE) usb cord, and you can buy them with and with out header pins installed, that could lead to some type of socket arrangement, before you permanently solder the nano in, make sure to can program it first, the software is easy to use with only a few settings required and comes with lots of examples so you can flash LEDS and if anybody ends up with a spare PCB i would like to buy it thanks

[godigit1]

Awesome,
Thank you for another great project this one has been on my list.


Here is the link for the book in the U.S

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08YQCNSNX/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&qid=1615597886&refinements=p_27%3AGeorge+Overton&s=books&sr=1-1

[MartyJ1963]

Hi Alec, It's a new thing to me too. But as you say, it's good to learn these new things and it's helping to keep my 'Old' brain and hands busy and active! Keep us posted on your build! Regards, Marty.

[ivconic]

Better insight with Nano V3 commented pins:

[surfdetector]

@Alec, I foresee a new You tube Video Build-along being born pretty soon!,,,Great stuff Alec! Looking forward! Regards, Marty.

Looking forward to the build Marty.
Arduino is all new to me but I am happy to keep learning at my age.
Cheers

[ivconic]

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