WHOOOAAA, today we learned a very difficult schematic: water meter using transistors π
Before the class and the headaches started π
Transistor is an active component, and a bit hard to understand. Luckily GodFather Captain BR visited us today to lecture us about it π
The schematic is quite complex
So Capt. BR broke it down into simpler ones. We created only a resistor connected to 5V and to Arduino digital output and observed the output (that should be 1). After it worked then we added the transistor and see if it worked.
A transistor works like a water tap. When the base gets the required voltage level, it will be turned on and let the current flow through collector to emitter. Just like a switch.
This schematic explained pull-up resistor and how the transistor being turned on or turned down.
We created this simple avometer to check if there’s a voltage π
After we got the previous ones worked, we continue to add more components
The schematic required 3 transistors. Each transistor has 3 legs. We use 2N3904 NPN transistors, so the emitter leg is on the left side when the flat surface is facing us. Kids had to put the component one by one really carefully, this is Rheino “copying” Reza’s π
Clarence is looking for the resistors with the required (or similar) values required by the schematic
Malik didn’t feel doing the water level project today. He instead chose to tinker with dot matrix LED π
Syahna helping Cinta reading the value of the resistors
Mama Ren helping our newcomer, Raul to get started with Arduino π
Muhammad is copying the example really really carefully π
We’re lucky Capt. BR gave us a very long and clear lecture about how transistors work
Kids looked confused at first but once they get the idea they will be able to make more things with the components they have learned! π
And our Lead Captain is back! Capt. Zaki π
He has grown so big! π
Well, we got lots of Captains visiting us today π
Capt. Zaki tried to keep up with the class because he has to be on duty on next coding camp π
Capt. Cinta choose the components really carefully, because each leg of the transistor requires different value of resistor
Malik was doing his own research on how to make a dot matrix LED works
We learned so hard today, one misplaced leg will ruin all π
Reza is a very quiet and focus kid. Very detail and persistent π
We started with the simple code, to make sure the simple schematic works
While Raul, with his new ProCodeCG Arduino Kits had learned multiple LED, and later RGB LED π
He seemed to enjoy his first class (despite of the lecture of the transistor :D)
Happy kids. A pleasant scene to see. Always π
Clarence is almost ready to test his schematic
And so is Reza
Look at those cables π Can you believe kids can deal with this level of complexity π
Clarence kept improving his code to display the info about the water level
While Reza assisted by Mama Ren has got the circuit running
And they’re ready to put the cable into water π
Reza’s, is the first schematic working today π
We should put the cables on different levels to check the height of the water but this time we just check that each level sensor is working π Our another flood sensor prototype π
Yeaaah!!! π This one works better than a water sensor because a water sensor can only sense about 5cm water level while with this one we can set different level and different distance between each level π
The code (with case)
Debugging the code
And they got different code using if π Nice work!
The last version of Clarence water level info: with bars π Awesome!
Looked like everybody had a good time today! We’re going to make more! See you next week π