Damn. Too late. I was going to order it now and it's back up to the old price.

Please tell me why I am now looking at >=£100 irons. Someone on another forum pointed some out to me. I really can't afford that and could put the extra money towards some other bits that I could actually solder.

Must resist. Although if I get a cheaper one and it breaks and I need to buy a new one it might end up being cheaper getting the more expensive one.

And SMD soldering looks surprisingly easy with a soldering iron. Maybe not the teeny weeny stuff buy pretty small bits.

And I just found a good use for the auto loading posts. I replied to your post then decided I wanted to check a post you'd made later on. I scrolled down, the posts loaded but I was still able to go forward and my message was still intact.

Well my 2nd attempt at soldering the Pro Mini came out much much better.

I was actually far too happy about it as each pin seemed to solder perfectly (ish) each time.

I think it's a combination of better solder and a better technique.



And here's my prototype wireless temperature sensor. Data is transmitted to an RPi over Bluetooth.

Waiting for some solar panels to arrive so I can put it outside and have the batteries recharge. They currently last about 48 hours. Also waiting for some alternative RF transceivers so I can increase the range since Bluetooth is a bit naff.

 

I think I'm going to buy an atmega chip and other bits to make my own so I can reduce the power consumption since I certainly don't need a power LED, don't need the regulators either since I'm using the 4xAA batteries as a regulated "5V". Currently uses around 40mA on average.

I've now got some nRF24L01+ transceivers for sending the data.

This means the Arduino only uses about 7mA on average. Definitely going to be able to run one wireless sensor with solar panels forever with this setup.

Matt : Is this thread one of the ones with a bug making it invisible?

It was till you posted just then.

Yes, but it should correct itself as you reply to them.

Got a soldering station and solder, solder wick, and some other bits on my Christmas list.

Might add an Arduino clone starter kit too, the SainSmart UNO. Comes with all sorts of bits:

1xUNO R3, 1x1602 LCD Module, 1xUSB Cable, 1xBuzzer, 1xNixie Tube, 1xTemperature Sensor, 1x74HC595, 1xInfrared Remote Control,
1xInfrared Receiver, 1xPhotoresistor, 1xPotentiometer, 2xTilt sensor, 4xPushbuttons, 1xRGB, 1xFlame Sensor, 1xCell Box,
1xHC-SR04, 1xPrototype Shield, 1xMini Breadboard, Resistors, Jumper wires, LEDs

Got my wedge tip (bad quality, night get a decent one instead) for my soldering iron and had a quick go at desokdering and resokdering a connection. Definitely seemed easier and quicker than the pointy one.

Had a play with my Arduino last night and made a LED flash. Woo :D

Why do Americans say sodder instead of solder?

Perhaps for the same reason that you wrote "night" instead of 'might', and "desokdering and resokdering" instead of 'desoldering and resoldering'. Spill awtocorekt.

Are you drunk?

They typo when they talk?

No, unfortunately :(

You could have lied, no one would have known the truth!

You are probably correct, easy to mistake my rubbish mobile typing with drunkenness.

Looks like the tri colour LED that comes with it doesn't work :( It has red, green and "blur" colours.

I was going to edit my last post but when I tried I got a blank post without what I had already written.

If I connect one of the output pins to ground and put the ground from the Arduino to one of the colour pins on the LED module the LED lights. That doens't seem right.

I've also just realised that I was probably running the LEDs with to much current. I had connected the resistors in parallel instead of series in the circuit. Oops.

How can I get two arduinos to communicate wirelessly?

I have an idea for sommat which would need two (maybe three (or you could use more I guess)) to talk to each other. Only have 1 Arduino at the mo anyway so can get the first bit working at least.