Please help me select Arduino

Development Boards MicroMod
1

I’m a newbie to the Arduino boards. It looks like one of them could

be right for me, but I can’t quite figure out which.

Here’s what I want to do:

The function is like the LED bar in an audio equalizer, but in my case

I want to drive 6 EL wires, each modulated by the current level

in a correpsonding audio frequency band.

Input: 6-channel audio spectrum analyzer. I’ll build it myself

out of opamps and filters. Will produce 6 channels with

analog DC voltage (say 0-5V or whatever is most suitable)

I would use this for the ADC converters of the Atmel chip.

Output: 6 PWM channels for EL-wire Triac control.

The Escudo looks ok for the Triacs. Maybe I should add opto-

couplers to be safe (a simple triac grounding error could nuke the CPU!).

The EL Sequencer by Sparkfun looks cool, but it has unfortunately

used the ADC input pins as PWM outputs so it won’t work for me.

So the question is basically: 6 analog in, 6 PWM out, which

of the Arduinos would be my best bet? I’m well versed in embedded

coding so I can modify SW as needed.

I’ll be happy to post the final result in the public domain if there

is an interest.

Best regards

Knut

2

The Arduino Pro boards and the Arduino USB Board (aka Arduino Duemilanove) both have your required 6 Analog Inputs and 6 PWM Outputs. Choose the board based on your package and power requirments.

A quick overview of the differences: The arduino pro doesn’t come with the femal headers populated, nor does it have a USB connector or Wall-wart power connector. The board is powered via a JST header which fits the batteries sold at SparkFun. Because of these features the board is much thinner than the USB board, which may or may not suit your application. However because of the missing USB connector, you also have to buy a FTDI basic board in order to program the board (or use a 6 pin ISP programmer).

The Arduino USB board is a little heftier; it has female headers, a USB connector for power and programming, and a wall-wart power adapter. The board is easier to program because it has the USB connector on board; however you’d have to hack the board in order to power it with a battery since batteries don’t come with the appropriate connector. The other downfall is that it is much thicker than the Pro board; however that may work for you.

Along with those boards you’d want to grab an Arduino Prototype Shield. This would plug into the headers on the Arduino board and allow you to build your circuit for the EL wires.

Good Luck!