How to use the Solder prototyping area

Lynxmotion Rovers, Sumo, and Tracked
1

The Rover V2 has a “Solder prototyping area”. How do I use that? Are all the pins disconnected from each other or is there some electrical relationship between them?

2

The solder prototyping area is general use. Each of the pins in the center are not connected to each other, while the outer pins provide 5V and GND.
The intent is to use either wires or pre-formed wires and whatever component you want.
robotshop.com/en/140-piece-p … e-kit.html
Examples include soldering distance sensors, temperature / environmental sensors etc.
What would you want to solder?

3

Thanks, that’s very helpful.

I am experimenting.

  1. I wanted a way to “set” a numeric parameter between 0 and 255. I considered a potentiometer, some other kind of knob, or a touchpad.

  2. I also want sensing and I am looking into what kind I want. I believe I want sensing in all 4 directions, so maybe 4 HC-SR04’s?

  3. I am also wanting a small LCD display of some kind to display status.

So the next question is can I mount all that stuff on the prototyping area? Is there an Arduino Shield that will serve my needs better? For example the Arduino accessory shield or the expansion shield? (dfrobot.com/product-1009.html)

Thanks for all your tips!

Ptio

4

There are many, may ways to do that.

Sure. Would not suggest soldering these to the board though - consider creating a custom shield:
Ex: robotshop.com/en/arduino-pro … d-pcb.html (headers sold separately)

Sure.

That’s quite a lot for that prototyping area, especially with the LCD. You might opt for an LCD shield
Ex: robotshop.com/en/cytron-lcd- … duino.html

We offer that here: robotshop.com/en/gravity-i-o … no-v7.html
Variant: robotshop.com/en/io-expansio … no-v6.html
These are great for easy connection to 3-pin connectors which have S / V / G (like robotshop.com/en/sharp-gp2d1 … cable.html)
If you choose a normal serial LCD, you can mount that wherever you want. You might use this as well:
robotshop.com/en/dfrobotshop … plate.html
robotshop.com/en/bracket-pai … allel.html (need some basic hardware)

5

Thanks! Of course I need more help… Don’t know if you’re willing :slight_smile:

E.g. I would need instructions on how to use the custom shield to mount and connect four sensors. Is there any tips there?

6

The sensor brackets should be relatively easy to mount - just find some small screws and nuts which fit.
There is a cutout in the Expansion plate, but it’s not sized for a specific LCD (rectangular), and is best suited for a rectangular color LCD like:
robotshop.com/en/lcd12864-lc … tible.html
If you opt for 4x Sharp IR sensors, they will plug into the analog pins on the shield above, so no extra wiring required.
Cannot guarantee the LCD would line up well with the cutout though.