Wemos Alarm Class Review and a Proposal for an Intro to Arduino Class

Electronics
#1

My Build a $10 Alarm that Tweets class yesterday had a number of issues and I would give a grade of C. All things considered, I don’t think that is especially bad for a first class that tried to explore so many topics. It should be easy to move up to a B for the second session and then try for excellence. Comments from attendees that were able to get their laptops configured was positive. The configuration of Windows and Linux systems worked out but there are problems with Wemos for Apple. We did not work out the Apple problems so I bought their parts kits which essentially refunded the class fee. The experiences caused me to rethink how such a class or an Arduino class should be handled.

I have been interested in doing a class on Intro to Arduino as a regular class for those who are not into electronics or programming. @bill has done Arduino training previously and encouraged me to pursue this. I am relatively new to DMS and not sure of procedures for setting up classes and spending money so I’ll just throw it up and see what sticks.

A big problem with any class that requires a laptop to be configured is you never know what you run into. While its easy to encourage folks to preconfigure their laptops or come very early, this is a real world and such things do not always work as you wish. I had commented in the event announcement that I was unfamiliar with Apple and would be of limited assistance but it was disappointing that two Apple owners could not participate. Also being available an hour early, the class did not start until 20 minutes late. That’s not fair to those that show up prepared.

To avoid that, I plan to turn things around for future classes. Arduino IDE installs seem to have gone well for all laptops. Wemos was a problem with some Windows and a total obstacle for Apples. For future classes, installing Arduino before class should be a prerequisite for attending and the classes will start on time. The first hour will be covering the slides and discussing five or so programs which will be used in lab time. During lab, I will be able to help install where help is still needed.

One of the many things that I like about DMS is that most of the classes are free or just enough to cover consumables. I thought I was doing the best by holding down the cost of parts and sending everyone home with their own kit. But what about those that may not be able to install Wemos or those that just want to understand this crazy Arduino world but don’t want a parts kit or don’t care to put $10 into learning about it. Why not offer a free class to play with Arduino and sensors and then decide if they want to invest in this new venture. I believe having parts kits for everyone available to use during class would solve several problems. I may limit future classes to eight people so I can spend more time with each one.

Hopefully we will solve the Wemos Apple problem but it may elude us and there may be Windows or Linux systems that have problems in the future. I like folks to access a sketch from a text file, paste in into the IDE, save and run it. But how to allow everyone to participate almost fully in the lab even when there is a problem. An advantage of the Wemos is the large amount of flash memory. Those that have Wemos installed will be able to do everything. I can consolidate all functions of the demo programs into a single program and preconfigure it on the boards. Anyone that can run the Arduino Serial Monitor or any terminal emulator program will be able to participate almost fully. I can just say, “Connect pin x to ground and push reset to run program xyz.” That would leave open the possibility of a USB driver not working but we can only solve so many problems at a time.

A parts kit for everyone is great but here remains the perpetual question, “Who is going to pay?” In my perfect world, the Electronics Committee will ask some questions, make suggestions and say, “Brady, we will allocate $150.00 for you to spend on ten parts kits to include an Arduino and other parts. @bill will need to review and approve your purchases.”

With DMS Electronics owning the kits, others may find it easy to offer more advanced classes to all the people I hope will be coming out of the intro classes. If they need more advanced sensors, they will only need to justify the sensors.

But what if the committee does not see this as a justified expense. No problem. I’m optimistic that I’ll be running the class occasionally so I’ll allocate my part of the honorarium for the first couple of classes to buy parts for smaller kits.

Which Arduino should be used? I have a strong preference for the Nano because it is a natural for use with breadboards and I’m not into shields. Your thoughts?

I will greatly appreciate your suggestions.

1 Like
TALK is the official site for online discussion of the Dallas Makerspace
#2

That would be Art @artg_dms who is chair of Electronics.

Electronics has 5 UNO clones; I currently have them in my possession from when I taught Intro to Arduino. Electronics also has a number of loose parts which can be used to put together a kit. The only problem is solderless broadboards. They have a habit of disappearing, so we gave up trying to stock those.

I got lucky when I taught my first class as Tanner was selling a very nice kit for well under what it cost. Unfortunately, I think the pipeline has dried up on those.

I am partial to using the Pro Mini clone, $4 from Micro Center. They are small and plug nicely onto a breadboard. But they require an FTDI interface to program, so you will need one for every two students or better. They are somewhere around $9 each, I think. For that reason, I would stick to the UNO for classes.

Edit: I just remembered that I bought 10 Mini clones of some kind in a previous AdaFruit group order. They did not come with headers presoldered, so they would be ideal for building into a project instead of plugging into a breadboard. They are at home, so I will have to remember to dig them out to get the particulars.

1 Like
#3

You might consider for classes requiring arduino plus support packages like the wemos, book a set up class for the hour before. Note in the main class that if they don’t have there arduino and support package working before the class, they should show up for the pre session.

#4

He did that: https://calendar.dallasmakerspace.org/events/view/3262

Neither of us thought there may be trouble installing the Wemos support with MacOS.

It did not help that I had a meeting before the class and barely made it in time.

1 Like
#5

After posting this, I sent message to @Team_Electronics that got replies, I realized I should have used only a single thread so I will keep it here.

I retract my request for Electronics to pay for kits to be used in class.

@Bill responded in the other chain that Electronics has five Unos which he now has in his possession. He also mentioned that breadboards tend to disappear from the Electronics area. If breadboards slowly evaporate, more interesting items, like sensors and LCD displays, might form a flock and just fly away. Even if they don’t fly away, DMS parts tend to float around. Training is bit like Entertainment… the show must go on. It is important to have everything together at class time.

While googling around, I saw an article about a Milwaukee Makerspace Arduino class which limited attendance to six members to allow more time with each student. I like that idea.

I have several Nanos, Wemos and assorted parts around so it should be reasonable to gear up for classes of six people. I’ll borrow some Unos from @bill to give experience on two of the major Arduino form factors. It will be nice to know that class supplies are under lock and key.

Thanks to all for the ideas that helped me firm up plans for future classes! I’m still listening…

1 Like
#6

Here is another item I had posted to the Message string. It is the items that I had given to each Wemos Alarm class attended that paid $10. The Wemos class used a single “sensor”, a SPDT switch. It covered using the Wemos as a web server and alarm the Tweets. The Arduino will not cover those topics but will use several sensors and a display.

image

Wemos D1 Mini v2.x
Breadboards
Switch
LEDs
Resistors
Jumper wires m-m
Alligator jumpers
USB micro data cable
Capacitors (not shown)
Foam board

#7

Be careful about setting the limit too low because you start running a real risk that no-shows drop you below the three students needed for honorarium.

#8

What you say is especially true for a free class. I want to try at least a couple of classes of each subject with no more than six. The slides will be improving and hopefully my presentation will as well. Chris, @John_Marlow, sends an email to all registered the day ahead. This asks if they have questions and includes a request that they cancel to open up a seat if they cannot attend. I’ll try that. The honorarium is nice but its not a disaster if I miss one occasionally.

#9

Bill, I attended your class and thought it was well planned and went well considering the number of attendees who were not prepared. The kits were a great addition. If I had to purchase the individual items I would have spent twice as much as you did.
While the class was more basic than I wanted I still learned more on using the WeMos.

Regarding future Arduino classes I would love to conduct one or assist with one. Would like to know what areas of interest there is in the Arduino platform. Several topics I can think of would be BASIC ARDUINO - “Getting to know the Arduino”, SENSORS - “How to interface with the real world through sensors”, POPULAR ADDONS - “Keeping time with an RTC”’, “Logging data on an SD card”, “Working with a TFT display” just to name a few…
Let me know if/how I can help further interest in the Arduino.

1 Like
#10

Mike - I’m Brady @bpamplin. Bill @bill was assisting during the class. No problem, I’m the worst on names.

Thanks for the complement! I had fun with the kits but probably not going that direction again. Bill and others occasionally do an Embedded MIcrocontrollers session where each is on a different subject for folks who understand the Basics of Arduino. I’ll email my phone number so we can talk. (Talk is crawled by Google so we don’t put contact info here.)