Book Image

DIY Microcontroller Projects for Hobbyists

By : Miguel Angel Garcia-Ruiz, Pedro Cesar Santana Mancilla
Book Image

DIY Microcontroller Projects for Hobbyists

By: Miguel Angel Garcia-Ruiz, Pedro Cesar Santana Mancilla

Overview of this book

We live in a world surrounded by electronic devices, and microcontrollers are the brains of these devices. Microcontroller programming is an essential skill in the era of the Internet of Things (IoT), and this book helps you to get up to speed with it by working through projects for designing and developing embedded apps with microcontroller boards. DIY Microcontroller Projects for Hobbyists are filled with microcontroller programming C and C++ language constructs. You'll discover how to use the Blue Pill (containing a type of STM32 microcontroller) and Curiosity Nano (containing a type of PIC microcontroller) boards for executing your projects as PIC is a beginner-level board and STM-32 is an ARM Cortex-based board. Later, you'll explore the fundamentals of digital electronics and microcontroller board programming. The book uses examples such as measuring humidity and temperature in an environment to help you gain hands-on project experience. You'll build on your knowledge as you create IoT projects by applying more complex sensors. Finally, you'll find out how to plan for a microcontroller-based project and troubleshoot it. By the end of this book, you'll have developed a firm foundation in electronics and practical PIC and STM32 microcontroller programming and interfacing, adding valuable skills to your professional portfolio.
Table of Contents (16 chapters)

Showing the timer on an LCD

In this section, we explain how to connect and use the 1602 LCD to show the timer on it. Figure 14.1 shows the Fritzing diagram similar to the one explained in Chapter 5, Humidity and Temperature Measurement:

Figure 14.1 – The LCD connected to the Blue Pill microcontroller board

Figure 14.1 – The LCD connected to the Blue Pill microcontroller board

The following are the steps for connecting the LCD to the Blue Pill, following the diagram from Figure 14.1:

  1. Connect the Blue Pill's GND (also labeled as G) pins to the solderless breadboard rails.
  2. Connect the Blue Pill's 5V pin (providing 5 volts) to the breadboard rails.
  3. Connect the USB cable to the Blue Pill and then to your computer or a USB power bank.
  4. Insert the LCD's 16 pins into the solderless breadboard.
  5. Connect the LCD's VSS pin to ground (the lower breadboard rail).
  6. Connect the LCD's VDD pin to 5 volts (the lower breadboard rail).
  7. Connect the 2.2k ohm resistor to the LCD&apos...