Welcome to my latest project! I started working on this earlier in the year, and after a brief hiatus due to a job change, I'm excited to share my progress. This video captures my journey before I forgot everything I learned! When I get some more space in the future I'll build out the actual crossing gate.
Previously, I built crossing gates using an Arduino Mega. With the release of the new Uno R4 featuring WiFi and a built-in LED display, I couldn't wait to revive this project. Initially, I was displeased by the tangle of wires and breadboards, so I decided to create a custom PCB. Surprisingly, it was easy and affordable, thanks to the plethora of RU-vid tutorials available. My R1 version PCB was about $20 for 5 (with shipping/first order coupon) - R2 was a PCB(A)assembled, and was closer to $100 - but tbh it was only so expensive because I used some non standard parts that I think had to be hand soldered, doh.
In this video, I'll focus less on the step-by-step PCB creation process and more on my specific project and the tools I used. One callout is JLCPCB was super helpful when ordering - they reached out after they review the Gerber file and made sure to point out anything that needed to be addressed.
Disclaimer: I'm not an electrical engineer. Everything I know, I learned from RU-vid, websites, and forums. If you spot any mistakes or have suggestions for improvement, please let me know!
Also I'm not a RU-vid creator, I do these projects for me and then share in case the knowledge helps anyone - so these videos are quick/not fancy, ha.
9 сен 2024