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Basic Electronics » LCD & battery&USB

April 22, 2011
by oldcrow
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1st timer ...put the temperture sensor together and befor i connect it to the USB should i thak the battery out and not use the USB and bettery at the same time? The win.download driver in the Nerd download file did not work with win 7. So i did find one on the internet that works. With the tem.sensor do i need to have a code to make it work.

April 22, 2011
by Ralphxyz
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Hi oldcrow,

[quote]should i thak the battery out and not use the USB and bettery at the same time?[/quote]

Following the Nerdkit User Guide you do not power the mcu from the USB, the USB red wire is plugged into a none connected segment of the breadboard.

As a "option" you may use the USB for power, putting the red wire to the + rail in which case you would would not need the battery connected. Remember a good thing to do when setting up any electronic circuit is to ask your self "why am I doing this?".

If you were intending to use the USB as power why would you need the battery? If you think about this you will see you do not need to ask these kind of questions. But it doesn't hurt to ask.

[quote]With the tem.sensor do i need to have a code to make it work.[/quote]

It all depends.

Would you like to see the temperature you are measuring? Or have any output?

If you do not want to load the code but just let the Nerdkit sit there not doing anything than that is fine you do not even have to turn the power on so your batteries will last a long time.

However if you would like to see a temperature output displayed on the LCD than yes you have have code to make it work.

That is why the Nerdkits guys put together that great User Guide so you could learn how to put code onto your Nerdkit.

So give it a try, and when (not if) you have problems just ask for help.

Ralph

April 22, 2011
by oldcrow
oldcrow's Avatar

Being my 1st time I just wanted 2 make sure i was doing everything right.Now i will go ahead with the project and see about programing a code.Back to reading the nerd kit guide.Thank you very much

April 22, 2011
by Ralphxyz
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The Nerdkit guide has helped "thousands" of us get started.

Just work it through and let us know when you have trouble.

The reason I went with the Nerdkit instead of PIC or Arduino was because of this great support forum.

So work it through and let us know when you get stumped.

Ralph

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