Maplin have now gone bust !!! ekk where did I put that RS catalogue ?
But there are items I'd like the Picaxe gurus to consider stocking.
The first is a red, yellow and green 5volt LEDs laid out like traffic lights. These are available from model shops. But there was a time when
writing software to sequence and control traffic lights was an early stage in learning to program control sequences. Get the sequence for one set right, then
incorporate traffic lights for intersections. I would say it should still be there for 9 to 11 year old future engineers.
The second is Read Relay contacts. They can be present in door open/closed switches as well as sensing when the thing with the magnet comes close.
Finally, something to bridge out the Octal Darlington driver chips.e,g the ULN2003A and/or the ULN2803A This is for when needing to use boards like the 14M and 18 Project Boards
for simple TTL output. I have used 2 options that work. That is replacing the Darlington chip with an octal dip switch, being careful not to short out the battery. An alternative is an Octal bar graph LED chip.
In the end I got a small narrow strip of Vero and soldered pins where the legs of the original chips went. But in all 3 cases I could 'revert' very quickly.
But there are items I'd like the Picaxe gurus to consider stocking.
The first is a red, yellow and green 5volt LEDs laid out like traffic lights. These are available from model shops. But there was a time when
writing software to sequence and control traffic lights was an early stage in learning to program control sequences. Get the sequence for one set right, then
incorporate traffic lights for intersections. I would say it should still be there for 9 to 11 year old future engineers.
The second is Read Relay contacts. They can be present in door open/closed switches as well as sensing when the thing with the magnet comes close.
Finally, something to bridge out the Octal Darlington driver chips.e,g the ULN2003A and/or the ULN2803A This is for when needing to use boards like the 14M and 18 Project Boards
for simple TTL output. I have used 2 options that work. That is replacing the Darlington chip with an octal dip switch, being careful not to short out the battery. An alternative is an Octal bar graph LED chip.
In the end I got a small narrow strip of Vero and soldered pins where the legs of the original chips went. But in all 3 cases I could 'revert' very quickly.