Hot To Build Your Sprout Board
Step 1.
The assembly of the sprout board is very simple and requires very little experience with soldering. There are a few places where adding components can get cramped, but if you take your time it will be very easy. I will however assume that you have soldered components into boards with the write-up below.
Click here for component list and diagram.
Step 2.
Our first major step is to mount the resistors. note that R1 - 8 are 10K ohm (brown, black, orange, gold) and R9 and R10 are 300 ohm resistors(orange, orange, brown, gold)
Step 3.
Next we will mount our two 0.1U ceramic capacitors in C1 and C2.
Step 4.
Next we will add J9 and J10 to our board. Note the indented tab on the front of the component. This Indent shows you what direction is forward. if you install it backwards it will not have the friction to keep components from falling out.
Step 5.
Next we will add our speaker. Note the + sign on the top of the speaker showing polarity.
Step 6.
Next we will add our eight pin header for our jumper block.
Step 7.
Next we will add our 4 pin header. This can get a little crowded on the bottom side of the board so take your time.
Step 8.
Next we will add our push button. The push button has 2 holes for the metal bracket its mounted in. You may need to push a little to get it to snap into place.
Step 9.
Next we will add our Serial header. Make sure the holes for the terminal are facing the end of the board.
Step 10.
Now we will add our 2 and 4 terminal block sections. An important tip is that the terminal blocks slide and lock together. if you do not lock them together into one segment they will not fit. again make sure the holes for the terminal are facing forward.
Step 11.
the 4 terminal block mounted.
Step 12.
Next we will mount the pins for the arduino to plug into. a great tip here is to plug the pins into the arduino and then match the holes and solder with the arduino in place. this will insure the pins are straight.
Step 13.
Now we will add the headers for the shield accessory board that is next to the arduino. Use the same tip here if you have a shield you can use to match the holes and solder the headers in place. this will insure the pins are straight.
Step 14.
So here we can see the finished terminal headers and pins.
Step 15.
next we will mount our CDs cell. Bend the cell with a 1/8th inch bend so the cell can poke through the front of the acrylic if you chose to use our chassis. alternatively you can use this as a general header for analog devices ( like a 10K ohm pot).
Step 16.
Next we will add our first LED. Note the flat side of the led on the diagram facing the terminal block next to it. Bend your leds leads as shown.
Step 17.
Finally add the second led using the same technique
Step 18.
Congratulations! you have a finished sprout board!
Step 19.
Here we have our glamour shot showing the board with Arduino and Ethernet shield mounted.
Step 20.
And finally our close-up shot. Yet for both of us!
Now you should go read our
How to use it guide.
Accessories
Accessories Shields
The sprout board is designed with an shield mount on board. This allows additional experimentation with your sprout board. Pins 10-13 are hard wired to the shield accessory jacks for use with the Ethernet shield.
If you choose to use the Ethernet shield note that you will need to trim the long pins to make it fit into the hole provided in our chassis and you will need to mount it to the shield prior to mounting screws.
The Ethernet shield is a great addition to your sprout board project. Many of our sprout board projects have a web based feature set and to fully utilize our example projects you may need to include this in your project.
Optional LCD Display.
Here we have mounted an optional serial LCD display from spark fun. These serial lcd displays are great for many projects and especially in our server room monitor kit. If you choose to use a serial lcd display you will need four #4-40 X 3/4" screws as well.
News and Events
30 June 2010
Lots of new guides added!
We have added a bunch of new guides to help you expand what you can do with your sprout board. Check them out!
21 June 2010
How to drive an AC load
In about 10 minutes we will take you through a simple process to control an AC load using the sprout board…
1 June 2010
Open Source Server Room Initiative
The Sprout Board is the center of a move to open source high priced server room monitoring equipment in an effort…
25 May 2010
Sprout Board available for order!
That’s right! The sprout board can be purchased now!
Testimonials
What people have to say about us.
" Working with the sprout board has been one of the best tinkering project experiences I have ever had. The attention to detail and feature set of the board as well as its clean design lends its self to many applications. Additionally the flexibility in allowing for external sensor and devices makes this extremely powerful for real world projects."
-Jayson Givens
" We needed a server room environmental monitoring system at my employer. After looking into the options we decided to buy the sprout board and rack mount chassis. The project works flawlessly and reliably at 1/5th the cost of a comparable system."
-Tom Needer
