World's first Arduino + Bluetooth - WPL C24 Truck*

WPL C24

"Banggood or WPL did not sponsor this post"

*I think - people have used arduinos for sounds and lights but not exclusively for full blown control on this truck we're discussing

Now this WPL - C24 is a very popular cheapo 4x4 RC crawler that can be bought off Banggood for about $45 bucks. THAT IS CHEAP but don't be fooled by the price - the truck you get for the money is quite decent. 

It comes as an  unassembled kit but it's super fun and easy to assemble so no worries. There's no transmitter,  receiver or ECU included but that's the deal we'll make our own.

img src - Banggood

Here's the link to buy it. 

link

YEAH ..SO WHAT'S THE POINT?

This is what i'm talking about.. A bluetooth controlled rock crawler, made using an Arduino and an HC-05 Bluetooth module that lets you control all parts of the truck just through your phone and add whatever modes or degrees of control, very easily.

I  bought the truck about a year ago and it just lay assembled doing nothing. So i decided to build my own control system from the arduino ecosystem and it worked great and it had to be shared so here I am.

You can use just about any other rc truck/ crawler you already have or even buy a better one given it has a steering servo and a single brushed dc motor. That's all you need.

don't mind the finger . noobs at work

The Truck itself can be hacked with little effort and all of the control electronics will rest in the truck's bed. Messy but can be managed . We'll walk you through.

We highly recommend building this project because it's really cheap , hella fun and versatile beyond your dreams.

To make this project you'll need to have these following things.

1. The Truck . Shocker

2. Arduino - UNO
       

    

3. L293D Motor Shield

 

4. HC-05 Bluetooth Module
   

5. A battery pack
       

                                     

6. Dupont Wires . various types

7. Some basic soldering equipment


There will be a follow up build tutorial real quick as it's too big for a single blog post.
The whole build is equal parts model making and arduino hacking. It's pretty unique because it's the first time anyone has gone into such detail on combining a great RC platform with Arduino hardware so stay tuned.

ThingSpeak Arduino Weather Station

THINGSPEAK ARDUINO WEATHER STATION

Dipping your feet in IoT

Dipping your feet in IoT can be challenging as a beginner, not knowing where to start from the vast options available. God Bless Thingspeak . This blog will walk you through your first Thingspeak IoT project which is : 

a) Cheap and accessible 

b) Easy to understand 

c) RAD COOL .

The project - A temperature and humidity sensor beaming data to the Thingspeak Cloud using an Arduino and a ESP - 01 wifi module.

Things you'll need 

1. Arduino UNO

2. ESP - 01

                     

                                

3.DHT-11 sensor

                                                   

4.Breadboard

Breadboard Power Supply

5. Connecting Wires.

NOTE - Now you could use your arduino to power the sensor and the wifi module but a external source like a Breadboard Power Supply module will be better because the peak current demands of the wifi module in operation cannot be met by the board.          I've tried trust me

Alrighty let's dive right in . 

CONNECTIONS

 ESP -01

1. VCC - 3.3V

2. GND - GND 

3. CH_PD - 3.3V

4. RESET - 3.3V

5. TX -  2 ( Arduino)

6. RX -  3 (Arduino)

DHT - 11 

1. VCC - 5V

2. OUT - A0

3. GND - GND

Don't forget to set the jumper to 3.3V on the Breadboard Power Supply.

Now power on everything and if nothing burns or smokes out , so far so good.

SETTING UP  THINGSPEAK

Go to the thingspeak home page.

 

Sign up and create a New Channel with two fields Temperature and Humidity. 

On creating a new channel, you'll get something called the API Keys.

We'll use these later down the line.

SETTING UP THE ARDUINO IDE

Now this step is key to getting the code running. LIBRARIES. 

You'll use two in the code and a third to use the ones in the code.

 Highlighted in the red box.

SoftwareSerial.h is an inbuilt library so no problems there.

1.  The libraries you need to install on your own are the Adafruit Unified Sensor Library and the DHT sensor library  .                     

Download links 

DHT Sensor by adafruit- https://github.com/adafruit/DHT-sensor-library

Adafruit Unified Sensor Library- https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_Sensor

2.  Download both and add them using the Add.ZIP Library feature in the IDE.

Homestretch

The code is here - https://github.com/imalwaysontheinternet/Weather-Stasion

Or just copy the code from below and paste it in your sketch.


There are few things to do in the code before you upload it.

1. Paste your Write API key here

2. Enter your Wifi SSID and Password here.

Upload the code. If all was done correctly , your Thingspeak Channel should look like this.

Note there's an interval of 15 seconds between updates to the graphs.
If it still doesn't work write your problems in the comments below we're always happy to help.