# Picaxe or arduino?



## Rage (Oct 23, 2012)

I'm sure this has been asked a butt load of times but from the picaxe and Arduino, which do you think is best. Or is there a difference at all?
Consider if you will: ease of programming, power supply, optional boards available (motion detectors, servo, stepper motor, etc.), number of inputs and outputs, and footprint or anything else you can think off.

Thanks


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## goneferal (Sep 8, 2010)

I love the Arduinos I have. The mega has a ton of outputs, you could run an entire haunt on one. I've not used the Picaxe. There are more Pickaxe users from what I can tell on this forum, but Arduino is getting more popular as it catches on.


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## JeffHaas (Sep 7, 2010)

They're both fine, I have some of each. The main thing is, are you already familiar with programming? If so, and you know C, then the Arduino will be much easier to get going. Otherwise use a Picaxe, because for what you do in this hobby, learning BASIC will be easy.

Also, you can get Picaxe chips in a range of sizes from tiny 8-pin versions all the way up to big ones. It is possible to get the same types of chips in the Atmel line (what's used in the Arduino) but the standard SDK doesn't have support for them, and you should be an advanced user to set it up.

As far as support, you can take almost anything like servos, sensors, etc and make it work with both.

There's more but the easiest way is to go take a look at the free software for both, look over the tutorials, and also cruise this forum looking at the projects people have posted. You'll probably also want to get familiar with basic electronics - reading circuit diagrams, soldering, etc, because it'll be handy with both platforms.


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## Rage (Oct 23, 2012)

Thanks Gone and Jeff, I program in C++ and C# as well as basic, so the programming isn't a problem. I've dealt with electronics for the past 30 years in the military (guided missiles) and in industry so the electronics don't bother me either. I've downloaded the ide for both and have ordered a servo, stepper motor, and a Hi torque 10 rpm 12v geared motor w/ a uln2003 board and the Arduino atmega328p just to play with. But I'm not married to the idea of the arduino. I know that the arduino can communicate with other arduino controllers which kind of makes me lean in that direction.


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## JeffHaas (Sep 7, 2010)

Oh well, with your background, you'll have no trouble.

You can have any microcontroller communicate with another one via various methods...direct wire connections where the second one is waiting for the first one to drive a pin high so it can run its program, or you can get a set of wireless modules, or other options.

The key here is to start playing around and see what's possible. For haunt-related stuff, you'll want to try out PIR motion sensors so you can detect people walking up and trigger props (I can provide code for that).

One tip regarding Arduino...the standard boards include the USB chip, which allows you to use a regular USB cable to connect to your computer. But this makes the cost per board about $30.00. I suggest the "Diavolino" from Evil Mad Science, which comes as a kit for $12.00, and you buy one connector to program as many boards as you want. Much more cost-effective if you're going to set up a lot of props with their own routines.

http://shop.evilmadscientist.com/productsmenu/tinykitlist/180-diavolino
And look for the "Adafruit FTDI Friend" at the bottom of the page, that's the dongle.


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## Rage (Oct 23, 2012)

That's a great idea thank you very much, I'm also looking into the mp3 shields for the arduino. They can capable of decoding Ogg Vorbis/MP3/AAC/WMA/MIDI audio and encoding IMA ADPCM and user-loadable Ogg Vorbis which can provide looping effects. I've seen the motion detectors shields as well............I found this site which connects a MS kinect to the arduino http://www.tannr.com/2012/01/01/arduino-kinect/ . With this process the animatronic not only "sees" the TOT but follows them. MUhahahahaha


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## JeffHaas (Sep 7, 2010)

I haven't used it, but that Sparkfun MP3 shield looks great. Other options to keep the cost down for audio are the boards at Electronics123.com, or the Tenda embedded audio board.

These are much cheaper and more limited than the other options, but work great if you only need a few sound effects in a prop:
http://www.electronics123.com/kits-and-modules/Audio-Effects-and-Sound-Modules/
Look for the 300 second model. How to trigger it via microcontroller:
http://www.electronics123.com/s.nl/it.I/id.35/.f

Link for the Tenda mp3 player:
http://www.mdfly.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=9_53&products_id=284
Page 9 of this long thread has my code for making it work:
http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=22800&highlight=tenda&page=9


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## pshort (May 6, 2008)

If you're going to use the Tenda mp3 player and order it from mdfly.com, place your order early. Sometimes they're out of stock for a few days or weeks.


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## Rage (Oct 23, 2012)

I'll remember that, thank you


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