Ok, I’m getting addicted to this, after making interactive Xmas gifts with a Nokia 3310 LCD screen instead of the usual, boring greeting card (I’ll publish the video… one day), I searched the web for lots and lots of fun projects to make.

First, I found a better store than Dealextreme: Banggood.

Not only they have more stuff, it’s also cheaper! 😍

I ordered:

• Arduino Mega clone with an USB chip that’s not from FTDI (it’s a bit harder to use, but there are no chances it’s a counterfeited chip, it’s safer. Moreover it’s half the dealextreme price)
• A lithium battery 3.7 V 4000 MAh
• An USB lithium battery charger
• A DC converter from 3.7 V to 5V
• Another Nokia LCD
• Cellular GSM module (it needs 5V with 2A peaks, I think my converter is not ok)
• Ethernet module
• Bluetooth receiver
• PlayStation 2 joypad
• Analog keypad (it only uses 3 pins because, according to which buttons are pressed, the resistance changes – but what happens if more than one button is pressed? I’m scared that this is useless…)
• TFT LCD Touchscreen 2.8 inches + Arduino UNO for $11!!!
• Jumper cables male-female
• Serial Wi-Fi
• Some spare batteries for the SD+RTC shield that dealextreme sold me with dead batteries….
• The cheapest breadboards on the market ($2 each)

Last week I was excited that Dealextreme opened a warehouse in Europe.

Browsing the website I saw that there are a lot of Arduino accessories, the DIY programmable electronic platform. I was about to buy a Raspberry Pi B+, but the idea of having a full fledged Linux system just for doing, for example, a simple temperature logging circuit, looked like a waste for me.

Seeing the many components, I got a lot of nice ideas to make, that obviously I’ll publish here, with circuits and source codes.

From the European warehouse I ordered:

• An Arduino Nano (chinese clone, obviosly, since it costs just 7 euro)
• A pair of breadboards to quickly do the circuit without using the solder. Moreover the Arduino Nano it’s designed to be put on a breadboard to easily access its contacts
• A breadboard power supply to put on the breadboard, for having current on the rails more easily, without jumpers (1,60 euro!!)
• A lot of random resistors
• A lot of random LEDs (here I could save some money by scavenging them from old circuit boards, but I was lazy)
• A lot of male jumpers for the breadboard (here I could save too, if I just bought some telephone cable, but for 2,48€, this is nicer)
• A lot of female jumpers (2,06 €, I could take them from old electronic connectors)
• A temperature sensor. The DHT11 model costs less than half the price, but reading the datasheet, it gives the temperature with a 1 degree tolerance… it can’t be used to log reliably home temperatures. The one I chose, the DHT22, it’s still a cheap sensor that gives temperature with an half degree tolerance. I’ll just use it for see if my idea is feasible and then replace with a SHT15 (which, at $45, it’s not fit for experiments…)

Then I ordered more from the Chinese warehouse, for the simple reason that was cheaper – meanwhile I have to learn how to use the platform, so if they arrive after 2 months it’s still ok:

• An Arduino Uno (still a chinese clone, because it sells for 5 euro)
• A board with SD card reader and real time clock, designed to be placed over the Arduino Uno, for logging events.
• A mini breadboard that I’ll glue over the logging board, so I don’t have to mess with solder
• A Nokia 3310 LCD display already soldered with a controller, ready for being used with the Arduino. Less than 3 euro, cool!
• An USB voltmeter/amperometer to see if the output from my chinese USB power suppliers is right or not (maybe the circuit doesn’t work because it gets 4.5 volts instead of 5, for example)

I’m eager to get this stuff, to make something cool!