Having trouble with Tutorial 5. Please help.

Hey, I'm no expert, but here's two things I noticed.

1. Your code sets digital pin 1 as OUTPUT but your wire is connected elsewhere according to your picture.

2. You need to connect the ground from the arduino to the ground from the battery.

Hope this helps. Otherwise I see no errors in your code.

Thank you. I fixed both of those. Unfortunately I am still getting no output from my arduino Have I hooked the ground to ground correctly, or could that still be the problem?

int motorPin = 9;
void setup()
{
  pinMode (motorPin, OUTPUT);
}

void loop()
{
  for (int i=0; i<=255; i++)
  {
    analogWrite(motorPin, i);
    delay(10);
  }
 
  delay(500);
 
  for (int i=255; i>0; i--)
  {
    analogWrite(motorPin, i);
    delay(10);
  }
delay(500);
}

An easy source for solid core wire is a chunk of cat5 or telephone cable - lots of different colours in there too. you might find some free cutoff chunks or old cables at a local computer store, for example.

I have a license of OrCAD that I do schematics with.  It's a nice tool, could be made better, but I have been driving it since it went from DOS to Windows.  I cut and paste in to paint and post.

Regards,

Dave M.

Thanks.

This is TROY!       Actually it is NI Multisim 11.0 Breadboard view.

Click on image for a much better resolution view.

I believe that my transistor is the failure point. I set up a very simple circuit with the transistor and an LED. After hooking this up, the LED did not light up. But if I connected the far left pin and middle pin of the transistor, the LED did light up. Is this a confirmation that the transistor is dead?

What is the number on the transistor you are using?

2N

4401

711

It’s a 2N4401 made in 1987, 1997, or 2007, 11th week

You can get a data sheet from www.alldatasheet.com for free.

Maybe one of the transistor super-experts can comment, but to me nothing stands out as being wrong in the specs or in your picture... so yeah I would try another transistor.

Maybe one of the transistor super-experts can comment, but to me nothing stands out as being wrong in the specs or in your picture... so yeah I would try another transistor.

Ok, I will get another one and test it out. Thank you guys sooo much, you have been  very patient and undetstanding.

You're very welcome. Thankfully transistors are super cheap, you can even find them in almost any old electronics

ps, did you see this tutorial from oomlout?  I found it nice and clear and easy to follow. Circuit 3 is the variable speed motor one.

http://www.oomlout.com/a/products/ardx/