Frequently Asked Questions:

• What are phidgets?
• What about the microcontroller?
• How can I obtain phidgets?
• Support
• How can I get started with phidgets?
• Help! My phidget board doesn't work
• Help! Flash is no longer available at TU/e! (ID Minor)
• When multiple phidget boards are connected to my PC, how can I select which board to connect to?
• Can I... Connect an RGB Led to a Phidget888 or PhidgetLed64?
• Can I... Connect a lumiled / high power to a Phidget888?
• Can I... Connect a small vibration motor or lumiled to a PhidgetLed64?
• Can I... Control a motor with a phidget?
• Can I... Control 230V Lights with a Phidget?
• Can I... connect a microcontroller or other device with a RS232/Serial/Com-port to my Flash/Phidget application?

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• What are phidgets?
  
  Phidgets are an easy to use set of building blocks for low cost sensing and control from your PC. Because of the building block approach, Phidgets are ideal for rapid prototyping all kind of interaction styles and intelligent products. Without soldering or continuously reprogramming your system, you can easily exchange input and output elements to explore alternative interaction styles.

• What about the microcontroller?
  
  Phidgets are NOT a replacement for the PIC microcontrollers. Both technologies have their own distinct characteristics that make them more or less suitable for different phases of the deisn process. In the near future a special add-on board becomes available at the e-atelier to connect your phidget sensors and actuators to the TU/e PIC board.
  
  Note: you can combine phidgets and the microcontroller in one flash application by using a serial port component in flash. For more information see one of the questions below: "Can I connect a microcontroller or other device with a RS232/Serial/Com-port to my Flash application?"

• How can I obtain phidgets?
  
  A special TU/e Phidget starterkit (including the base board and a rich set of sensors) is available at the ID servicedesk for EUR 105,-. Although this might sound expensive, you should consider that this kit can be used and re-used during your whole bachelor and master phase and offers you an opportunity to become familiar with technology in a friendly and playfull way.
  More advanced phidgets that are not included in the TU/e starterkit, can be obtained in several domains and research groups. Contact your coach for more information. Additional phidgets can be ordered from EZtronics

• Support
  
  Phidgets are supported by the faculty of industrial design. Tutorials, presentations and demo applications are avilable from the ID website. In addition, several workshops will be provided in the domains (i.e. rapid prototyping with Phidgets&Flash, using Phidgets in the JAVA project). For more information see support at TU/e
  
  
• How can I get started with phidgets?
  
  1. Install the drivers from this website. Only the version from this site is supported by the coaches and experts.
  2. Make a sketch of system: what functions do you require now and what functionality might be added in the future.
  3. Depening on the ratio between intelligence, graphics/audio and former programming experience, you can choose one of the programming languages mentioned on this website. JAVA is recommended to create programs that require a lot of intelligence or connecto to a websource, Flash is recommended is you require graphics/animations/audio. Also other languages are available, but these are not fully supported by the coaches and experst at the TU/e.
  4. Examples are provided for the various programming languages. For Flash, even an empty template is offered that can be used as starting point for your own programs.
  5. Start simple: try to read a single sensor or control a single LED. Start exploring and only later on, implement the real program.
  
  
• Help! My phidget board doesn't work / the webservice does not start.
  
  1. Is the phidget webseriver running (small yellow/white PH logo in taskbar ). If not, start PhidgetWebserviceManager.exe manually from C:\Program Files\Phidgets. Choose to start the controller with windows and press start.
  2. Show the phidget webservice manager, by clikcing the PH logo in the taskbar. Make sure the service is running (Webservice Status: Running). If not running: press start, reboot pc, or re-install the phidget driver.
  Connect the phidget board to your PC. After a few second the device should become visible in the Webservice Manager (see image below). If not, either your USB cable or phidget board might be damaged. Try using another USB cable and connecting the phidget to another PC. If this still doesn't solve the problem, contact the ID servicedesk to swap your phidget board for a new one.
  
  
  
  3. If your board is recognized, but you ar enot able to control the board yourself, try using an existing application. This program can be used to connect to a phidget and monitor all inputs and control all outputs. I fthis program works, you probably made an error in your own program.
  
  
• Help! Flash is no longer available at TU/e! (ID Minor)
  Unfortunately, the Flash licenses are no longer available at the TU/e. However, Flash is still available for students of the department of Industrial Design by using the link at the Flash section of this site.
  If you are experiencing problems when accessing this link, try installing direclty from \\campusmp\Software\macromed\Studio\8. If this also doesn't solve the problem contact idPhidgetSupport or pick up an install CD-ROM at HG2.59 (Loy Rovers). 
  Note: download links are only available when you are logged in on the TU/e network (either on campus, or from home by using VPN)

• When multiple phidget boards are connected to my PC, how can I select which board to connect to?
  
  Each phidget board has a unique serial number. If this number is not printed on the board, it can be obtained by watching the Phidget Webservice Manager when plugging in the board. The Device name and Serial Number will be shown here.
  
  When connecting to the phidget from the software supply this serial number:
  - When using the function openRemoteIP in Flash/actionscript/C#/Java use this number to connect to the phidget instead of using the -1 option that forces to use the first phidget available. For example to connect to a phidget with serial number 1231: use myIFK.openRemoteIP("localhost",5001,1231,"pass").
  - When using a graphical component such as in MAX/MSP or the Flash GUI drivers you can often change a property of the object in a property window (Flash: at bottom of screen, MAX/MSP: right click?)
  
  
• Can I... Connect an RGB Led to a Phidget888 or PhidgetLed64?
  
  PhidgetInterfaceKit888: Yes,  use a common cathode LED, connect the cathode to the ground and all other pins to the digital outputs of the phidget. An 300 Ohm resistor is already soldered before the digital output, so an extra resistor is not required.
  PhidgetLed64: Yes, but you have to use only odd or only even outputs of the board. A memo explaining how to connect the LEDs is available on the "components" section of this website.
  
  
• Can I... Connect a lumiled / high power to a Phidget888?
  
  This depends on the type of lumiled you are using. The digitial output of the phidget can supply both 5 and 0 volt output, but a 300 Ohm resistor is already placed in front of the output to limit the output current and protect the phidgetboard. In the datasheet of the lumiled you can find the minimimum voltage/current. Use Ohm's law to predict if this combination can be used with the phidget board.
  
  
• Can I... Connect a small vibration motor or lumiled to a PhidgetLed64?
  
  Setting an output to 100, will drive 30 mA through that output. To attain the required current, the volatage is varied between 0 and 3.5 volt.
  30mA is sufficient to control a small vibration motor (check datasheet!). High power leds require more current, but by studying the dataheet / memo of the PhidgetLed64 (see components section of this website), one can see that certain outputs can be coupled together without running the risk of shortwiring. However, you should ALWAYS CHECK THESE KIND OF CIRCUITS WITH THE PEOPLE OF THE ELECTRONICS ATELIER!!!. Connecting two outputs that can not be connected might damage your Led Board.
  
  WARNING: Although it is - theoretically - possible to connect a small pancake motor to a Phidget-LED64, you will loose the guarantee of the board. The board can be damaged by induction effects of the motor. If you are not sure if your motor can damage the phidget, consult experts at the E-Atelier!!!! 
  
  
• Can I... Control a motor with a phidget?
  
  Yes, a special Phidget Motor board can be used to control motor speed and direction of movement. The advantage of this board is that only one component is required to contorl the motor, but the disadvantage is that the current can only be varied between -1.5 and +1.5 Ampere in 200 steps.
  It is also possible to use a Phidget Servo board to control a RC speed controller. Speed controllers are small (and often cheap) components that can be placed in front of a motor and are controlled by the same type of signals to control a servo. The advantage is that RC speed controllers are available in many ranges (from 100ma to many many A), cheap to replace is burned and available in every RC shop. The disadvantage of this approach is that 2 components (i.e. PhidgetServo board and Speed Controller) are required.
  
  So instead of:
     PhidgetServo -> Servo
  Use:
      PhidetServo -> RC Speed Controller -> Motor
  
  
• Can I... Control 230V Lights with a Phidget?
  
  No, you are not allowed to use 230V at all in student projects!!!
  Often halogen lights can also be used. These type of lights operate at 12V, but require big currents.
  Halogen lights can be switched on and off with a PhidgetInterfaceKit444 or a Phidget relay that is connected to the PhidgetInterfaceKit888.
  The brightness of halogen lights can be varied by using a PhidgetServo + RC speed controller combination (see: Can I control a motor with a phidget). Note: A PhidgetMotorLV can probably not used since it only can provide an output voltage of 9 V and most halogen lights require more than 1.5 A.

• Can I... connect a microcontroller or other device with a RS232/Serial/Com-port to my Flash/Phidget application?
  
  Yes you can. There are several freeware components available on the web that can be used to interface with a serial port. Although we haven't decide yet, what component will become the recommended technology yet, you can have a look at the following website. The solution provided here is similar to the technology used by the phidget webserver: you have to run a small server program on the background that interfaces to the hardware and only use simple commands from script to connect to this program (instead of interfacing directly to the hardware). This approach works both on PC and MAC and even enables to connect to a server over the internet (PDA in prototype!).
  You can also connect to this server program from JAVA / C# / C++ / etc. However, code examples are not available yet...