Project ideas.

[Chewy175 1]

I have been tasked with making a project in 10 days using an MSP430 and a bag of stuff to use, I'm looking for some help with project ideas. We are not allowed to order any other components but capacitors, resistors etc. are freely available. The board we are using is a msp-exp430FR4133 and our bag of components contains:

 

2x Red LEDs

2x Green LEDs

1x Yellow LED

8x BC548 Transistors

1x TTC502 Thermistor

1x Bourns 3296 Potentiometer

1x Dual digit 7-segment display

1x Silonex NORP LDR

1x Push Switch

1x LM741CN op amp

1x CD4017BE chip(not sure what this is)

1x KS1P relay

1x RF-300EA-1D390 Motor

1x Small Buzzer

 

[cubeberg 540]

That's a pretty open-ended question  Do you have any objectives?  Are other pieces (cardboard, paper, breadboard) allowed?

[enl 227]

The 4017 is a decade counter IC. This means that it has a clock input and ten (actually 11) ouputs. At any point in time, one output is active. Each clock causes which output is active to advance. There are a few other pins, like a carry output that is active when outputs 0-4 are, and a reset input. It has been around for give or take 45 years, and is still useful, for anything from an LED chaser, waveform synthesis, to LED multiplexing circuits.

 

It would appear that the kit was not designed to push you in any single direction, so:

I might consider making a puzzle. You have several input devices available (photoresistor, push button, potentiometer, thermistor) and a number of output devices, and could likely come up with something interesting.

 

Other things, more straightforward,, might be a thermometer with 7seg display, A thermostat that is only active when it is dark (or light) , a Halloween prop, a signal control for a model railroad, .........

 

The hard part is when there are too many options (See _Zen_and_the_Art_of_Motorcycle_Maintenance_ by Pirsig for some interesting input on this).

[Chewy175 1]

@@cubeberg We can use anything that's freely available in the labs so yes cardboard, paper etc. we just cant order any components in as they probably wouldn't arrive in time for us to test and use them. We are expected to implement our design on veroboard and we have breadboards and other things to test any designs we make.

 

@@enl thanks for explaining the 4017 and as for the ideas, I think we're going to try to make pedestrian crossing of sorts with the LEDs, the display and the buzzer.