Photon 2 Microcontroller

This Particle Photon 2 will be your primary microcontroller for the course. Click here to learn more from the Photon 2 datasheet.

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Input Components & Sensors

Photo Resistor - Cadmium Sulfide Cell

• Photo Cell CdS Photoresistor
• CdS cells are little light sensors. As the squiggly face is exposed to more light, the resistance goes down. When it's light, the resistance is about ~1KΩ, when dark it goes up to ~10KΩ.

Switches with Caps

• Press a button to make your project do stuff!
• Normally Open
• Color code specific functions of your circuit

Trim Potentiometer

• trim pot, perfect for breadboarding and prototyping
• Body size: 0.375" x 0.375" x 0.19" (9.5mm x 9.5mm x 4.9mm)
• Rotation: 270 degrees

FSR (Force Sensitive Resistor) - High Force Sensitive

• Detects pressure
• Is not particularly accurate so requires calibration in code, and is variable from component to component
• Do not solder directly to leads
• Do not use as a scale

Loudness Sensor

• Detect ambient sound intensity (loudness)
• Threshold detection
• 5v required

PIR (Pyroelectric Infrared) Motion Detector

• Detect bodies in space, based on an IR map
• Threshold detection
• High Sensitivity, high reliability
• Working voltage: DC 2.7-12V

Accel/Gyro board

• Accelerometer
• Gyroscope
• 6 Degrees of freedom

Light/Color/IR/Prox/Gesture Sensing

• Detects proximity
• Light
• RGB color
• Rudimentary Gesture recognition
• Stemma/QT compatible
• 3.3v or 5v

Pressure/Humidity/Temperature/Gas Sensing

• measure humidity with ±3% accuracy
• measure barometric pressure with ±1 hPa absolute accuracy
• measure temperature with ±1.0°C accuracy
• you can also use it as an altimeter with ±1 meter or better accuracy!
• allows a good idea of trends and comparisons - see disclaimer and further info on product page
• 3.3v or 5v

Ultrasonic Distance Sensor

• sensor provides 2cm to 400cm of non-contact measurement
• ranging accuracy can reach up to 3mm
• 4 pins: HC-SR04: VCC (Power), Trig (Trigger), Echo (Receive), and GND (Ground)

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Output Components

Monochrome 1.3" 128x64 OLED Graphic Display - STEMMA QT / Qwiic

• I2C or SPI. The OLED itself requires a 3.3V power supply and 3.3V logic levels
• It's a little screen! You can display little graphics!

Vibrating Mini Motor

• Buzzy motor
• Rated voltage is 2.5 to 3.8V
• Use with haptic motor driver board (below)

Haptic Motor Controller board

• Controls haptic motor via I2C protocol
• Allows various effects to be strung together in sequence
• Stemma/QT compatible
• 3.3v or 5v

Standard LEDs (5 colors)

• 5 colors: Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, White
• Make your circuit pop with blinky, glowy illumination!
• Relay status of an ecosystem

RGB LED (Common Cathode)

• Tri-color LED for output relay
• Make your circuit pop with blinky, glowy illumination!
• Relay status of an ecosystem

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Supplementary Components

Resistors

• Use metal film resistors (blue) in conjunction with RGB LEDs
• Resistors are generally useful in circuits and are one of the foundational building blocks of electronics
• Use this color code calculator if you find a resistor on the floor and want to know its resistance!

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Accessories, Wiring & Cables

Breadboard

• Breadboards allow us to quickly make a bunch of electronic connections with jumper wires (aka a circuit!).

Breadboard Leads (65 pack)

• Use these to connect components to your Photon2!
• Easily removable and do not require you to solder, so very useful in prototyping
• Get from point A to B with style and finesse

Stemma/QT ThingPlus Shield

• Connect your Stemma/QT devices to a Photon2 with this thing!
• Easily experiment with a number of modules in the kit without soldering
• Stemma/QT connector allows for quick connecting/disconnecting of sensor and output modules

USB cable

• Short USB-C to Micro USB cable. Enables you to connect the Particle Photon to a USB-C port.

JST 4-pin Short Cable

• This 4-wire cable is 50mm / 1.9" long and fitted with JST SH female 4-pin connectors on both ends.
• The color map:
  • Black for GND
  • Red for V+ - For Qwiic boards, 3.3V. For STEMMA QT, 3 to 5V.
  • Blue for SDA
  • Yellow for SCL

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Power (Battery, Charging, Management)

Lithium Ion (LiPo) Battery - 3.7V 2000mAh

• Rechargeable battery compatible with photon power connection as well as power management board.``
• 2000mAh will provide battery power for hours in non-optimized prototypes driving some actuation.

LiPo Charger Board

• Universal USB / DC / Solar Lithium Ion/Polymer Charger that can use USB, DC or Solar power
• wide 5-10V input voltage range
• The charger chip is smart, and will reduce the current draw if the input voltage starts to dip under 4.5V, making it a perfect solar charger
• USB Type C port for modern computers and chargers

JST 2-pin Extension Switch Cable

• turn your LiPo Battery on and off!
• very nice switch action!