Accumulator?

[21fogo]

I am wanting to design a charity collection box where, as the money enters the slot it triggers an infrared beam, this then triggers a solenoid to ding a bell, and the power is then sent to an LED bulb on the top of an oversized ‘candle’ on a 1 metre high pretend ‘cake’. The idea is to encourage the donor to put more money in, so I would like the bulb to be dim on the first donation, brighter on the next, and brightest on the third. So would there need to be a sort of accumulator if that is the correct phrase?

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Use a micro-controller, this will allow you to do anything you wish plus easily upgrade and alter it at any time.

An Arduino would be an easy choice.

 

[21fogo]

Fabulous! Thank you for your speedy reply. I will let you know how I get on.

 

[21fogo]

I am a complete novice at this, and I am excited to learn. If I bought two arduino nanos, could you suggest a project I can get my grandson (aged 13) started on at the same time please? Are there any easy starter kits?

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

There are countless Arduino starter kits, I would suggest getting a Uno as it's the usual starting point - you can then move the final product to a Nano once you've got it sorted out.

You might like to have a look here:

Random Nerd Tutorials | Learn ESP32, ESP8266, Arduino, and Raspberry Pi

Random Nerd Tutorials helps makers, hobbyists and engineers build electronics projects. We make projects with: ESP32, ESP8266, Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Home Automation and Internet of Things. If you want to learn electronics and programming, you're in the right place.

randomnerdtutorials.com

One of many useful sites.

 

[gophert]

I am a complete novice at this, and I am excited to learn. If I bought two arduino nanos, could you suggest a project I can get my grandson (aged 13) started on at the same time please? Are there any easy starter kits?

Once you install the "Arduino IDE" on your computer (so you can write the code), you select your Arduino board (Nano or Uno or whatever) then a bunch of examples are available under the FILE menu selection. Most people start with BLINK, to flash an LED. The examples are a fully functioning "script" (short piece of code).

if you don't have an LED, you can have the Arduino spit text or numbers back to the "serial monitor" on the lap top but you'll need a script that handles Serial Communication or just look it up, it is avery common feature and takes only two instructions.

 

[21fogo]

Thank you both, I am excited to start.