How to Create a Simple Circuit with mySTEM Project Board

kristielAll Topics, NI | National Instruments, Tutorial

How to Create a Simple Circuit with mySTEM ™ Project Board

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If you are interested in controls education or electrical engineering, you’ll find the mySTEM™ Project Board is a useful attachment for your NI myDAQ. I won’t go into the technical specifications of the hardware, but if you’re curious, you can find that information on the mySTEM product page. Use the project board to plug into your National Instruments myDAQ to wire circuits, motors, switches, and more. In this post, you will learn how to wire a simple LED circuit and control its voltage using a computer as input.

Getting Started – What You Need:

Create a Simple LED Circuit with mySTEM Project Board & NI myDAQ

Create a Simple LED Circuit with mySTEM Project Board & NI myDAQ

Here is a list of the materials required to complete this project.

Watch the Video – See the Process in Action:

You can follow the step-by-step instructions below, but watching this short tutorial video should help make the process easier for you.

Instructions: Using mySTEM  to Create a Simple LED Circuit

Follow along with these instructions to create your simple circuit using the mySTEM project board.

  1. Connect the mySTEM project board to the myDAQ.
  2. Make sure the myDAQ is plugged into your computer via USB.
  3. Plug a black cable from the GND port to the negative section of the breadboard, as seen here:
    3.Plug a black cable from the GND port to the negative section of the breadboard

    Plug a black cable from the GND port to the negative section of the breadboard

  4. Plug the red cable into DIO socket 0 and connect it to an empty spot on the breadboard as seen here:
    mySTEM Red to DIO

    Plug the red cable into DIO socket 0 and connect it to an empty spot on the breadboard

  5. Plug the 220-Ohm resistor into the breadboard. One leg has to go into the row that the DIO 0 wire is in. The other leg has to go into an empty row. We need a resistor so that we don’t blow out the LED light. The mySTEM board is running 5v or higher. The resistor will help cut the current so that our LED doesn’t blow out.
    mySTEM 220 Ohm to Breadboard

    Plug the 220-Ohm resistor into the breadboard

  6. Lastly, wire the LED into the breadboard. The long leg will go onto the row with the resistor that is not connected to the red wire. The short leg will plug into the ground on the breadboard.
    mySTEM LED to BreadBoard

    Wire the LED into the breadboard

  7. Now, make sure your MyDAQ is plugged in and your computer is turned on.
  8. Go to your start menu and type “NI Elvis”. Open up the NI ELVISmx Instrument Launcher.
    mySTEM ELVISmx Instrument Launcher

    Open NI ELVISmx Instrument Launcher

  9. In the application, choose the “Digital Writer” option.
    ELVISmx Digital Writer

    Open NI ELVISmx Instrument Launcher

  10. You can turn the LED on and off using the 0 channel and switching it to high or low.
    LED On Off Controls

    Turn the LED on and off using the 0 channel, selecting high or low

That’s all there is to it! You now have a working LED circuit that you can control from your computer.

Create More with the mySTEM Project Board

Hopefully, this post has given you some introductory insight into the mySTEM project board. Once you have a variety of circuits, switches, motors, etc. then you can create some really fun and exciting projects! The ability to connect it to the NI myDAQ and control input and output using LabVIEW is very useful.

Blogger: Mark Philipp, Application Engineer at Studica

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