Making an OpenLog Serial Logger from Spare Parts
Part of our makerspace access system involves an Arduino and an ESP8266. Mostly it works just fine, but every now and again the Arudino seems to lock up and stop working. Various attempts have been made to stop this happening, but so far to no avail. Leaving a laptop connected to the Arduino’s serial port for debugging wasn’t happening because it happens quite infrequently and no-one had a spare laptop to leave lying around. Enter the OpenLog ! You can buy OpenLog boards for just over £10 (less if you are willing to pay the China-wait-for-delivery-tarrif) but where’s the fun in that? I remembered that I had an SD card reader breakout board languishing unused in a drawer (it came with my 3d printer kit and I’ve never gotten round to fitting it). And who doesn’t have some random Arduino boards lying around? It should be simple to make one right? right? Nothing is ever quite so simple…. The Hardware My first thought was that I’d need a 3.3V Arduino, because SD cards all run on 3.3V. Of course the Pro-Minis that I had were 5V; curses! Okay so I’ll need a level shifter as well but a