Exploring Arduino: Tools and Techniques for Engineering Wizardry

CHAPTER 13

Data Logging with SD Cards

Parts You'll Need for This Chapter

Arduino (Uno recommended)

USB cable

Arduino power supply (DC, USB, or battery pack)

IR distance sensor

Real-time clock breakout (or self-assembled RTC circuit)

SD card shield

SD card

Jumper wires

Breadboard

Computer with SD card reader

CODE AND DIGITAL CONTENT FOR THIS CHAPTER

Code downloads, video, and other digital content for this chapter can be found at www.exploringarduino.com/content/ch13.

In addition, all code can be found at www.wiley.com/go/exploringarduino on the Download Code tab. The code is in the chapter 13 download and individually named according to the names throughout the chapter.

There are countless examples of Arduinos being used to log weather conditions, atmospheric conditions from weather balloons, building entry data, electrical loads in buildings, and much more. Given their small size, minimal power consumption, and ease of interfacing with a vast array of sensors, Arduinos are an obvious choice for building data loggers, which are devices that record and store information over a period of time. Data loggers are often deployed into all kinds of environments to collect environmental or user data and to store it into some kind of nonvolatile memory, such as an SD card. In this chapter, you learn everything you could want to know about interfacing with an SD card from an Arduino. You learn how to both write data to a file and how to read existing information off an SD card. You use ...