Solarbotics has teamed up with Oomlout to produce their clever Arduino Experimenter’s Kit here in North America. This version comes without an Arduino!

Note: This is exactly the same kit as our standard ARDX, but without the Arduino & USB cable. Add your own Arduino or Freeduino SB (and USB cable)!

This open-source project features 11 experiments that are step-by-step simple, and with a full-colour template overlay for your breadboard, you’re unlikely to go wrong. We’ve combed through the documentation to make it as clear and concise as we can, and have re-posted it back up to the archive at http://www.ardx.org (ain’t open-source cooperation great?).

We’ve selected hardware for our version of the kit that easily meets or exceeds the requirements of the Experimenter’s Kit. Of particular note are:

• 12 colour breadboard template overlay sheets. These make it very simple to accurately mount your components to the breadboard.
• Pin these down with the supplied pins and connect to the 5-cell AA battery pack holder. 7.5V means the 5V power regulator on your Arduino / Freeduino-SB will run perfectly with no fear of a voltage sag.
• Large 11 x 7″ plastic case has plenty of space for your whole experimenter’s package – even the manual!
• Larger-than-normal 10 x 6 x 3/8″ 32 page manual is easier to read than a folded 8.5×5.5″ half-sheet manual.

The rest of the kit contains a veritable plethora (“lots of neat things”), including:

• 300 point breadboard
• Laser cut color acrylic base-plate (colors may vary)
• 70-piece flexible jumper wire bundle (these are nice)
• 10 x Red 5mm LEDs
• 11 x Green 5mm LEDs
• 1 x Massive 10mm blue LED
• 1 x DC Motor
• 1 x Mini Servo
• 1 x 74HC595 8-bit shift register IC
• 1 x Piezo Speaker/sensor element
• 2 x Pushbuttons
• 1 x 10k Trimpot with handy finger-sized knob
• 1 x Photo resistor
• 1 x TMP36 Temperature sensor
• 1 x 5V DPDT relay
• 2 x 2n2222 transistors
• 25 x 560 ohm resistors
• 3 x 2.2k resistors
• 3 x 10k resistors
• 2 x 1N4001 diodes
• Arduino-to-acrylic base mounting hardware
• 4 x 2-pin male headers (for pinning the templates to the breadboard)
• 1 x 20-pin male header (for pinning down templates to other breadboards at the same time)

It’s a great way to get started with Arduino. With a laptop (with Internet to download code samples) and this bundle, you really can just sit down and get right to work!