Hi guys, I’m working on a project where i need to log the date and time whenever a trigger is activated.
I've had a couple launchpads laying around that I never got around to using so I thought this would be a great first project for them. I'm kind of cheating because I don't know too much about micro controllers or electronics (although I am good with a soldering gun), Instead of implementing the launchpad to log the date and time and save to an sd card, I’m using the launchpad to control an 808 key chain camera which takes care of the date and time and also saving to a micro sd card. I'm going this route because i don’t really know too much about coding. This way the 808 camera does the hard work of keeping time as long as it stays powered.
So far what I’ve done is open the 808 camera and solder a 4 pin female header that i glued to the case which connects to power, ground and the two push buttons. Ive also made a small proto board with a msp430 and a male 4 pin header that connects to the camera getting its power and ground from it and also control the push buttons. My code is sloppy but I’ve managed to get the MSP430 to turn the camera on, take a picture which has the date and time water marked in it, and then shut off the camera. But this just keeps running in an endless loop and what I want to do is make it so that when a switch is activated, then turn the camera on and take a picture then shut off the camera to conserve power. That's where I’m stuck because i don’t know how to code for a button to activate the process off turning the camera on, taking a pic and turning the camera off.
here's a short video of what i have so far: