Overview

Accelerometers can be used to sense changes in force, such in movement, shock, and position. Since accelerometers are affected by the acceleration of gravity, they can be used to measure tilt and their relation to the earth's surface. 

This is a simple little handheld project that will let us measure angles and inclines using TinyCircuits.  We'll be using an accelerometer to measure the angle of an incline and then display the angle to a 7 segment display, and we'll be powering the system off a small coin cell battery. No soldering is needed and this only takes a few minutes to put together.  

Materials Needed

Hardware

• TinyDuino Processor Board and USB TinyShield and Accelerometer TinyShield OR TinyZero with on-board Accelerometer 
• 7-Segment display TinyShield

Software

• Arduino IDE 
• Inclinometer Arduino code

Assembly

Assembly for this project is fairly simple, no soldering is needed.  

Plug the TinyDuino Processor, USB TinyShield, Accelerometer TinyShield (OR just the TinyZero with accelerometer) and 7-segment TinyShield together into a TinyDuino stack. Connect the stack to your computer using a USB Cable and upload the sketch found under Software to your processor. 

Note: After programming is complete, you can remove the USB TinyShield to make the size of your TinyDuino stack smaller and run off the battery.

Operation

Once programmed, you should see the 7-segment display measuring the angle of the board in relation to the ground.  Rotate the display and you should see the numbers change as it's reading new angles.