Kit Construction Question: Component Voltages

[shockyzn]

Good day Sir
I am new to the forum and I have downloaded the component listing from the site.
1. What voltage should the capacitors be? I've been looking for the components and noticed that they vary in voltage (16v, 25v, 50v, etc)
2. I need an Arduino board to program the chip, can an Arduino board not be converted into a midi sprout as well?

Thank you

[sam]

The capacitors can mostly be any value, since we are only dealing with low voltages (~5v).  essentially you want to have caps rated for at least double the operating voltage, so 16v would be file.  But I'd say "any caps from your junk bin should be able to build the galvanometer with a 100k resistor and the magical 555 timer IC".

For your second question, yes it is very easy to use an Arduino Uno (or any arduino) to run the Biodata code and attach to the 555 galvanometer circuit.  I have instructions to build a 'Biodata Arduino Shield' on my github site here. I also have kits for the Arduino Shield with solderable circuit board (kit or assembled by request) available in my Electricity for Progress Store.