Ask Manual Rev 5

Earthshine Electronics
www.EarthshineElectronics.com
Arduino Starter Kit Manual

A Complete Beginners Guide to the Arduino
©2009 M.McRoberts - Earthshine Design www.EarthshineElectronics.com

Earthshine Electronics Arduino Starters Kit Manual - A Complete Beginners Guide to the Arduino
Earthshine Design
Arduino Starters Kit Manual

A Complete Beginners guide to the Arduino
By Mike McRoberts
2
©2009 M.R.McRoberts
Published 2009 by Earthshine Electronics
www.earthshineelectronics.com
Design: Mike McRoberts
First Edition - May 2009

Revision 1 - July 2009
Revision 2 - September 2009
Revision 3 - March 2010
Revision 4 - August 2010
Revision 5 - August 2010
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PLAIN LANGUAGE SUMMARY:

You are free:
to Share - to copy, distribute and transmit the work
Under the following conditions:
Attribution - You must attribute this work to Mike McRoberts and Earthshine Electronics (with link)
Noncommercial - You may not use this work for commercial purposes.
No Derivative Works - You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work.
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
Disclaimer
The information contained in this eBook is for general information purposes only. The information is provided by Mike McRoberts of
Earthshine Design and whilst we endeavour to keep the information up-to-date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of
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is therefore strictly at your own risk.
5
Contents
Introduction 7 Project 11 - Piezo Sounder Melody Player 66
The Starter Kit Contents 8 ! Code Overview 68
What exactly is an Arduino? 9 ! Hardware Overview 70
Getting Started 11 Project 12 - Serial Temperature Sensor 71
Upload your first sketch 13 ! Code Overview 73
The Arduino IDE 15 ! Hardware Overview 75
The Projects 19 Project 13 - Light Sensor 76
Project 1 - LED Flasher 21 ! Code Overview 78
! Code Overview 22 ! Hardware Overview 79
! Hardware Overview 25 Project 14 - Shift Register 8-Bit Binary Counter 80
Project 2 - SOS Morse Code Signaller 29 ! The Binary Number System 83
Project 3 - Traffic Lights 32 ! Code Overview 86
Project 4 - Interactive Traffic Lights 34 ! Bitwise Operators 87
! Code Overview 37 ! Code Overview (continued) 88
Project 5 - LED Chase Effect 41 Project 15 - Dial 8-Bit Binary Counters 89
! Code Overview 42 ! Code & Hardware Overview 92
Project 6 - Interactive LED Chase Effect 44 Project 16 - LED Dot Matrix - Basic Animation 93
! Hardware Overview 46 ! Code Overview 99
Project 7 - Pulsating Lamp 48
! Code Overview 49
Project 8 - Mood Lamp 51
! Code Overview 52
Project 9 - LED Fire Effect 55
! Code Overview 56
Project 10 - Serial Controlled Mood Lamp 58
! Code Overview 60
6
Introduction
Everything will be explained in clear and easy to follow
steps. The book contains a lot of diagrams and
photographs to make it as easy as possible to check
that you are following along with the project correctly.
What you will need
Firstly, you will need access to the internet to be able

Thank you for purchasing the Earthshine Electronics to download the Arduino IDE (Integrated Development
Arduino Starter Kit. You are now well on your way in Environment) and to also download the Code Samples
your journey into the wonderful world of the Arduino within this book (if you donʼt want to type them out
and microcontroller electronics. yourself) and also any code libraries that may be
necessary to get your project working.
This book will guide you, step by step, through using
the Starter Kit to learn about the Arduino hardware, You will need a well lit table or other flat surface to lay
software and general electronics theory. Through the out your components and this will need to be next to
use of electronic projects we will take you from the your desktop or laptop PC to enable you to upload the
level of complete beginner through to having an code to the Arduino. Remember that you are working
intermediate set of skills in using the Arduino. with electricity (although low voltage DC) and
therefore a metal table or surface will first need to be
The purpose of this book and the kit is to give you a covered in a non-conductive material (e.g. tablecloth,
gentle introduction to the Arduino, electronics and paper, etc.) before laying out your materials.
programming in C and to set you up with the
necessary skills needed to progress beyond the book Also of some benefit, although not essential, may be a
and the kit into the world of the Arduino and pair of wire cutters, a pair of long nosed pliers and a
microcontroller electronics. wire stripper.
The booklet has been written presuming that you have A notepad and pen will also come in handy for drawing
no prior knowledge of electronics, the Arduino out rough schematics, working out concepts and
hardware, software environment or of computer designs, etc.
programming. At no time will we get too deep into
electronics or programming in C. There are many Finally, the most important thing you will need is
other resources available for free that will enable you enthusiasm and a willingness to learn. The Arduino is
to learn a lot more about this subject if you wish to go designed as a simple and cheap way to get involved in
further. The best possible way to learn the Arduino, microcontroller electronics and nothing is too hard to
after using this kit of course, is to join the Arduino learn if you are willing to at least ʻgive it a goʼ. The
Forum on the Arduino website and to check out the Earthshine Design Arduino Starter Kit will help you on
code and hardware examples in the ʻPlaygroundʼ that journey and introduce you to this exciting and
section of the Arduino website too. creative hobby.
We hope you enjoy using the kit and get satisfaction
from creating the projects and seeing your creations
come to life. Mike McRoberts
mike@earthshineelectronics.com
How to use it May 2009
The book starts off with an introduction to the Arduino,

how to set up the hardware, install the software, etc.
We then explain the Arduino IDE and how to use it
before we dive right into some projects progressing
from very basic stuff through to advanced topics. Each
project will start off with a description of how to set up
the hardware and what code is needed to get it
working. We will then describe separately the code
and the hardware and explain in some detail how it
works.
7
The Starter Kit Contents

Please note that your kit contents may look slightly different to those listed here
8
What exactly is an Arduino?

speed) and a 5-volt linear regulator. Depending on
what type of Arduino you have, you may also have a
USB connector to enable it to be connected to a PC or
Mac to upload or retrieve data. The board exposes the
microcontrollerʼs I/O (Input/Output) pins to enable you
to connect those pins to other circuits or to sensors,
etc.
To program the Arduino (make it do what you want it

to) you also use the Arduino IDE (Integrated
Development Environment), which is a piece of free
software, that enables you to program in the language
Now that you are a proud owner of an Arduino, or an that the Arduino understands. In the case of the
Arduino clone, it might help if you knew what it was Arduino the language is C. The IDE enables you to
and what you can do with it. write a computer program, which is a set of step-by-
step instructions that you then upload to the Arduino.
In its simplest form, an Arduino is a tiny computer that Then your Arduino will carry out those instructions and
you can program to process inputs and outputs going interact with the world outside. In the Arduino world,
to and from the chip. programs are known as ʻSketchesʼ.
The Arduino is what is known as a Physical or

Embedded Computing platform, which means that it is
an interactive system, that through the use of
hardware and software can interact with itʼs
environment.
For example, a simple use of the Arduino would be to

turn a light on for a set period of time, letʼs say 30
seconds, after a button has been pressed (we will
build this very same project later in the book). In this
example, the Arduino would have a lamp connected to
it as well as a button. The Arduino would sit patiently
waiting for the button to be pressed. When you press
the button it would then turn the lamp on and start
counting. Once it had counted 30 seconds it would
then turn the lamp off and then carry on sitting there
waiting for another button press. You could use this
set-up to control a lamp in an under-stairs cupboard
for example. You could extend this example to sense
when the cupboard door was opened and
automatically turn the light on, turning it off after a set
period of time.
The Arduino hardware and software are both Open
The Arduino can be used to develop stand-alone
Source, which means the code, the schematics,
interactive objects or it can be connected to a
design, etc. are all open for anyone to take freely and
computer to retrieve or send data to the Arduino and
do what they like with it.
then act on that data (e.g. Send sensor data out to the
internet).
This means there is nothing stopping anyone from
The Arduino can be connected to LEDʼs. Dot Matrix
taking the schematics and PCB designs of the Arduino
displays, LED displays, buttons, switches, motors,
and making their own and selling them. This is
temperature sensors, pressure sensors, distance
perfectly legal, and indeed the whole purpose of Open
sensors, webcams, printers, GPS receivers, ethernet
Source, and indeed the Freeduino that comes with the
modules,
Earthshine Design Arduino Starter Kit is a perfect
The Arduino board is made of an an Atmel AVR
example of where someone has taken the Arduino
Microprocessor, a crystal or oscillator (basically a
PCB design, made their own and are selling it under
crude clock that sends time pulses to the
the Freeduino name. You could even make your own
microcontroller to enable it to operate at the correct
9
Arduino, with just a few cheap components, on a Then, for a couple of quid or bucks you can replace
breadboard. the AVR chip in your Arduino with a new one. The chip
must be pre-programmed with the Arduino Bootloader
The only stipulation that the Arduino development to enable it to work with the Arduino IDE, but you can
team put on outside developers is that the Arduino either burn the Bootloader yourself if you purchase an
name can only be used exclusively by them on their AVR Programmer, or you can buy these pre-
own products and hence the clone boards have programmed from many suppliers around the world.
names such as Freeduino, Boarduino, Roboduino, etc. Of course, Earthshine Design provide pre-
programmed Arduino chips in itʼ store for a very
As the designs are open source, any clone board, reasonable price.
such as the Freeduino, is 100% compatible with the
Arduino and therefore any software, hardware, If you do a search on the Internet by simply typing
shields, etc. will all be 100% compatible with a ʻArduinoʼ into the search box of your favourite search
genuine Arduino. engine, you will be amazed at the huge amount of
websites dedicated to the Arduino. You can find a
mind boggling amount of information on projects made
with the Arduino and if you have a project in mind, will
easily find information that will help you to get your
project up and running easily.
The Arduino is an amazing device and will enable you

to make anything from interactive works of art to
robots. With a little enthusiasm to learn how to
program the Arduino and make it interact with other
components a well as a bit of imagination, you can
build anything you want.
This book and the kit will give you the necessary skills
needed to get started in this exciting and creative
The Arduino can also be extended with the use of hobby.
ʻShieldsʼ which are circuit boards containing other
devices (e.g. GPS receivers, LCD Displays, Ethernet So, now you know what an Arduino is and what you
connections, etc.) that you can simply slot into the top can do with it, letʼs open up the starter kit and dive
of your Arduino to get extra functionality. You donʼt right in.
have to use a shield if you donʼt want to as you can
make the exact same circuitry using a breadboard,
some veroboard or even by making your own PCBʼs.
There are many different variants of the Arduino

available. The most common one is the Diecimila or
the Duemilanove. You can also get Mini, Nano and
Bluetooth Arduinoʼs.
New to the product line is the new Arduino Mega with
increased memory and number of I/O pins.
Probably the most versatile Arduino, and hence the

reason it is the most popular, is the Duemilanove. This
is because it uses a standard 28 pin chip, attached to
an IC Socket. The beauty of this systems is that if you
make something neat with the Arduino and then want
to turn it into something permanent (e.g. Or under-
stairs cupboard light), then instead of using the
relatively expensive Arduino board, you can simply
use the Arduino to develop your device, then pop the
chip out of the board and place it into your own circuit
board in your custom device. You would then have
made a custom embedded device, which is really cool.
10
Getting Started
This section will presume you have a PC running If you have a Mac these are in the drivers directory.
Windows or a Mac running OSX (10.3.9 or later). If If you have an older Mac like a PowerBook, iBook, G4
you use Linux as your Operating System, then refer to or G5, you should use the PPC drivers:
the Getting Started instructions on the Arduino website FTDIUSBSerialDriver_v2_1_9.dmg. If you have
at http://www.arduino.cc/playground/Learning/Linux a newer Mac with an Intel chip, you need the Intel
d r i v e r s :
FTDIUSBSerialDriver_v2_2_9_Intel.dmg.
Double-click to mount the disk image and run the
included FTDIUSBSerialDriver.pkg.
The latest version of the drivers can be found on the
FTDI website.
Connect the Freeduino
First, make sure that the little power jumper, between

the power and USB sockets, is set to USB and not
EXTernal power (not applicable if you have a
Roboduino board, which has an Auto Power Select
function).
Get the Freeduino and the USB Cable Using this
jumper you can
Firstly, get your Freeduino board and lay it on the table either power the
in front of you. Take the USB cable board from the
and plug the B plug (the fatter USB port (good
squarer end) into the USB socket for low current
on the Freeduino. devices like
LEDʼs, etc.) or
At this stage do NOT connect the from an external
Freeduino to your PC or Mac yet. power supply (6-12V DC).
Download the Arduino IDE Now, connect the other end of the USB cable into the
USB socket on your PC or Mac. You will now see the
Download the Arduino IDE from the Arduino download small power LED (marked PWR above the RESET
page. As of the time of writing this book, the latest switch) light up to show you have power to the board.
IDE version is 0015. The file is a ZIP file so you will
need to uncompress it. Once the download has If you have a Mac, this stage of the process is
finished, unzip the file, making sure that you preserve complete and you can move on to the next Chapter. If
the folder structure as it is and do not make any you are using Windows, there are a few more steps to
changes. complete (Damn you Bill Gates!).
If you double-click the folder, you will see a few files

and sub-folders inside.
Install the USB Drivers
If you are using Windows you will find the drivers in

the drivers/FTDI USB
Drivers directory of the
Arduino distribution. In the
next stage (“Connect the
Freeduino”), you will point
Windowʼs Add New
Hardware wizard to these
drivers.
11
On Windows the Found New Hardware Wizard will Uncheck “Search removable media”. Check “Include
now open up as Windows will have detected that you this location in the search” and then click the
have connected a new piece of hardware (your Browse button. Browse to the location of the USB
Freeduino board) to your PC. Tell it NOT to connect to drivers and then click Next.
Windows update (Select No, not at this time) and
then click Next.
The wizard will now search for a suitable driver and

then tell you that a “USB Serial Convertor” has been
On the next page select “Install from a list or found and that the hardware wizard is now complete.
specific location (Advanced)” and click Next. Click Finish.
Make sure that “Search for the best driver in these You are now ready to upload your first Sketch.
locations” is checked.
12
Upload your first Sketch

you will see the Sketch inside the white code window.
Now, before we upload the Sketch, we need to tell the

IDE what kind of Arduino we are using and the details
of our USB port. Go to the file menu and click Tools,
then click on Board. You will be presented with a list of
all of the different kinds of Arduino board that can be
connected to the IDE. Our Freeduino board will either
be fitted with an Atmega328 or an Atmega168 chip so
choose “Arduino Duemilanove w/ATmega328” if you
have a 328 chip or “Arduino Diecimila or Duemilanove
w/ ATmega168” if you have a 168 chip.
Now that your Freeduino has been connected and the Now you need to tell the IDE the details of your USB
drivers for the USB chip have been installed, we are port, so now click on Tools again, scroll down to Serial
now ready to try out the Arduino for the first time and Port and a list of the available serial ports on your
upload your first Sketch. system will be displayed. You need to choose the one
that refers to your USB cable, which is usually listed
Navigate to your newly unzipped Arduino folder and as something like /dev/tty.usbserial-xxxx on a
look for the Arduino IDE icon, which looks something Mac or something like Com 4 on Windows so click on
like this.... that. If not sure, try each one till you find one that
works.
Double click the ICON to open up the
IDE. You will then be presented with a
blue and white screen with a default
sketch loaded inside.
This is the Arduino IDE (Integrated Development

Environment) and is where you will write your
Sketches (programs) to upload to your Arduino board.
Now that you have selected the correct board and
We will take a look at the IDE in a little more detail in USB port you are ready to upload the Blink Sketch to
the next chapter. For now, simply click File in the file the board.
menu and scroll down to
Sketchbook. Then scroll You can either click the Upload button, which is the 6th
down to Examples and button from the left at the top with an arrow pointing to
c l i c k i t . Yo u w i l l b e the right (hover your mouse pointer over the buttons to
presented with a list of see what they are) or by clicking on File in the file
Example sketches that you menu and scrolling down to Upload to I/O Board and
can use to try out your clicking on that.
Arduino. Now click on
Digital and inside there you Presuming everything has been set up correctly you
will find an example Sketch called Blink. Click on this. will now see the RX and TX LEDʼs (and also LED 13)
on the Freeduino flash on and off very quickly as data
The Blink is uploaded to the board. You will see Uploading to I/O
Sketch will Board.... Just below the code window too.
now be
loaded into
the IDE and
13
Once the data has been uploaded to the board

successfully you will get a Done Uploading message If so, congratulations, you have just successfully
in the IDE and the RX/TX LEDʼs will stop flashing. installed your Arduino, uploaded and ran your first
sketch.
The Arduino will now reset itself and immediately start
to run the Sketch that you have just uploaded. We will now explain a bit more about the Arduino IDE
and how to use it before moving onto the projects that
The Blink sketch is you can carry out using the hardware supplied with the
a very simple sketch kit. For our first project we will carry out this Blink LED
that blinks LED 13, sketch again, but this time using an LED that we will
which is a tiny green physically connect to one of the digital output pins on
LED soldered to the the Arduino. We will also explain the hardware and
board and also software involved in this simple project. But first, letʼs
connected to Digital take a closer look at the Arduino IDE.
Pin 13 from the
Microcontroller, and
will make it flash on
and off every 1000 milliseconds, or 1 second.
If your sketch has uploaded successfully, you will now
see this LED happily flashing on and off slowly on your
board.
14
The Arduino IDE
When you open up the Arduino IDE it will look very The Toolbar consists of 7 buttons, underneath the
similar to the image above. If you are using Windows Toolbar is a tab, or set of tabs, with the filename of the
or Linux there will be some slight differences but the code within the tab. There is also one further button on
IDE is pretty much the same no matter what OS you the far right hand side.
are using.
Along the top is the file menu with drop down menus
The IDE is split up into the Toolbar across the top, the headed under File, Edit, Sketch, Tools and Help. The
code or Sketch Window in the centre and the Serial buttons in the Toolbar provide convenient access to
Output window at the bottom. the most commonly used functions within this file
menu.
15
Verify/ Serial
Stop New Open Save Upload
Compile Monitor
The Toolbar buttons are listed above. The functions of each button are as follows :-
Verify/Compile Checks the code for errors
Stop Stops the serial monitor, or un-highlights other buttons
New Creates a new blank Sketch
Open Shows a list of Sketches in your sketchbook
Save Saves the current Sketch
Upload Uploads the current Sketch to the Arduino
Serial Monitor Displays serial data being sent from the Arduino
The Verify/Compile button is used to check that your The Upload to I/O Board button will upload the code
code is correct, before you upload it to your Arduino. within the current sketch window to your Arduino. You
need to make sure that you have the correct board
The Stop button will stop the Serial Monitor from and port selected (in the Tools menu) before
operating. It will also un-highlight other selected uploading. It is essential that you Save your sketch
buttons. Whilst the Serial Monitor is operating you may before you upload it to your board in case a strange
wish to press the Stop button to obtain a ʻsnapshotʼ of error causes your system to hang or the IDE to crash.
the serial data so far to examine it. This is particularly It is also advisable to Verify/Compile the code before
useful if you are sending data out to the Serial Monitor you upload to ensure there are no errors that need to
quicker than you can read it. be debugged first.
The New button will create a completely new and The Serial Monitor is a very useful tool, especially for
blank Sketch read for you to enter code into. The IDE debugging your code. The monitor displays serial data
will ask you to enter a name and a location for your being sent out from your Arduino (USB or Serial
Sketch (try to use the default location if possible) and board). You can also send serial data back to the
will then give you a blank Sketch ready to be coded. Arduino using the Serial Monitor. If you click the Serial
The tab at the top of the Sketch will now contain the Monitor button you will be presented with an image
name you have given to your new sketch. like the one above.
The Open button will present you with a list of On the left hand side you can select the Baud Rate
Sketches stored within your sketchbook as well as a that the serial data is to be sent to/from the Arduino.
list of Example sketches you can try out with various The Baud Rate is the rate, per second, that state
peripherals once connected. changes or bits (data) are sent to/from the board. The
default setting is 9600 baud, which means that if you
The Save button will save the code within the sketch were to send a text novel over the serial
window to your sketch file. Once complete you will get communications line (in this case your USB cable)
a ʻDone Saving message at the bottom of the code then 9600 letters, or symbols, of the novel, would be
window. sent per second.
16
To the right of this is a blank text box for you to enter Across the top of the IDE window (or across the top of
text to send back to the Arduino and a Send button to your screen if you are using a Mac) you will see the
send the text within that field. Note that no serial data various menus that you can click on to access more
can be received by the Serial Monitor unless you have menu items.
set up the code inside your sketch to do so. Similarly,
the Arduino will not receive any data sent unless you
have coded it to do so.
The menu bar across the top of the IDE looks like the
Finally, the black area is where your serial data will be
image above (and slightly different in Windows and
displayed. In the image above, the Arduino is running
Linux). I will explain the menus as they are on a Mac,
the ASCIITable sketch, that can be found in the
the details will also apply to the Windows and Linux
Communications examples. This program outputs
versions of the IDE.
ASCII characters, from the Arduino via serial (the USB
cable) to the PC where the Serial monitor then
The first menu is the Arduino
displays them.
menu. Within this is the
About Arduino option, which
To start the Serial Monitor press the Serial Monitor
when pressed will show you
button and to stop it press the Stop button. On a Mac
the current version number, a
or in Linux, Arduino board will reset itself (rerun the
list of the people involved in
code from the beginning) when you click the Serial
making this amazing device
Monitor button.
and some further information.
Once you are proficient at communicating via serial to
Underneath that is the
and from the Arduino you can use other programs
Preferences option. This will
such as Processing, Flash, MaxMSP, etc. To
bring up the Preferences
communicate between the Arduino and your PC.
window where you can change various IDe options,
such as were you default Sketchbook is stored, etc.
We will make use of the Serial Monitor later on in our
projects when we read data from sensors and get the
Also, is the Quit option, which will Quit the program.
Arduino to send that data to the Serial Monitor, in
human readable form, for us to see.
The next menu is the
File menu. In here you
The Serial Monitor window is also were you will see
get access to options to
error messages (in red text) that the IDE will display to
create a New sketch,
you when trying to connect to your board, upload code
take a look at Sketches
or verify code.
stored in your
Sketchbook (as well as
Below the Serial Monitor at the bottom left you will see
the Example Sketches),
a number. This is the current line that the cursor,
options to Save your
within the code window, is at. If you have code in your
Sketch (or Save As if
window and you move down the lines of code (using
you want to give it a different name). You also have
the ↓ key on your keyboard) you will see the number the option to upload your sketch to the I/O Board
increase as you move down the lines of code. This is (Arduino) as well as the Print options for printing out
useful for finding bugs highlighted by error messages. your code.
17
Next is the Edit menu. In here you The next menu in the
get options to enable you to Cut, IDE is the Tools menu.
Copy and Paste sections of code. Within this are the
Select All of your code as well as options to select the
Find certain words or phrases Board and Serial Port
within the code. Also included are we are using, as we did
the useful Undo and Redo options when setting up the
which come in handy when you Arduino for the first time.
make a mistake. Also we have the Auto
Format function that
Our next menu is the Sketch menu which gives us formats your code to make it look nicer.
access to the Verify/Compile functions and some other
useful functions you The Copy for Forum option will copy the code within
will use later on. the Sketch window, but in a format that when pasted
These include the into the Arduino forum (or most other Forums for that
Import Library option, matter) will show up the same as it is in the IDE, along
which when clicked with syntax colouring, etc.
will bring up a list of
the available The Archive Sketch option will enable you to compress
libraries, stored your sketch into a ZIP file and asks you were you want
within your to store it.
libraries folder.
Finally, the Burn Bootloader option can be used to
A Library, is a collection of code, that you can include burn the Arduino Bootloader (piece of code on the chip
in your sketch, to enhance the functionality of your to make it compatible with the Arduino IDE) to the
project. It is a way of preventing you from ʻre-inventing chip. This option can only be used if you have an AVR
the wheelʼ by reusing code already made by someone programmer and have replaced the chip in your
else for various pieces of common hardware you may Arduino or have bought blank chips to use in your own
encounter whilst using the Arduino. embedded project. Unless you plan on burning lots of
chips it is usually cheaper and easier to just buy an
For example, one of the libraries you will find is ATmega chip with the Arduino Bootloader already pre-
Stepper, which is a set of functions you can use programmed. Many online stores stock pre-
within your code to control a Stepper Motor. programmed chips and obviously these can be found
Somebody else has kindly already created all of the in the Earthshine Design store.
necessary functions necessary to control a stepper
motor and by including the Stepper library into our The final menu is the Help menu were you can find
sketch we can use those functions to control the motor help menus for finding out more information about the
as we wish. By storing commonly used code in a IDE or links to the reference pages of the Arduino
library, you can re-use that code over and over in website and other useful pages.
different projects and also hide the complicated parts
of the code from the user. Donʼt worry too much about using the IDE for now as
you will pick up the important concepts and how to use
We will go into greater detail concerning the use of it properly as we work our way through the projects.
libraries later on. Finally within the Sketch menu is the So, on that note, letʼs get on with it.
Show Sketch Menu option, which will open up the
folder were your Sketch is stored. Also, there is the
Add File option which will enable you to add another
source file to your Sketch. This functionality allows you
to split larger sketches into smaller files and then Add
them to the main Sketch.
18
Earthshine Design Arduino Starters Kit Manual - A Complete Beginners Guide to the Arduino
Earthshine Design
Arduino Starters Kit Manual
A Complete Beginners guide to the Arduino
The Projects 19
Project 1
LED Flasher
20
Project 1 - LED Flasher

In this project we are going to repeat what we did in
setting up and testing the Arduino, that is to blink an It doesnʼt matter if you use different coloured wires or
LED. However, this time we are going to use one of use different holes on the breadboard as long as the
the LEDʼs in the kit and you will also learn about some components and wires are connected in the same
electronics and coding in C along the way. order as the picture. Be careful when insterting
components into the Breadboard. The Breadboard is
What you will need brand new and the grips in the holes will be stiff to
begin with. Failure to insert components carefully
could result in damage.
Make sure that your LED is connected the right way

Breadboard with the longer leg connected to Digital Pin 10. The
long led is the Anode of the LED and always must go
to the +5v supply (in this case coming out of Digital
Pin 10) and the short leg is the Cathode and must go
to Gnd (Ground).
Red LED
When you are happy that everything is connected up
correctly, power up your Arduino and connect the USB
cable.
150Ω Resistor
Enter the code
Now, open up the Arduino IDE and type in the

Jumper Wires following code :-
// Project 1 - LED Flasher

Connect it up
int ledPin = 10;
Now, first make sure that your Arduino is powered off.
You can do this either by unplugging the USB cable or void setup() {
! pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);
by taking out the Power Selector Jumper on the
}
Arduino board. Then connect everything up like this :-
void loop() {
! digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);
! delay(1000);
! digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);
! delay(1000);
}
Now press the Verify/Compile button at the top of the

IDE to make sure there are no errors in your code. If
this is successful you can now click the Upload button
to upload the code to your Arduino.
If you have done everything right you should now see

the Red LED on the breadboard flashing on and off
every second.
Now letʼs take a look at the code and the hardware

and find out how they both work.
21
Project 1 - Code Overview

// Project 1 - LED Flasher The next line of the program is
int ledPin = 10; int ledPin = 10;
void setup() { This is what is know as a variable. A variable is a

place to store data. In this case you are setting up a
}
variable of type int or integer. An integer is a number
void loop() { within the range of -32,768 to 32,767. Next you have
! digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH); assigned that integer the name of ledPin and have
! delay(1000); given it a value of 10. We didnʼt have to call it ledPin,
! digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW); we could have called it anything we wanted to. But, as
! delay(1000); we want our variable name to be descriptive we call it
} ledPin to show that the use of this variable is to set
which pin on the Arduino we are going to use to
So letʼs take a look at the code for this project. Our connect our LED. In this case we are using Digital Pin
first line is 10. At the end of this statement is a semi-colon. This is
a symbol to tell the compiler that this statement is now
// Project 1 - LED Flasher complete.
This is simply a comment in your code and is ignored Although we can call our variables anything we want,
by the compiler (the part of the IDE that turns your every variable name in C must start with a letter, the
code into instructions the Arduino can understand rest of the name can consist of letters, numbers and
before uploading it). Any text entered behind a // underscore characters. C recognises upper and lower
command will be ignored by the compiler and is simply case characters as being different. Finally, you cannot
there for you, or anyone else that reads your code. use any of C's keywords like main, while, switch etc as
Comments are essential in your code to help you variable names. Keywords are constants, variables
understand what is going on and how your code and function names that are defined as part of the
works. Comments can also be put after commands as Arduino language. Donʼt use a variable name that is
in the next line of the program. the same as a keyword. All keywords within the sketch
will appear in red.
Later on as your projects get more complex and your
code expands into hundreds or maybe thousands of So, you have set up an area in memory to store a
lines, comments will be vital in making it easy for you number of type integer and have stored in that area
to see how it works. You may come up with an the number 10. Imagine a variable as a small box
amazing piece of code, but if you go back and look at where you can keep things. A variable is called a
that code days, weeks or months alter, you may forget variable because you can change it. Later on we will
how it all works. Comments will help you understand it carryout mathematical calculations on variables to
easily. Also, if your code is meant to be seen by other make our program do more advanced stuff.
people (and as the whole ethos of the Arduino, and
indeed the whole Open Source community is to share Next we have our setup() function
code and schematics. We hope when you start
making your own cool stuff with the Arduino you will be void setup() {
willing to share it with the world) then comments will ! pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);
enable that person to understand what is going on in }
your code.
An Arduino sketch must have a setup() and loop()
You can also put comments into a block statement by function otherwise it will not work. The setup() function
using the /* and */ commands. E.g. is run once and once only at the start of the program
and is where you will issue general instructions to
/* All of the text within prepare the program before the main loop runs, such
the slash and the asterisks as setting up pin modes, setting serial baud rates, etc.
is a comment and will be
ignored by the compiler */ Basically a function is a block of code assembled into
one convenient block. For example, if we created our
The IDE will automatically turn the colour of any own function to carry out a whole series of
commented text to grey. complicated mathematics that had many lines of code,
we could run that code as many times as we liked
simply by calling the function name instead of writing
22
Our setup function only has one statement and that is

pinMode. Here we are telling the Arduino that we want
to set the mode of one of our digital pins to be Output
mode, rather than Input. Within the parenthesis we put
the pin number and the mode (OUTPUT or INPUT).
Our pin number is ledPin, which has been previously
set to the value 10 in our program. Therefore, this
statement is simply telling the Arduino that the Digital
Pin 10 is to be set to OUTPUT mode.
As the setup() function runs only once, we now move

onto the main function loop.
void loop() {
out the code again each time. Later on we will go into ! delay(1000);
functions in more detail when we start to create our ! digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);
own. ! delay(1000);
In the case of our program the setup() function only }
has one statement to carry out. The function starts
with The loop() function is the main program function and
runs continuously as long as our Arduino is turned on.
void setup() Every statement within the loop() function (within the
curly braces) is carried out, one by one, step by step,
and here we are telling the compiler that our function until the bottom of the function is reached, then the
is called setup, that it returns no data (void) and that loop starts again at the top of the function, and so on
we pass no parameters to it (empty parenthesis). If forever or until you turn the Arduino off or press the
our function returned an integer value and we also had Reset switch.
integer values to pass to it (e.g. for the function to
process) then it would look something like this In this project we want the LED to turn on, stay on for
one second, turn off and remain off for one second,
int myFunc(int x, int y) and then repeat. Therefore, the commands to tell the
Arduino to do that are contained within the loop()
In this case we have created a function (or a block of function as we wish them to repeat over and over.
code) called myFunc. This function has been passed
two integers called X and Y. Once the function has The first statement is
finished it will then return an integer value to the point
after where our function was called in the program digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);
(hence int before the function name).
and this writes a HIGH or a LOW value to the digital
All of the code within the function is contained within pin within the statement (in this case ledPin, which is
the curly braces. A { symbol starts the block of code Digital Pin 10). When you set a digital pin to HIGH you
and a } symbol ends the block. Anything in between are sending out 5 volts to that pin. When you set it to
those two symbols is code that belongs to the LOW the pin becomes 0 volts, or Ground.
function.
This statement therefore sends out 5v to digital pin 10
We will go into greater detail about functions later on and turns the LED on.
so donʼt worry about them for now. All you need to
know is that in this program, we have two functions, After that is
the first function is called setup and itʼs purpose is to
setup anything necessary for our program to work delay(1000);
before the main program loop runs.
and this statement simply tells the Arduino to wait for
void setup() { 1000 milliseconds (to 1 second as there are 1000
! pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT); milliseconds in a second) before carrying out the next
} statement which is
digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);
23
which will turn off the power going to digital pin 10 and For example, if we wanted the LED to stay on for 2
therefore turn the LED off. There is then another delay seconds, then go off for half a second we could do
statement for another 1000 milliseconds and then the this:-
function ends. However, as this is our main loop()
function, the function will now start again at the void loop() {
beginning. By following the program structure step by ! digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);
step again we can see that it is very simple. ! delay(2000);
// Project 1 - LED Flasher ! delay(500);
}
int ledPin = 10;
or maybe you would like the LED to stay off for 5
void setup() { seconds and then flash briefly (250ms), like the LED
! pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT); indicator on a car alarm then you could do this:-
}
void loop() {
void loop() { ! digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);
! digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH); ! delay(250);
! delay(1000); ! digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);
! digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW); ! delay(5000);
! delay(1000); }
}
or make the LED flash on and off very fast
We start off by assigning a variable called ledPin,
giving that variable a value of 10. void loop() {
Then we move onto the setup() function where we ! delay(50);
simply set the mode for digital pin 10 as an output. ! digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);
! delay(50);
}
In the main program loop we set Digital Pin 10 to high,
sending out 5v. Then we wait for a second and then
By varying the on and off times of the LED you create
turn off the 5v to Pin 10, before waiting another
any effect you want. Well, within the bounds of a
second. The loop then starts again at the beginning
single LED going on and off that is.
and the LED will therefore turn on and off continuously
for as long as the Arduino has power.
Before we move onto something a little more exciting
letʼs take a look at the hardware and see how it works.
Now that you know this you can modify the code to
turn the LED on for a different period of time and also
turn it off for a different time period.
24
Project 1 - Hardware Overview

The hardware used for this project was :- The strips in the centre run at 90 degrees to the power
and ground rails in short lengths and there is a gap in
the middle to allow you to put Integrated Circuits
across the gap and
Breadboard have each pin of the
chip go to a different
set of holes and
Red LED therefore a different
rail.
The next component we have is a Resistor. A resistor

150Ω Resistor
is a device designed to cause ʻresistanceʼ to an
electric current and therefore cause a drop in voltage
across itʼs terminals. If you imagine a resistor to be
like a water pipe that is a lot thinner than the pipe
Jumper Wires connected to it. As the water (the electric current)
comes into the resistor, the pipe gets thinner and the
current coming out of the other end is therefore
The breadboard is a reusable solderless device used reduced. We use resistors to decrease voltage or
generally to prototype an electronic circuit or for current to other devices. The value of resistance is
experimenting with circuit designs. The board consists known as an Ohm and itʼs symbol is a greek Omega
of a series of holes in a grid and underneath the board symbol Ω.
these holes are connected by a strip of conductive
metal. The way those strips are laid out is typically In this case Digital Pin 10 is outputting 5 volts DC at
something like this:- (according to the Atmega datasheet) 40mA (milliamps)
and our LEDʼs require (according to their datasheet) a
voltage of 2v and a current of 20mA. We therefore
need to put in a resistor that will reduce the 5v to 2v
and the current from 40mA to 20mA if we want to
display the LED at itʼs maximum brightness. If we want
the LED to be dimmer we could use a higher value of
resistance.
To work out what resistor we need to do this we use

what is called Ohmʼs law which is I = V/R where I is
current, V is voltage and R is resistance. So to work
out the resistance we arrange the formula to be R = V/
I which is R = 3/0.02 which is 150 Ohms. V is 3
because we need the Voltage Drop, which is the
supply voltage (5v) minus the Forward Voltage (2v) of
The strips along the top and bottom run parallel to the the LED (found in the LED datasheet) which is 3v. We
board and are design to carry your power rail and your therefore need to find a 150Ω resistor. So how do we
ground rail. The components in the middle of the do that?
board can then conveniently connect to either 5v (or
whatever voltage you are using) and Ground. Some A resistor is too small to put writing onto that could be
breadboards have a red and a black line running readable by most people so instead resistors use a
parallel to these holes to show which is power (Red) colour code. Around the resistor you will typically find
and which is Ground (Black). On larger breadboards 4 coloured bands and by using the colour code in the
the power rail sometimes has a split, indicated by a chart on the next page you can find out the value of a
break in the red line. This is in case you want different resistor or what colour codes a particular resistance
voltages to go to different parts of your board. If you will be.
are using just one voltage a short piece of jumper wire
can be placed across this gap to make sure that the WARNING:
same voltage is applied along the whole length of the Always put a resistor (commonly known as a current
rail limiting resistor) in series with an LED. If you fail to
do this you will supply too much current to the LED
and it could blow or damage your circuit.
25
3rd Band 4th Band

Colour 1st Band 2nd Band
(multiplier) (tolerance)
Black 0 0 x100
Brown 1 1 x101 ±1%
Red 2 2 x102 ±2%
Orange 3 3 x103
Yellow 4 4 x104
Green 5 5 x105 ±0.5%
Blue 6 6 x106 ±0.25%
Violet 7 7 x107 ±0.1%
Grey 8 8 x108 ±0.05%
White 9 9 x109
Gold x10-1 ±5%
Silver x10-2 ±10%
None ±20%
We need a 150Ω resistor, so if we look at the colour Our final component is an LED (Iʼm sure you can
table we see that we need 1 in the first band, which is figure out what the jumper wires do for yourself),
Brown, followed by a 5 in the next band which is which stands for Light Emitting Diode. A Diode is a
Green and we then need to multiply this by 101 (in device that permits current to flow in only one
other words add 1 zero) which is Brown in the 3rd direction. So, it is just like a valve in a water system,
band. The final band is irrelevant for our purposes as but in this case it is letting electrical current to go in
this is the tolerance. Our resistor has a gold band and one direction, but if the current tried to reverse and go
therefore has a tolerance of ±5% which means the back in the opposite direction the diode would stop it
actual value of the resistor can vary between 142.5Ω from doing so. Diodes can be useful to prevent
and 157.5Ω. We therefore need a resistor with a someone from accidently connecting the Power and
Brown, Green, Brown, Gold colour band combination Ground to the wrong terminals in a circuit and
which looks like this:- damaging the components.
If we needed a 1K (or 1 kilo-ohm) An LED is the same thing, but it also emits light. LEDʼs
resistor we would need a Brown, Black, come in all kinds of different colours and brightnesses
Red combination (1, 0, +2 zeros). If we and can also emit light in the ultraviolet and infrared
needed a 570K resistor the colours part of the spectrum (like in the LEDʼs in your TV
would be Green, Violet and Yellow. remote control).
In the same way, if you found a resistor and wanted to If you look carefully at the LED you will notice two
know what value it is you would do the same in things. One is that the legs are of different lengths and
reverse. So if you found this resistor also that on one side of the LED, instead of it being
and wanted to find out what value it cylindrical, it is flattened. These are indicators to show
was so you could store it away in you which leg is the Anode (Positive) and which is the
your nicely labelled resistor storage Cathode (Negative). The longer leg gets connected to
box, we could look at the table to the Positive Supply (3.3v) and the leg with the
see it has a value of 220Ω. flattened side goes to Ground.
26
If you connect the LED the wrong way, it will not Supplied with your kit is an RGB LED, which is 3
damage it (unless you put very high currents through LEDʼs in a single package. An RGB LED has a Red,
it) and indeed you can make use of that ʻfeatureʼ as Green and a Blue (hence RGB) LED in one package.
we will see later on. The LED has 4 legs, one will be a common anode or
cathode, common to all 3 LEDʼs and the other 3 will
It is essential that you then go to the anode or cathode of the individual Red,
always put a resistor in Green and Blue LEDʼs. By adjusting the brightness
series with the LED to values of the R, G and B channels of the RGB LED
ensure that the correct you can get any colour you want. The same effect can
current gets to the LED. be obtained if you used 3 separate red, green and
You can permanently blue LEDʼs.
damage the LED if you
fail to do this. Now that you know how the components work and
how the code in this project works, letʼs try something
As well as single colour a bit more interesting.
resistors you can also
obtain bi-colour and tri-
colour LEDʼs. These will have several legs coming out
of them with one of them being common (i.e. Common
anode or common cathode).
27
Project 2
S.O.S. Morse Code Signaler
28
Project 2 - SOS Morse Code Signaler

What you will need
For this project we are going to leave // Project 2 - SOS Morse Code Signaler
the exact same circuit set up as in
Project 1, but will use some different // LED connected to digital pin 10
code to make the LED display a int ledPin = 10;
message in Morse Code. In this case,
we are going to get the LED to signal // run once, when the sketch starts
the letters S.O.S., which is the void setup()
international morse code distress signal. {
Morse Code is a type of character // sets the digital pin as output
encoding that transmits letters and pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);
}
numbers using patterns of On and Off. It
is therefore nicely suited to our digital // run over and over again
system as we can turn an LED on and void loop()
off in the necessary pattern to spell out {
a word or a series of characters. In this // 3 dits
case we will be signaling S.O.S. which for (int x=0; x<3; x++) {
in the Morse Code alphabet is three dits digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH); // sets the LED on
(short flash), followed by three dahs delay(150); // waits for 150ms
(long flash), followed by three dits again. digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW); // sets the LED off
delay(100); // waits for 100ms
We can therefore now code our sketch }
to flash the LED on and off in this
// 100ms delay to cause slight gap between letters
pattern, signaling SOS. delay(100);
// 3 dahs
Enter the code for (int x=0; x<3; x++) {
digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH); // sets the LED on
Create a new sketch and then type in delay(400); // waits for 400ms
the code listed above. Verify your code digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW); // sets the LED off
is error free and then upload it to your delay(100); // waits for 100ms
Arduino. }
// 100ms delay to cause slight gap between letters

If all goes well you will now see the LED delay(100);
flash the Morse Code SOS signal, wait 5
seconds, then repeat. // 3 dits again
for (int x=0; x<3; x++) {
If you were to rig up a battery operated digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH); // sets the LED on
Arduino to a very bright light and then delay(150); // waits for 150ms
place the whole assembly into a digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW); // sets the LED off
waterproof and handheld box, this code delay(100); // waits for 100ms
could be used to control an SOS }
emergency strobe light to be used on
// wait 5 seconds before repeating the SOS signal
boats, whilst mountain climbing, etc.
delay(5000);
}
So, letʼs take a look at this code and
work out how it works.
29

So the first part of the code is identical to the last == (equal to)
project where we initialise a variable and then set pin != (not equal to)
10 to be an output. In the main code loop we can see < (less than)
the same kind of statements to turn the LEDʼs on and > (greater than)
off for a set period of time, but this time the statements <= (less than or equal to)
are within 3 separate code blocks. >= (greater than or equal to)
The first block is what outputs the 3 dits In our code we are comparing x with the value of 3 to
see if it is smaller than 3. If x is smaller than 3, then
for (int x=0; x<3; x++) { the code in the block will repeat again.
digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);
delay(150); The final statement is
digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);
delay(100);
x++
}
this is a statement to increase the value of x by 1. We
We can see that the LED is turned on for 150ms and could also have typed in x = x + 1; which would
then off for 100ms and we can see that those assign to x the value of x + 1. Note there is no need to
statements are within a set of curly braces and are put a semi-colon after this final statement in the for
therefore in a separate code block. But, when we run loop.
the sketch we can see the light flashes 3 times not just
once. You can do simple mathematics using the symbols +,
-, * and / (addition, subtraction, multiplication and
This is done using the for loop. division). E.g.
for (int x=0; x<3; x++) {
1 + 1 = 2
3 - 2 = 1
This statement is what makes the code within itʼs code
2 * 4 = 8
block execute 3 times. There are 3 parameters we
8 / 2 = 4
need to give to the for loop. These are initialisation,
condition, increment. The initialisation happens first
So, our for loop initialises the value of x to 0, then runs
and exactly once. Each time through the loop, the
the code within the block (curly braces). It then
condition is tested; if it's true, the statement block,
increases the increment, in this case adds 1 to x.
and the increment is executed, then the condition is
Finally it then checks that the condition is met, which
tested again. When the condition becomes false, the
is that x is smaller than 3 and if so repeats.
loop ends.
So, now we know how the for loop works, we can see
So, first we need to initialise a variable to be the start
in our code that there are 3 for loops, one that loops 3
number of the loop. In this case we set up variable X
times and displays the ʻditsʼ, the next one repeats 3
and set it to zero.
times and displays the ʻdahsʼ, then there is a repeat of
int x=0; the ditʼs again.
We then set a condition to decide how many times the It must be noted that the variable x has a local ʻscopeʼ,
code in the loop will execute. which means it can only be seen by the code within
itʼs own code block. Unless you initialise it before the
x<3; setup() function in which case it has ʻglobal scopeʼ and
can be seen by the entire program. If you try to access
In this case the code will loop if X is smaller than (<) 3. x outside the for loop you will get an error.
The code within a for loop will always execute once no
matter what the condition is set to. In between each for loop there is a small delay to
make a tiny visible pause between letters of SOS.
The < symbol is what is known as a ʻcomparison Finally, the code waits for 5 seconds before the main
operatorʼ. They are used to make decisions within program loop starts again from the beginning.
your code and to compare two values. The symbols
used are:- OK now letʼs move onto using multiple LEDʼs.
30
Project 3
Traffic Lights
31
Project 3 - Traffic Lights

We are now going to create a set of UK traffic lights This time we have connected 3 LEDʼs with the Anode
that will change from green to red, via amber, and of each one going to Digital Pins 8, 9 and 10, via a
back again, after a set 220Ω resistor each.
length of time using the
4-state system. This We have taken a jumper wire from Ground to the
project could be used Ground rail at the top of the breadboard and a ground
on a model railway to wire goes from the Cathode leg of each LED to the
make a set of working common ground rail.
traffic lights or for a
childʼs toy town. Enter the code
What you will need Enter the following code, check it and upload.
If youʼve read up on Projects 1 & 2 then this code will

Breadboard be self explanatory as will the hardware.
Red Diffused LED

// Project 3 - Traffic Lights
Yellow Diffused LED int ledDelay = 10000; // delay in between changes
int redPin = 10;
Green Diffused LED int yellowPin = 9;
int greenPin = 8;
void setup() {
3 x 220Ω Resistors pinMode(redPin, OUTPUT);
pinMode(yellowPin, OUTPUT);
pinMode(greenPin, OUTPUT);
}
Jumper Wires
void loop() {
// turn the red light on

Connect it up digitalWrite(redPin, HIGH);
delay(ledDelay); // wait 5 seconds
digitalWrite(yellowPin, HIGH); // turn on yellow

delay(2000); // wait 2 seconds
digitalWrite(greenPin, HIGH); // turn green on

digitalWrite(redPin, LOW); // turn red off
digitalWrite(yellowPin, LOW); // turn yellow off
delay(ledDelay); // wait ledDelay milliseconds
digitalWrite(yellowPin, HIGH); // turn yellow on

digitalWrite(greenPin, LOW); // turn green off
digitalWrite(yellowPin, LOW); // turn yellow off

// now our loop repeats
In the next project, we are going add to this project by

including a set of pedestrian lights and adding a push
button to make the lights interactive.
32
Project 4
Interactive Traffic Lights
33
Project 4 - Interactive Traffic Lights
This time we are going to extend the previous project What you will need
to include a set of pedestrian lights and a pedestrian
push button to request to cross the road. The Arduino
will react when the button is pressed by changing the 2 x Red Diffused
state of the lights to make the cars stop and allow the LEDʼs
pedestrian to cross safely.
Yellow Diffused LED
For the first time we are able to interact with the
Arduino and cause it to do something when we 2 x Green Diffused
change the state of a button that the Arduino is
watching (i.e. Press it to change the state from open to LEDʼs
closed). In this project we will also learn how to create
our own functions. 6 x 150Ω Resistors
From now on when connecting the components we
will no longer list the breadboard and jumper wires.
Just take it as read that you will always need both of Tactile Switch
those.
34
Connect it up and if so passes code execution to the function we

have created called changeLights(). In this function
Connect the LEDʼs and the switch up as in the the car lights go from green to amber then red, then
diagram on the previous page. You will need to shuffle the pedestrian lights go green. After a period of time
the wires along from pins 8, 9 and 10 in the previous set in the variable crossTime (time enough to allow the
project to pins 10, 11 and 12 to allow you to connect pedestrians to cross) the green pedestrian light will
the pedestrian lights to pins 8 and 9. flash on and off as a warning to the pedestrians to get
a hurry on as the lights are about to change back to
red. Then the pedestrian light changes back to red
Enter the code
and the vehicle lights go from red to amber to green
and the traffic can resume.
Enter the code on the next page, verify and upload it.
The code in this project is similar to the previous
When you run the program you will see that the car
project. However, there are a few new statements and
traffic light starts on green to allow cars to pass and
concepts that have been introduced so letʼs take a
the pedestrian light is on red.
look at those.
When you press the button, the program checks that
at least 5 seconds have gone by since the last time
the lights were changed (to allow traffic to get moving),
35
// Project 4 - Interactive Traffic Lights
int carRed = 12; // assign the car lights

int carYellow = 11;
int carGreen = 10;
int pedRed = 9; // assign the pedestrian lights
int pedGreen = 8;
int button = 2; // button pin
int crossTime = 5000; // time allowed to cross
unsigned long changeTime; // time since button pressed
void setup() {
pinMode(carRed, OUTPUT);
pinMode(carYellow, OUTPUT);
pinMode(carGreen, OUTPUT);
pinMode(pedRed, OUTPUT);
pinMode(pedGreen, OUTPUT);
pinMode(button, INPUT); // button on pin 2
// turn on the green light
digitalWrite(carGreen, HIGH);
digitalWrite(pedRed, HIGH);
}
void loop() {
int state = digitalRead(button);
/* check if button is pressed and it is
over 5 seconds since last button press */
if (state == HIGH && (millis() - changeTime) > 5000) {
// Call the function to change the lights
changeLights();
}
}
void changeLights() {
digitalWrite(carGreen, LOW); // green off
digitalWrite(carYellow, HIGH); // yellow on
digitalWrite(carYellow, LOW); // yellow off

digitalWrite(carRed, HIGH); // red on
delay(1000); // wait 1 second till its safe
digitalWrite(pedRed, LOW); // ped red off

digitalWrite(pedGreen, HIGH); // ped green on
delay(crossTime); // wait for preset time period
// flash the ped green

for (int x=0; x<10; x++) {
digitalWrite(pedGreen, HIGH);
delay(250);
digitalWrite(pedGreen, LOW);
delay(250);
}
// turn ped red on
digitalWrite(pedRed, HIGH);
delay(500);
digitalWrite(carYellow, HIGH); // yellow on

digitalWrite(carRed, LOW); // red off
delay(1000);
digitalWrite(carGreen, HIGH);
digitalWrite(carYellow, LOW); // yellow off
// record the time since last change of lights

changeTime = millis();
// then return to the main program loop
}
36

Most of the code in this project you will understand There are various data types that we can use as our
and recognise from previous projects. However, let us sketches and these are:-
take a look at a few new keywords and concepts that
have been introduced in this sketch. Data type RAM Number Range
unsigned long changeTime; void keyword N/A N/A

boolean 1 byte 0 to 1 (True or False)
Here we have a new data type for a variable.
Previously we have created integer data types, which byte 1 byte 0 to 255
can store a number between -32,768 and 32,767. This char 1 byte -128 to 127
time we have created a data type of long, which can
store a number from -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647. unsigned char 1 byte 0 to 255
However, we have specified an unsigned long, which int 2 byte -32,768 to 32,767
means the variable cannot store negative numbers,
which gives us a range from 0 to 4,294,967,295. If we unsigned int 2 byte 0 to 65,535
were to use an integer to store the length of time since word 2 byte 0 to 65,535
the last change of lights, we would only get a
maximum time of 32 seconds before the integer -2,147,483,648 to
long 4 byte
variable reached a number higher than it could store. 2,147,483,647
unsigned long 4 byte 0 to 4,294,967,295
As a pedestrian crossing is unlikely to be used every
32 seconds we donʼt want our program crashing due -3.4028235E+38 to
float 4 byte
to our variable ʻoverflowingʼ when it tries to store a 3.4028235E+38
number too high for the variable data type. That is why -3.4028235E+38 to
we use an unsigned long data type as we now get a double 4 byte
3.4028235E+38
huge length of time in between button presses.
string 1 byte + x Arrays of chars
4294967295 * 1ms = 4294967 seconds array 1 byte + x Collection of variables
4294967 seconds = 71582 minutes
71582 minutes - 1193 hours
1193 hours - 49 days Each data type uses up a certain amount of memory
on the Arduino as you can see on the chart above.
As it is pretty inevitable that a pedestrian crossing will Some variables use only 1 byte of memory and others
get itʼs button pressed at least once in 49 days we use 4 or more (donʼt worry about what a byte is for
shouldnʼt have a problem with this data type. now as we will discuss this later). You can not copy
data from one data type to another, e.g. If x was an int
You may well ask why we donʼt just have one data and y was a string then x = y would not work as the
type that can store huge numbers all the time and be two data types are different.
done with it. Well, the reason we donʼt do that is
because variables take up space in memory and the The Atmega168 has 1Kb (1000 bytes) and the
larger the number the more memory is used up for Atmega328 has 2Kb (2000 bytes) of SRAM. This is
storing variables. On your home PC or laptop you not a lot and in large programs with lots of variables
wonʼt have to worry about that much at all, but on a you could easily run out of memory if you do not
small microcontroller like the Atmega328 that the optimise your usage of the correct data types. From
Arduino uses it is essential that we use only the the list above we can clearly see that our use of the int
smallest variable data type necessary for our purpose. data type is wasteful as it uses up 2 bytes and can
store a number up to 32,767. As we have used int to
store the number of our digital pin, which will only go
as high as 13 on our Arduino (and up to 54 on the
Arduino Mega), we have used up more memory than
was necessary. We could have saved memory by
using the byte data type, which can store a number
between 0 and 255, which is more than enough to
store the number of an I/O pin.
37
Next we have
By subtracting the value in the changeTime variable
pinMode(button, INPUT); from the current millis() value we can check if 5
seconds have passed since changeTime was last set.
This tells the Arduino that we want to use Digital Pin 2 The calculation of millis()-changeTime is put
(button = 2) as in INPUT. We are going to use pin 2 to inside itʼs own set of parenthesis to ensure that we
listen for button presses so itʼs mode needs to be set compare the value of state and the result of this
to input. calculation and not the value of millis() on its own.
In the main program loop we check the state of digital The symbol ʻ&&’ in between
pin 2 with this statement:-
state == HIGH
int state = digitalRead(button);
and the calculation is an example of a Boolean
This initialises an integer( yes itʼs wasteful and we Operator. In this case it means AND. To see what we
should use a boolean) called ʻstateʼ and then sets the mean by that, letʼs take a look at all of the Boolean
value of state to be the value of the digital pin 2. The Operators.
digitalRead statement reads the state of the digital
pin within the parenthesis and returns it to the integer &&! Logical AND
we have assigned it to. We can then check the value ||! Logical OR
in state to see if the button has been pressed or not. !! NOT
if (state == HIGH && (millis() - changeTime) >
5000) { These are logic statements and can be used to test
// Call the function to change the lights various conditions in if statements.
changeLights();
} && means true if both operands are true, e.g. :
The if statement is an example of a control structure if (x==5 && y==10) {....

and itʼs purpose is to check if a certain condition has
been met or not and if so to execute the code within This if statement will run itʼs code only if x is 5 and
itʼs code block. For example, if we wanted to turn an also y is 10.
LED on if a variable called x rose above the value of
500 we could write || means true if either operand is true, e.g. :
if (x>500) {digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH); if (x==5 || y==10) {.....
When we read a digital pin using the digitalRead This will run if x is 5 or if y is 10.
command, the state of the pin will either be HIGH or
LOW. So the if command in our sketch looks like this The ! or NOT statement means true if the operand is
false, e.g. :
if (state == HIGH && (millis() - changeTime) >
5000)
if (!x) {.......
What we are doing here is checking that two
conditions have been met. The first is that the variable Will run if x is false, i.e. equals zero.
called state is high. If the button has been pressed
state will be high as we have already set it to be the You can also ʻnestʼ conditions with parenthesis, for
value read in from digital pin 2. We are also checking example
that the value of millis()-changeTime is greater
if (x==5 && (y==10 || z==25)) {.......
than 5000 (using the logical AND command &&). The
millis() function is one built into the Arduino language
In this case, the conditions within the parenthesis are
and it returns the number of milliseconds since the
processed separately and treated as a single condition
Arduino started to run the current program. Our
and then compared with the second condition. So, if
changeTime variable will initially hold no value, but
we draw a simple truth table for this statement we can
after the changeLights) function has ran we set it at
see how it works.
the end of that function to the current millis()
value.
38
So, in this case, if the conditions in the if statement

are met, then the program executes the code within
x y z True/False? the function and then returns to the next line after
changeLights(); in the if statement.
4 9 25 FALSE
The code within the function simply changes the
5 10 24 TRUE
vehicles lights to red, via amber, then turns on the
7 10 25 FALSE green pedestrian light. After a period of time set by the
variable crossTime the light flashes a few time to
5 10 25 TRUE warn the pedestrian that his time is about to run out,
then the pedestrian light goes red and the vehicle light
goes from red to green, via amber and returns to itʼs
The command within the if statement is normal state.
changeLights(); The main program loop simply checks continuously if

the pedestrian button has been pressed or not and if it
and this is an example of a function call. A function is
has, and (&&) the time since the lights were last
simply a separate code block that has been given a
changed is greater than 5 seconds, it calls the
name. However, functions can be passed parameters
changeLights() function again.
and/or return data too. In this case we have not
passed any data to the function nor have we had the
In this program there was no benefit from putting the
function return any date. We will go into more detail
code into itʼs own function apart from making the code
later on about passing parameters and returning data
look cleaner. It is only when a function is passed
from functions.
parameters and/or returns data that their true benefits
come to light and we will take a look at that later on.
When changeLights(); is called, the code execution
jumps from the current line to the function, executes
Next, we are going to use a lot more LEDʼs as we
the code within that function and then returns to the
make a ʻKnight Riderʼ style LED chase effect.
point in the code after where the function was called.
39
Project 5
LED Chase Effect
40
Project 5 - LED Chase Effect

We are now going to use a string of LEDʼs (10 in total) Connect it up
to make an LED chase effect, similar to that used on
the car KITT in the Knightrider TV Series and on the
way introduce the concept of arrays.
What you will need
10 x Red Diffused
LEDʼs
10 x 220Ω Resistors
Enter the code

// Project 5 - LED Chase Effect
// Create array for LED pins
byte ledPin[] = {4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13};
int ledDelay(65); // delay between changes
int direction = 1;
int currentLED = 0;
unsigned long changeTime;
void setup() {
// set all pins to output
for (int x=0; x<10; x++) {
pinMode(ledPin[x], OUTPUT); }
}
void loop() {
// if it has been ledDelay ms since last change
if ((millis() - changeTime) > ledDelay) {
changeLED();
}
}
void changeLED() {
// turn off all LED's
for (int x=0; x<10; x++) {
digitalWrite(ledPin[x], LOW);
}
// turn on the current LED
digitalWrite(ledPin[currentLED], HIGH);
// increment by the direction value
currentLED += direction;
// change direction if we reach the end
if (currentLED == 9) {direction = -1;}
if (currentLED == 0) {direction = 1;}
}
41

Our very first line in this sketch is The function we created is
byte ledPin[] = {4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, void changeLED() {

13}; // turn off all LED's
for (int x=0; x<10; x++) {
and this is a declaration of a variable of data type digitalWrite(ledPin[x], LOW);
}
array. An array is a collection of variables that are
accessed using an index number. In our sketch we digitalWrite(ledPin[currentLED], HIGH);
have declared an array of data type byte and called it // increment by the direction value
ledPin. We have then initialised the array with 10 currentLED += direction;
values, which are the digital pins 4 through to 13. To // change direction if we reach the end
if (currentLED == 9) {direction = -1;}
access an element of the array we simply refer to the
index number of that element. Arrays are zero }
indexed, which simply means that the first index starts
at zero and not 1. So in our 10 element array the index and the job of this function is to turn all LEDʼs off and
numbers are 0 to 9. then turn on the current LED (this is done so fast you
will not see it happening), which is stored in the
In this case, element 3 (ledPin[2]) has the value of variable currentLED.
6 and element 7 (ledPin[6]) has a value of 10.
This variable then has direction added to it. As
You have to tell the size of the array if you do not direction can only be either a 1 or a -1 then the
initialise it with data first. In our sketch we did not number will either increase (+1) or decrease by one
explicitly choose a size as the compiler is able to (currentLED +(-1)).
count the values we have assigned to the array to
work out that the size is 10 elements. If we had We then have an if statement to see if we have
declared the array but not initialised it with values at reached the end of the row of LEDʼs and if so we then
the same time, we would need to declare a size, for reverse the direction variable.
example we could have done this:
By changing the value of ledDelay you can make the
byte ledPin[10]; LED ping back and forth at different speeds. Try
different values to see what happens.
and then loaded data into the elements later on. To
retrieve a value from the array we would do something However, you have to stop the program and manually
like this: change the value of ledDelay then upload the
amended code to see any changes. Wouldnʼt it be
x = ledpin[5]; nice to be able to adjust the speed whilst the program
is running? Yes it would, so letʼs do exactly that in the
In this example x would now hold a value of 8. To get next project by introducing a way to interact with the
back to your program, we have started off by declaring program and adjust the speed using a potentiometer.
and initialising an array and have stored 10 values that
are the digital pins used for the outputs to our 10
LEDʼs.
In our mail loop we check that at least ledDelay milli-

seconds have passed since the last change of LEDʼs
and if so it passes control to our function. The reason
we are only going to pass control to the changeLED()
function in this way, rather than using delay()
commands, is to allow other code if needed to run in
the main program loop (as long as that code takes
less than ledDelay to run.
42
Project 6
Interactive LED Chase Effect
43
Project 6 - Interactive LED Chase Effect

We are now going to use a string of LEDʼs (10 in total) Enter the code
to make an LED chase effect, similar to that used on
the car KITT in the Knightrider TV Series and on the
way introduce the concept of arrays. // Create array for LED pins
byte ledPin[] = {4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10,
What you will need 11, 12, 13};
int ledDelay; // delay between changes
int direction = 1;
Parts from previous int currentLED = 0;
project plus.... unsigned long changeTime;
int potPin = 2; // select the input
pin for the potentiometer
4K7 Potentiometer void setup() {
for (int x=0; x<10; x++) {
pinMode(ledPin[x], OUTPUT); }
Connect it up changeTime = millis();
}
void loop() {
// read the value from the pot
ledDelay = analogRead(potPin);
// if it has been ledDelay ms since
last change
if ((millis() - changeTime) >
ledDelay) {
changeLED();
}
}
void changeLED() {
// turn off all LED's
for (int x=0; x<10; x++) {
}
digitalWrite(ledPin[currentLED],
HIGH);
// increment by the direction value
currentLED += direction;
// change direction if we reach the
end
if (currentLED == 9) {direction =
-1;}
This is the same circuit as in Project 5, but we have
simply added the potentiometer and connected it to
}
5v, Ground and Analog Pin 5.
This time when verify and upload your code, you

should now see the lit LED appear to bounce back
and forth between each end of the string of lights as
before. But, by turning the knob of the potentiometer,
you will change the value of ledDelay and speed up
or slow down the effect.
Letʼs take a look at how this works and find our what a
potentiometer is.
44

// Create array for LED pins The code for this Project is almost identical to the
byte ledPin[] = {4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, previous project. We have simply added a
12, 13}; potentiometer to our hardware and the code has
int ledDelay; // delay between changes additions to enable us to read the values from the
int direction = 1;
potentiometer and use them to adjust the speed of the
int currentLED = 0;
LED chase effect.
unsigned long changeTime;
int potPin = 2; // select the input pin
for the potentiometer We first declare a variable for the potentiometer pin
void setup() { int potPin = 2;

for (int x=0; x<10; x++) { as our potentiometer is connected to analog pin 2. To
pinMode(ledPin[x], OUTPUT); } read the value from an analog pin we use the
changeTime = millis(); analogRead command. The Arduino has 6 analog
} input/outputs with a 10-bit analog to digital convertor
(we will discuss bits later on). This means the analog
void loop() { pin can read in voltages between 0 to 5 volts in integer
// read the value from the pot
values between 0 (0 volts) and 1023 (5 volts). This
gives a resolution of 5 volts / 1024 units or 0.0049
// if it has been ledDelay ms since last
change volts (4.9mV) per unit.
if ((millis() - changeTime) > ledDelay) {
changeLED(); We need to set our delay using the potentiometer so
changeTime = millis(); we will simply use the direct values read in from the
} pin to adjust the delay between 0 and 1023
} milliseconds. We do this by directly reading the value
of the potentiometer pin into ledDelay. Notice that we
void changeLED() { do not need to set an analog pin to be an input or
// turn off all LED's output like we need to with a digital pin.
for (int x=0; x<10; x++) {
}
This is done during our main loop and therefore it is
digitalWrite(ledPin[currentLED], HIGH);
// increment by the direction value constantly being read and adjusted. By turning the
currentLED += direction; knob you can adjust the delay value between 0 and
// change direction if we reach the end 1023 milliseconds (or just over a second) and
if (currentLED == 9) {direction = -1;} therefore have full control over the speed of the effect.
} OK letʼs find out what a potentiometer is and how it
works.
45

The only additional piece of hardware used in this resistor. By connecting all 3 legs and applying a
project was the 4K7 (4700Ω) voltage across it, the pot becomes a voltage divider.
potentiometer. This is how we have used it in our circuit. One side is
connected to ground, the other to 5v and the centre
Yo u h a v e a l r e a d y c o m e pin to our analog pin. By adjusting the knob, a voltage
across a resistor and know between 0 and 5v will be leaked from the centre pin
how they work. The and we can read the value of that voltage on Analog
potentiometer is simply an Pin 2 and use itʼs value to change the delay rate of the
adjustable resistor with a range light effect.
from 0 to a set value (written on
the side of the pot). In the kit you The potentiometer can be very useful in providing a
have been given a 4K7 or 4,700Ω potentiometer which means of adjusting a value from 0 to a set amount,
means itʼs range is from 0 to 4700 Ohms. e.g. the volume of a radio or the brightness of a lamp.
In fact, dimmer switches for your home lamps are a
The potentiometer has 3 legs. By connecting up just kind of potentiometer.
two legs the potentiometer becomes a variable
Exercises
1. Get the LEDʼs at BO

TH ends of the strip to
move towards each oth start as on, then to bo
er, appear to bounce th
then move back to the off each other and
end.
2. Make a bouncing ba
ll effect by making the
ʻdropʼ toward the oth LED start at one end,
er end, bounce back
spaces, bounce, go up, but to only go up
up 8 spaces, then 7, 9
effect it is a bouncing then 6, etc. To give
ball, getting bouncing the
each bounce. up to a lower height on
46
Project 7
Pulsating Lamp
47
Project 7 - Pulsating Lamp

We are now going to delve further into a more Enter the code
advanced method of controlling LEDʼs. So far we have
simply turned the LED on or off. How about being able Enter this simple program.
to adjust itʼs brightness too? Can we do that with an
Arduino? Yes we can.
Time to go back to basics.

// Project 7 - Pulsating lamp
What you will need int ledPin = 11;
float sinVal;
int ledVal;
Green Diffused LED
void setup() {
pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);
220Ω Resistor }
void loop() {
Connect it up for (int x=0; x<180; x++) {
// convert degrees to radians
// then obtain sin value
sinVal = (sin(x*(3.1412/180)));
ledVal = int(sinVal*255);
analogWrite(ledPin, ledVal);
delay(25);
}
}
Verify and upload. You will now see your LED pulsate
on and off steadily. Instead of a simple on/off state we
are now adjusting itʼs brightness. Letʼs find out how
this works.
48

The code for this project is very simple, but requires Then we send that value out to Digital Pin 11 using the
some explanation. statement
// Project 7 - Pulsating lamp analogWrite(ledPin, ledVal);
int ledPin = 11; But, how can we send an analog value to a digital pin?
float sinVal; Well, if we take a look at our Arduino and look at the
int ledVal; Digital Pins you can see that 6 of those pins (3, 5, 6, 9,
10 & 11) have PWM written next to them. Those pins
void setup() {
differ from the remaining digital pins in that they are
pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);
able to send out a PWM signal.
}
void loop() { PWM stands for Pulse Width Modulation. PWM is a

for (int x=0; x<180; x++) { technique for getting analog results from digital
// convert degrees to radians means. On these pins the Arduino sends out a square
// then obtain sin value wave by switching the pin on and off very fast. The
sinVal = (sin(x*(3.1412/180))); pattern of on/offs can simulate a varying voltage
ledVal = int(sinVal*255); between 0 and 5v. It does this by changing the amount
analogWrite(ledPin, ledVal); of time that the output remains high (on) versus off
delay(25); (low). The duration of the on time is known as the
}
ʻPulse Widthʼ.
}
For example, if you were to send the value 0 out to Pin

We first set up the variables for the LED Pin, a float
11 using analogWrite() the ON period would be zero,
(floating point data type) for a sine wave value and
or it would have a 0% Duty Cycle. If you were to send
ledVal which will hold the integer value to send out to
a value of 64 (25% of the maximum of 255) the pin
Pin 11.
would be ON for 25% of the time and OFF for 75% of
the time. The value of 191 would have a Duty Cycle of
The concept here is that we are creating a sine wave
75% and a value of 255 would have a duty cycle of
and having the brightness of the LED follow the path
100%. The pulses run at a speed of approx. 500Hz or
of that wave. This is what makes the light pulsate in
2 milliseconds each.
that way instead of just fade up to full brightness and
back down again.
So, from this we can see in our sketch that the LED is
being turned on and off very fast. If the Duty Cycle
We use the sin() function, which is a mathematical
was 50% (a value of 127) then the LED would pulse
function to work out the sine of an angle. We need to
on and off at 500Hz and would display at half the
give the function the degree in radians. We have a for
maximum brightness. It is basically an illusion that we
loop that goes from 0 to 179, we donʼt want to go past
can use to our advantage by allowing us to use the
halfway as this will take us into negative values and
digital pins to output a simulated analog value to our
the brightness value we need to put out to Pin 11
LEDʼs.
needs to be from 0 to 255 only.
Note that even though only 6 of the pins have the
The sin() function requires the angle to be in radians
PWM function, you can easily write software to give a
and not degrees so the equation of x*(3.1412/180) will
PWM output from all of the digital pins if you wish.
convert the degree angle into radians. We then
transfer the result to ledVal, multiplying it by 255 to
Later on we will revisit PWM as we can utilise it to
give us our value. The result from the sin() function will
create audible tones using a piezo sounder.
be a number between -1 and 1 so we need to multiply
that by 255 to give us our maximum brightness. We
ʻcastʼ the floating point value of sinVal into an integer
by the use of int() in the statement
ledVal = int(sinVal*255);
49
Project 8
Mood Lamp
50
Project 8 - Mood Lamp

In the last project we saw that we could adjust the Enter the code
brightness of an LED using the PWM capabilities of
the Atmega chip. We will now take advantage of this
capability by using a red, green and blue LED and by // Project 8 - Mood Lamp
mixing their colours to create any colour we wish. float RGB1[3];
From that, we will create a mood lamp similar to the float RGB2[3];
kind you see for sale all over the place nowadays. float INC[3];
int red, green, blue;

What you will need
int RedPin = 11;
int GreenPin = 10;
Red Clear LED int BluePin = 9;
Green Clear LED void setup()

{
Serial.begin(9600);
Blue Clear LED randomSeed(analogRead(0));
3 x 220Ω Resistor RGB1[0] = 0;

RGB1[1] = 0;
RGB1[2] = 0;
Connect it up RGB2[0] = random(256);

RGB2[1] = random(256);
}
void loop()
{
randomSeed(analogRead(0));
for (int x=0; x<3; x++) {

INC[x] = (RGB1[x] - RGB2[x]) / 256; }
for (int x=0; x<256; x++) {
red = int(RGB1[0]);
green = int(RGB1[1]);
blue = int(RGB1[2]);
analogWrite (RedPin, red);

analogWrite (GreenPin, green);
analogWrite (BluePin, blue);
delay(100);
RGB1[0] -= INC[0];
RGB1[1] -= INC[1];
RGB1[2] -= INC[2];
}
for (int x=0; x<3; x++) {
RGB2[x] = random(556)-300;
RGB2[x] = constrain(RGB2[x], 0, 255);
delay(1000);
}
Get a piece of paper about A5 size, roll it into a }
cylinder then tape it so it remains that way. Then place
the cylinder over the top of the 3 LEDʼs.
When you run this you will see the colours slowly
change. Youʼve just made youʼre own mood lamp.
51

The LEDʼs that make up the mood lamp are red, green In the setup function we have
and blue. In the same way that your computer monitor
is made up of tiny red, green and blue (RGB) dots, the randomSeed(analogRead(0));
map can generate different colours by adjusting the
brightness of each of the 3 LEDʼs in such a way to The randomSeed command is used for creating
give us a different RGB value. random (actually pseudo-random) numbers. Computer
chips are not able to produce truly random numbers
An RGB value of 255, 0, 0 would give us pure red. A so they tend to look at data in a part of itʼs memory
value of 0, 255, 0 would give pure green and 0, 0, 255 that may differ or look at a table of different values and
pure blue. By mixing these we can get any colour we use those as a pseudo-random number. By setting a
like with This is the additive colour model. If you were ʻseedʼ, you can tell the computer where in memory or
just turn the LEDʼs ON or OFF (i.e. Not have different in that table to start counting from. In this case the
brightnesses) you would still get different colours as in value we give to the randomSeed is a value read from
this table. Analog Pin 0. As we donʼt have anything connected to
Analog Pin 0 all we will read is a random number
created by analog noise.
Red Green Blue Colour
255 0 0 Red Once we have set a ʻseedʼ for our random number we
can create one using the random() function. We then
0 255 0 Green have two sets of RGB values stored in a 3 element
array. RGB1 is the RGB values we want the lamp to
0 0 255 Blue start with (in this case all zeros or off).
255 255 0 Yellow RGB1[0] = 0;
RGB1[1] = 0;
0 255 255 Cyan
RGB1[2] = 0;
255 0 255 Magenta
Then the RGB2 array is a set of random RGB values
255 255 255 White that we want the lamp to transition to,
By adjusting the brightnesses using PWM we can get RGB2[1] = random(256);
every other colour in between too. By placing the RGB2[2] = random(256);
LEDʼs close together and by mixing their values, the
light spectra of the 3 colours added together make a In this case we have set them to a random number set
single colour. By diffusing the light with our paper by random(256) which will give is a number between 0
cylinder we ensure the colours are mixed nicely. The and 255 inclusive (as the number will always range
LEDʼs can be placed into any object that will diffuse from zero upwards).
the light or you can bounce the light off a reflective
diffuser. Try putting the lights inside a ping pong ball or If you pass a single number to the random() function
a small white plastic bottle (the thinner the plastic the then it will return a value between 0 and 1 less than
better). the number, e.g. random(1000) will return a number
between 0 and 999. If you supply two numbers as itʼs
The total range of colours we can get using PWM with parameters then it will return a random number
a range of 0 to 255 is 16,777, 216 colours between the lower number inclusive and the maximum
(256x256x256) which is way more than we would ever number (-1). E.g. random(10,100) will return a random
need. number between 10 and 99.
In the code, we start off by declaring some floating In the main program loop we first take a look at the
point arrays and also some integer variables that will start and end RGB values and work out what value is
store our RGB values as well as an increment value. needed as an increment to progress from one value to
the other in 256 steps (as the PWM value can only be
float RGB1[3]; between 0 and 255). We do this with
float RGB2[3];
float INC[3]; for (int x=0; x<3; x++) {
INC[x] = (RGB1[x] - RGB2[x]) / 256; }
52
This for loop sets the INCrement values for the R, G The random number is chosen by picking a random
and B channels by working out the difference between number between 0 and 556 (256+300) and then
the two brightness values and dividing that by 256. deducting 300. The reason we do that is to try and
force primary colours from time to time to ensure we
We then have another for loop donʼt always just get pastel shades. We have 300
chances out of 556 in getting a negative number and
for (int x=0; x<256; x++) { therefore forcing a bias towards one or more of the
other two colour channels. The next command makes
red = int(RGB1[0]); sure that the numbers sent to the PWM pins are not
green = int(RGB1[1]); negative by using the constrain() function.
blue = int(RGB1[2]);
The constrain function requires 3 parameters - x, a
analogWrite (RedPin, red);
analogWrite (GreenPin, green); and b as in constrain(x, a, b) where x is the number
analogWrite (BluePin, blue); we want to constrain, a is the lower end of the range
delay(100); and b is the higher end. So, the constrain functions
looks at the value of x and makes sure it is within the
RGB1[0] -= INC[0]; range of a to b. If it is lower than a then it sets it to a, if
RGB1[1] -= INC[1]; it is higher than b it sets it to b. In our case we make
RGB1[2] -= INC[2]; sure that the number is between 0 and 255 which is
} the range or our PWM output.
and this sets the red, green and blue values to the As we use random(556)-300 for our RGB values,
values in the RGB1 array, writes those values to pins some of those values will be lower than zero and the
9, 10 and 11, then deducts the increment value then constrain function makes sure that the value sent to
repeats this process 256 times to slowly fade from one the PWM is not lower than zero.
random colour to the next. The delay of 100ms in
between each step ensures a slow and steady Forcing a bias towards one or more of the other two
progression. You can of course adjust this value if you channels ensures more vibrant and less pastel shades
want it slower or faster or you can add a potentiometer of colour and also ensures that from time to time one
to allow the user to set the speed. or more channels are turned off completely giving a
more interesting change of lights (or moods).
After we have taken 256 slow steps from one random
colour to the next, the RGB1 array will have the same
values (nearly) as the RGB2 array. We now need to
decide upon another set of 3 random values ready for
the next time. We do this with another for loop
for (int x=0; x<3; x++) {

RGB2[x] = random(556)-300;
RGB2[x] = constrain(RGB2[x], 0, 255);
delay(1000);
}
Exercise
See if you can make

the lights cycle throu
rainbow rather than be gh the colours of the
tween random colours.
53
Project 9
LED Fire Effect
54
Project 9 - LED Fire Effect

Project 9 will use LEDʼs and a flickering random light
effect, using PWM again, to recreate the effect of a
flickering flame. If you were to place these LEDʼs
inside a model house on a model railway layout, for // Project 9 - LED Fire Effect
example, you could create a special effect of the
house being on fire, or you could place it into a fake int ledPin1 = 9;
fireplace in your house to give a fire effect. This is a int ledPin2 = 10;
int ledPin3 = 11;
simple example of how LEDʼs can be used to create
SFX for movies, stage plays, model dioramaʼs, model
void setup()
railways, etc. {
pinMode(ledPin1, OUTPUT);
What you will need pinMode(ledPin2, OUTPUT);
}
Red Diffused LED
void loop()
{
2 x Yellow Diffused analogWrite(ledPin1, random(120)+135);
LEDʼs analogWrite(ledPin2, random(120)+135);
analogWrite(ledPin3, random(120)+135);
delay(random(100));
3 x 150Ω Resistor }
Connect it up
Now press the Verify/Compile button at the top of the
Now, first make sure that your Arduino is powered off. IDE to make sure there are no errors in your code. If
You can do this either by unplugging the USB cable or this is successful you can now click the Upload button
by taking out the Power Selector Jumper on the to upload the code to your Arduino.
Arduino board. Then connect everything up like this :-
If you have done everything right you should now see
the LEDʼs flickering in a random manner to simulate a
flame or fire effect.
Now letʼs take a look at the code and the hardware

and find out how they both work.
When you are happy that everything is connected up

correctly, power up your Arduino and connect the USB
cable.
Enter the code
Now, open up the Arduino IDE and type in the

following code :-
55

// Project 9 - LED Fire Effect
We then set them up to be outputs.
int ledPin1 = 9;
int ledPin2 = 10; pinMode(ledPin1, OUTPUT);
int ledPin3 = 11; pinMode(ledPin2, OUTPUT);
void setup()
{
The main program loop then sends out a random
value between 0 and 120, and then add 135 to it to get
pinMode(ledPin3, OUTPUT); full LED brightness, to the PWM pins 9, 10 and 11.
}
void loop() analogWrite(ledPin2, random(120)+135);
{ analogWrite(ledPin3, random(120)+135);
analogWrite(ledPin2, random(120)+135); Then finally we have a random delay between on and
analogWrite(ledPin3, random(120)+135); 100ms.
delay(random(100));
} delay(random(100));
So letʼs take a look at the code for this project. First The main loop then starts again causing the flicker
we declare and initialise some integer variables that light effect you can see.
will hold the values for the Digital Pins we are going to
connect our LEDʼs to. Bounce the light off a white card or a mirror onto your
wall and you will see a very realistic flame effect.
int ledPin1 = 9;
int ledPin2 = 10; As the hardware is simple and we should understand
int ledPin3 = 11; it by now we will jump right into Project 10.
Exercises
1. Using a blue LED

or two, see if you can
flashes of light from an recreate the effect of
arc welder. the
2. Using a Blue and Re

d LED recreate the eff
emergency vehicle. ect of the lights on an
56
Project 10
Serial Controlled Mood Lamp
57
Project 10 - Serial Controlled Mood Lamp

We will now use the same circuit as in Project 9, but will now delve into the world of serial communications and
control our lamp by sending commands from the PC to the Arduino using the Serial Monitor in the Arduino IDE.
This project also introduces how we manipulate text strings. So leave the hardware set up the same as before
and enter the new code.
Enter the code
// Project 10 - Serial controlled RGB Lamp
char buffer[18];
int RedPin = 11;

int GreenPin = 10;
int BluePin = 9;
void setup()
{
Serial.begin(9600);
Serial.flush();
pinMode(RedPin, OUTPUT);
pinMode(GreenPin, OUTPUT);
pinMode(BluePin, OUTPUT);
}
void loop()
{
if (Serial.available() > 0) {
int index=0;
delay(100); // let the buffer fill up
int numChar = Serial.available();
if (numChar>15) {
numChar=15;
}
while (numChar--) {
buffer[index++] = Serial.read();
}
splitString(buffer);
}
}
void splitString(char* data) {

Serial.print("Data entered: ");
Serial.println(data);
char* parameter;
parameter = strtok (data, " ,");
while (parameter != NULL) {
setLED(parameter);
parameter = strtok (NULL, " ,");
}
// Clear the text and serial buffers

for (int x=0; x<16; x++) {
buffer[x]='\0';
}
Serial.flush();
}
(continued on next page.......)
58
(continued from previous page.......)
void setLED(char* data) {

if ((data[0] == 'r') || (data[0] == 'R')) {
int Ans = strtol(data+1, NULL, 10);
Ans = constrain(Ans,0,255);
analogWrite(RedPin, Ans);
Serial.print("Red is set to: ");
Serial.println(Ans);
}
if ((data[0] == 'g') || (data[0] == 'G')) {
analogWrite(GreenPin, Ans);
Serial.print("Green is set to: ");
}
if ((data[0] == 'b') || (data[0] == 'B')) {
analogWrite(BluePin, Ans);
Serial.print("Blue is set to: ");
}
}
Once youʼve verified the code, upload it to your The input text is designed to accept both a lower-
Arduino. case or upper-case R, G and B and then a value
from 0 to 255. Any values over 255 will be dropped
Now when you upload the program nothing seems to down to 255 maximum. You can enter a comma or a
happen. This is because the program is waiting for space in between parameters and you can enter 1, 2
your input. Start the Serial Monitor by clicking itʼs icon or 3 LED values at any one time.
in the Arduino IDE taskbar.
E.g.
In the Serial Monitor text window you can now enter
the R, G and B values for each of the 3 LEDʼs r255 b100
manually and the LEDʼs will change to the colour you
have input. r127 b127 g127
E.g. If you enter R255 the Red LED will display at full G255, B0
brightness.
B127, R0, G255
If you enter R255, G255, then both the red and green
LEDʼs will display at full brightness. Etc.
Now enter R127, G100, B255 and you will get a nice
purplish colour.
If you type, r0, g0, b0 all the LEDʼs will turn off.
59

This project introduces a whole bunch of new met and the code within the if statements code block
concepts, including serial communication, pointers is now executed.
and string manipulation. So, hold on to your hats this
will take a lot of explaining. if (Serial.available() > 0) {
int index=0;
First we set up an array of char (characters) to hold delay(100); // let the buffer fill up
int numChar = Serial.available();
our text string. We have made it 18 characters long,
if (numChar>15) {
whichis longer than the maximum of 16 we will allow numChar=15;
to ensure we donʼt get “buffer overflow” errors. }
while (numChar--) {
char buffer[18]; buffer[index++] = Serial.read();
}
We then set up the integers to hold the red, green splitString(buffer);
and blue values as well as the values for the digital }
pins. }
int red, green, blue; An integer called index is declared and initialised as
zero. This integer will hold the position of a pointer to
int RedPin = 11; the characters within the char array.
int GreenPin = 10;
int BluePin = 9; We then set a delay of 100. The purpose of this is to
ensure that the serial buffer (the place in memory
In our setup function we set the 3 digital pins to be where the serial data that is received is stored prior
outputs. But, before that we have the Serial.begin to processing) is full before we carry on and process
command. the data. If we donʼt do that, it is possible that the
function will execute and start to process the text
void setup()
string, before we have received all of the data. The
{
serial communications line is very slow compared to
Serial.begin(9600);
Serial.flush(); the speed the rest of the code is executing at. When
pinMode(RedPin, OUTPUT); you send a string of characters the Serial.available
pinMode(GreenPin, OUTPUT); function will immediately have a value higher than
pinMode(BluePin, OUTPUT); zero and the if function will start to execute. If we
} didnʼt have the delay(100) statement in there it could
start to execute the code within the if statement
Serial.begin tells the Arduino to start serial before all of the text string had been received and the
communications and the number within the serial data may only be the first few characters of the
parenthesis, in this case 9600, sets the baud rate line of text entered.
(characters per second) that the serial line will
communicate at. After we have waited for 100ms for the serial buffer
to fill up with the data sent, we then declare and
The Serial.flush command will flush out any initialise the numChar integer to be the number of
characters that happen to be in the serial line so that characters within the text string.
it is empty and ready for input/output.
E.g. If we sent this text in the Serial Monitor:
The serial communications line is simply a way for
the Arduino to communicate with the outside world, in R255, G255, B255
this case to and from the PC and the Arduino IDEʼs
Serial Monitor. Then the value of numChar would be 17. It is 17 and
not 16 as at the end of each line of text there is an
In the main loop we have an if statement. The invisible character called a NULL character. This is a
condition it is checking for is ʻnothingʼ symbol and simply tells the Arduino that the
end of the line of text has been reached.
if (Serial.available() > 0) {
The next if statement checks if the value of numChar
The Serial.available command checks to see if any is greater than 15 or not and if so it sets it to be 15.
characters have been sent down the serial line. If any This ensures that we donʼt overflow the array char
characters have been received then the condition is buffer[18];
60
After this comes a while command. This is something splitString(buffer);

we havenʼt come across before so let me explain.
Which is a call to one of the two functions we have
We have already used the for loop, which will loop a created and called splitString(). The function looks
set number of times. The while statement is also a like this:
loop, but one that executes only while a condition is
true. void splitString(char* data) {
Serial.print("Data entered: ");
The syntax is Serial.println(data);
char* parameter;
parameter = strtok (data, " ,");
while(expression) {
while (parameter != NULL) {
! // statement(s)
setLED(parameter);
}
}
In our code the while loop is
while (numChar--) { for (int x=0; x<16; x++) {
buffer[index++] = Serial.read(); buffer[x]='\0';
} }
Serial.flush();
The condition it is checking is simply numChar, so in }
other words it is checking that the value stored in the
integer numChar is not zero. numChar has -- after it. We can see that the function returns no data, hence
This is what is known as a post-decrement. In other itʼs data type has been set to void. We pass the
words, the value is decremented AFTER it is used. If function one parameter and that is a char data type
we had used --numChar the value in numChar would that we have called data. However, in the C and C++
be decremented (have one subtracted from it) before programming languages you are not allowed to send
it was evaluated. In our case, the while loop checks a character array to a function. We have got around
the value of numChar and then subtracts one from it. that by using a pointer. We know we have used a
If the value of numChar was not zero before the pointer as an asterisk ʻ*ʼ has been added to the
decrement, it then carries out the code within its code variable name *data. Pointers are quite an advanced
block. subject in C so we wonʼt go into too much detail
about them. All you need to know for now is that by
numChar is set to the length of the text string that we declaring ʻdataʼ as a pointer it is simply a variable that
have entered into the Serial Monitor window. So, the points to another variable.
code within the while loop will execute that many
times. You can either point it to the address that the variable
is stored within memory by using the & symbol, or in
The code within the while loop is our case, to the value stored at that memory address
using the * symbol. We have used it to ʻcheatʼ the
buffer[index++] = Serial.read(); system, as we are not allowed to send a character
array to a function. However we are allowed to send
Which sets each element of the buffer array to each a pointer to a character array to our function. So, we
character read in from the Serial line. In other words, have declared a variable of data type Char and called
it fills up the buffer array with the letters we have it data, but the * symbol before it means that it is
entered into the Serial Monitorʼs text window. ʻpointing toʼ the value stored within the ʻbufferʼ
variable.
The Serial.read() command reads incoming serial
data, one byte at a time. When we called splitString we sent it the contents of
ʻbufferʼ (actually a pointer to it as we saw above).
So now that our character array has been filled with
the characters we entered in the Serial Monitor the splitString(buffer);
while loop will end once numChar reaches zero (i.e.
The length of the string). So we have called the function and passed it the
entire contents of the buffer character array.
After the while loop we have
The first command is
61
We then create a new char data type called

Serial.print("Data entered: "); parameter
and this is our way of sending data back from the Char* parameter;
Arduino to the PC. In this case the print command
sends whatever is within the parenthesis to the PC, and as we are going to use this variable to access
via the USB cable, where we can read it in the Serial elements of the ʻdataʼ array it must be the same type,
Monitor window. In this case we have sent the words hence the * symbol. You cannot pass data from one
“Data entered: “. Text must be enclosed within quotes data type type variable to another as the data must
“”. The next line is similar be converted first. This variable is another example
of one that has ʻlocal scopeʼ. It can be ʻseenʼ only by
Serial.println(data); the code within this function. If you try to access the
parameter variable outside of the splitString function
and again we have sent data back to the PC, this you will get an error.
time we send the char variable called data. The Char
type variable we have called ʻdataʼ is a copy of the We then use a strtok command, which is a very
contents of the ʻbufferʼ character array that we useful command to enable us to manipulate text
passed to the function. So, if our text string entered strings. Strtok gets itʼs name from String and Token
was as itʼs purpose is to split a string using tokens. In our
case the token it is looking for is a space or a
R255 G127 B56 comma. It is used to split text strings into smaller
strings.
Then the
We pass the ʻdataʼ array to the strtok command as
Serial.println(data); the first argument and the tokens (enclosed within
quotes) as the second argument. Hence
Command will send that text string back to the PC
and print it out in the Serial Monitor window (make parameter = strtok (data, " ,");
sure you have enabled the Serial Monitor window
first). And it splits the string at that point. So we are using it
to set ʻparameterʼ to be the part of the string up to a
This time the print command has ln on the end to space or a comma.
make it println. This simply means ʻprintʼ with a
ʻlinefeedʼ. So, if our text string was
When we print using the print command, the cursor R127 G56 B98
(the point at where the next symbol will appear)
remains at the end of whatever we have printed. Then after this statement the value of ʻparameterʼ will
When we use the println command a linefeed be
command is issued or in other words the text prints
and then the cursor drops down to the next line. R127
Serial.print("Data entered: "); as the strtok command would have split the string up
Serial.println(data); to the first occurrence of a space of a comma.
If we look at our two print commands, the first one After we have set the variable ʻparameterʼ to the part
prints out “Data entered: “ and then the cursor of the text string we want to strip out (i.e. The bit up
remains at the end of that text. The next print to the first space or comma) we then enter a while
command will print ʻdataʼ, or in other words the loop whose condition is that parameter is not empty
contents of the array called ʻbufferʼ and then issue a (i.e. We havenʼt reached the end of the string) using
linefeed, or drop the cursor down to the next line.
This means that if we issue another print or println while (parameter != NULL) {
statement after this whatever is printed in the Serial
Monitor window will appear on the next line Within the loop we call our second function
underneath the last.
setLED(parameter);
62
Which we will look at later on. Then it sets the if ((data[0] == 'r') || (data[0] == 'R'))
variable ʻparameterʼ to the next part of the string up {
to the next space or comma. We do this by passing int Ans = strtol(data+1, NULL, 10);
to strtok a NULL parameter Ans = constrain(Ans,0,255);
analogWrite(RedPin, Ans);
}
This tells the strtok command to carry on where it last if ((data[0] == 'g') || (data[0] == 'G'))
left off. {
So this whole part of the function Ans = constrain(Ans,0,255);
analogWrite(GreenPin, Ans);
char* parameter; Serial.print("Green is set to: ");
parameter = strtok (data, " ,"); Serial.println(Ans);
while (parameter != NULL) { }
setLED(parameter); if ((data[0] == 'b') || (data[0] == 'B'))
parameter = strtok (NULL, " ,"); {
} int Ans = strtol(data+1, NULL, 10);
is simply stripping out each part of the text string that analogWrite(BluePin, Ans);
is separated by spaces or commas and sending that Serial.print("Blue is set to: ");
part of the string to the next function called setLED(). Serial.println(Ans);
}
}
The final part of this function simply fills the buffer
array with NULL character, which is done with the /0
symbol and then flushes the Serial data out of the
We can see that this function contains 3 very similar
Serial buffer ready for the next set of data to be
if statements. We will therefore take a look at just one
entered.
of them as the other 2 are almost identical.
for (int x=0; x<16; x++) { if ((data[0] == 'r') || (data[0] == 'R')) {
buffer[x]='\0'; int Ans = strtol(data+1, NULL, 10);
} Ans = constrain(Ans,0,255);
Serial.flush(); analogWrite(RedPin, Ans);
The setLED function is going to take each part of the
}
text string and set the corresponding LED to the
colour we have chosen. So, if the text string we enter
The if statement checks that the first character in the
is
string data[0] is either the letter r or R (upper case
and lower case characters are totally different as far
! G125 B55
as C is concerned. We use the logical OR command
whose symbol is || to check if the letter is an r OR an
Then the splitString() function splits that into the two
R as either will do.
separate components
If it is an r or an R then the if statement knows we
! G125
wish to change the brightness of the Red LED and so
! B55
the code within executes. First we declare an integer
called Ans (which has scope local to the setLED
and send that shortened text string onto the setLED()
function only) and use the strtol (String to long
function, which will read it, decide what LED we have
integer) command to convert the characters after the
chosen and set it to the corresponding brightness
letter R to an integer. The strtol command takes 3
value.
parameters and these are the string we are passing
it, a pointer to the character after the integer (which
So letʼs take a look at the second function called
we donʼt use as we have already stripped the string
setLED().
using the strtok command and hence pass a NULL
character) and then the ʻbaseʼ, which in our case is
void setLED(char* data) {
base 10 as we are using normal decimal numbers
63
(as opposed to binary, octal or hexadecimal which exactly the same but for the Green and the Blue
would be base 2, 8 and 16 respectively). So in other LEDʼs.
words we declare an integer and set it to the value of
the text string after the letter R (or the number bit). We have covered a lot of ground and a lot of new
concepts in this project. To make sure you
Next we use the constrain command to make sure understand exactly what is going on in this code I am
that Ans goes from 0 to 255 and no more. We then going to set the project code side by side with
carry out an analogWrite command to the red pin and pseudo-code (an fake computer language that is
send it the value of Ans. The code then sends out essentially the computer language translated into a
“Red is set to: “ followed by the value of Ans back to language humans can understand).
the Serial Monitor. The other two if statements do
The C Programming Language Pseudo-Code
// Project 10 - Serial controlled RGB Lamp A comment with the project number and name
char buffer[18]; Declare a character array of 18 letters

int red, green, blue; Declare 3 integers called red, green and blue
int RedPin = 11; An integer for which pin to use for Red LED
int GreenPin = 10; “ “ Green
int BluePin = 9; “ “ Blue
void setup() The setup function

{
Serial.begin(9600); Set serial comms to run at 9600 chars per second
Serial.flush(); Flush the serial line
pinMode(RedPin, OUTPUT); Set the red led pin to be an output pin
pinMode(GreenPin, OUTPUT); Same for green
pinMode(BluePin, OUTPUT); And blue
}
void loop() The main program loop

{
if (Serial.available() > 0) { If data is sent down the serial line...

int index=0; Declare integer called index and set to 0
delay(100); // let the buffer fill up Wait 100 millseconds
int numChar = Serial.available(); Set numChar to the incoming data from serial
if (numChar>15) { If numchar is greater than 15 characters...
numChar=15; Make it 15 and no more
}
while (numChar--) { While numChar is not zero (subtract 1 from it)
buffer[index++] = Serial.read(); Set element[index] to value read in (add 1)
}
splitString(buffer); Call splitString function and send it data in
} buffer
}
void splitString(char* data) { The splitstring function references buffer data

Serial.print("Data entered: "); Print “Data entered: “
Serial.println(data); Print value of data and then drop down a line
char* parameter; Declare char data type parameter
parameter = strtok (data, " ,"); Set it to text up to the first space or comma
while (parameter != NULL) { While contents of parameter are not empty..
setLED(parameter); ! Call the setLED function
parameter = strtok (NULL, " ,"); Set parameter to next part of text string
}
// Clear the text and serial buffers Another comment

for (int x=0; x<16; x++) { We will do the next line 16 times
buffer[x]='\0'; Set each element of buffer to NULL (empty)
}
Serial.flush(); Flush the serial comms
}
Continued on next page......
64
The C Programming Language Pseudo-Code

(continued from previous page.......)
void setLED(char* data) { A function called setLED is passed buffer
if ((data[0] == 'r') || (data[0] == 'R')) { If first letter is r or R...
int Ans = strtol(data+1, NULL, 10); Set integer Ans to number in next part of text
Ans = constrain(Ans,0,255); Make sure it is between o and 255
analogWrite(RedPin, Ans); Write that value out to the red pin
Serial.print("Red is set to: "); Print out “Red is set to: “
Serial.println(Ans); And then the value of Ans
}
if ((data[0] == 'g') || (data[0] == 'G')) { If first letter is g or G...
analogWrite(GreenPin, Ans); Write that value out to the green pin
Serial.print("Green is set to: "); Print out “Green is set to: “
}
if ((data[0] == 'b') || (data[0] == 'B')) { If first letter is b or B...
analogWrite(BluePin, Ans); Write that value out to the blue pin
Serial.print("Blue is set to: "); Print out “Blue is set to: “
}
}
Hopefully you can use this ʻpseudo-codeʼ to make We are now going to leave LEDʼs behind for a little
sure you understand exactly what is going on in this while and look at how to makes sounds with your
projects code. Arduino.
65
Project 11
Piezo Sounder Melody PLayer
66
Project 11 - Piezo Sounder Melody Player

In this project we are going to use a super simple
circuit to produce sounds from our Arduino using a Connect it up
Piezo Sounder.
What you will need
Piezo Disc
Terminal Block
(courtesy of http://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/Melody)
// Project 11 - Melody Player

When you run this code the
int speakerPin = 9;
int length = 15; // the number of notes Arduino will play a very nice
char notes[] = "ccggaagffeeddc "; // a space represents a rest (yeah ok itʼs terrible) rendition
int beats[] = { 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 4 }; of ʻTwinkle Twinkle Little Starʼ.
int tempo = 300; Sounding very similar to those
annoying birthday cards you
void playTone(int tone, int duration) {
for (long i = 0; i < duration * 1000L; i += tone * 2) { can buy that play a tune when
digitalWrite(speakerPin, HIGH); you open it up.
delayMicroseconds(tone);
digitalWrite(speakerPin, LOW); Letʼs take a look at this code
and see how it works and find
}
} out what a piezo disc is.
void playNote(char note, int duration) {

char names[] = { 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f', 'g', 'a', 'b', 'C' };
int tones[] = { 1915, 1700, 1519, 1432, 1275, 1136, 1014, 956 };
// play the tone corresponding to the note name
for (int i = 0; i < 8; i++) {
if (names[i] == note) {
playTone(tones[i], duration);
}
}
}
void setup() {
pinMode(speakerPin, OUTPUT);
}
void loop() {
for (int i = 0; i < length; i++) {
if (notes[i] == ' ') {
delay(beats[i] * tempo); // rest
} else {
playNote(notes[i], beats[i] * tempo);
}
// pause between notes

delay(tempo / 2);
}
}
67

In this project we are making sounds using a piezo As you can see, the first if statement has as itʼs
disc. A piezo disc can do nothing more than make a condition, that the array element [i] that the element
click when we apply a voltage to it. So to get the contains a space character.
tones we can hear out of it we need to make it click
many times a second fast enough that it becomes a if (notes[i] == ' ')
recognisable note.
If this is TRUE then the code within itʼs block is
The program starts off by setting up the variables we executed.
need. The piezo sounders positive (red) cable is delay(beats[i] * tempo); // rest
attached to Pin 9.
and this simply works out the value of beats[i] *
int speakerPin = 9;
tempo and causes a delay of that length to cause a
The tune we are going to play is made up of 15 rest in the notes. We then have an else statement.
notes.
else {
int length = 15; // the number of notes
}
The notes of the tune are stored in a character array

as a text string. After an if statement we can extend it with an else
statement. An else statements is carried out if the
char notes[] = "ccggaagffeeddc "; condition within the if statement is false. So, for
example. Letʼs say we had an integer called test and
Another array, this time of integers, is set up to store itʼs value was 10 and this if/else statement:
the length of each note.
if (test == 10) {
int beats[] = { 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH)
1, 1, 2, 4 }; } else {
digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW)
And finally we set a tempo for the tune to be played }
at,
Then if ʻtestʼ had a value of 10 (which it does) the
int tempo = 300; ledPin would be set to HIGH. If the value of test was
anything other than 10, the code within the else
Next you will notice that we declare two functions
statement would be carried out instead and the
before our setup() and loop() functions. It doesnʼt
ledPin would be set to LOW.
matter if we put our own functions before or after
setup() and loop(). When the program runs, the code
The else statement calls a function called playNote
within these two functions will not run before setup()
and passes two parameters. The first parameter is
runs as we have not called those functions yet.
the value of notes[i] and the second is the value
calculated from beats[i] * tempo.
Letʼs look at the setup and loop functions before we
look at the playTone and playNote functions. playNote(notes[i], beats[i] * tempo);
All that happens in setup() is we assign the speaker After if/else statement has been carried out, there is
pin (9) as an output. a delay whose value is calculated by dividing tempo
by 2.
void setup() {
pinMode(speakerPin, OUTPUT); delay(tempo / 2);
}
Let us now take a look at the two functions we have

In the main program loop we have an if/else
created for this project.
statement inside a for loop.
for (int i = 0; i < length; i++) {

if (notes[i] == ' ') {
delay(beats[i] * tempo); // rest
} else {
}
68
The first function that is called from the main program corresponding tone using in the tones[] array using a
loop is playNote. note length of ʻdurationʼ.
void playNote(char note, int duration) { The second function is called playTone.
char names[] = { 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f', 'g', 'a',
'b', 'C' };
void playTone(int tone, int duration) {
int tones[] = { 1915, 1700, 1519, 1432, 1275,
for (long i = 0; i < duration * 1000L; i +=
1136, 1014, 956 };
tone * 2) {
// play the tone corresponding to the note name
digitalWrite(speakerPin, HIGH);
for (int i = 0; i < 8; i++) {
digitalWrite(speakerPin, LOW);
}
}
}
}
}
Two parameters have been passed to the function Two parameters are passed to this function. The first
and within the function these have been given the is the tone (in kilohertz) that we want the piezo
names note (character) and duration (integer). speaker to reproduce and the second is the duration
(made up by calculating beats[i] * tempo.
The function sets up a local variable array of data
type char called ʻnamesʼ. This variable has local The function starts a for loop
scope so is only visible to this function and not
for (long i = 0; i < duration * 1000L; i += tone
outside of it. * 2)
This array stores the names of the notes from middle As each for loop must be of a different length to
C to high C. make each note the same length (as the delay differs
between clicks to produce the desired frequency) the
We then create another array of data type integer for loop will run to ʻdurationʼ multiplied by 1000 and
and this array stores numbers that correspond to the the increment of the loop is the value of ʻtoneʼ
frequency of the tones, in Kilohertz, of each of the multiplied by 2.
notes in the names[] array.
Inside the for loop we simply make the pin connected
int tones[] = { 1915, 1700, 1519, 1432, 1275,
1136, 1014, 956 }; to the piezo speaker go high, wait a short period of
time, then go low, then wait another short period of
After setting up the two arrays there is a for loop that time, then repeat.
looks through the 8 notes in the names[] array and
digitalWrite(speakerPin, HIGH);
compares it to the note sent to the function. delayMicroseconds(tone);
digitalWrite(speakerPin, LOW);
for (int i = 0; i < 8; i++) { delayMicroseconds(tone);
} These repetitive clicks, of different lengths and with
} different pauses (of only microseconds in length) in
between clicks, makes the piezo produce a tone of
The tune that is sent to this function is varying frequencies.
ʻccggaagffeeddc’ so the first note will be a middle C.
The for loop compares that note with the notes in the
names[] array and if there is a match, calls up the
second function, called playTone, to play the
69

The only piece of hardware used in this project is a
piezo sounder. This simple device is made up of a To produce sounds from a piezo disc, an electric field
thin layer of ceramic bonded to a metallic disc. is turned on and off very fast, to make the material
change shape and hence cause a ʻclickʼ as the disc
Piezoelectric materials, pops out and back in again (like a tiny drum). By
which are some crystals changing the frequency of the pulses, the disc will
and ceramics, have the deform hundreds or thousands of times per second
ability to produce and hence causing the buzzing sound. By changing
electricity when the frequency of the clicks and the time in between
mechanical stress is them, specific notes can be produced.
applied to them. The
e f f e c t fi n d s u s e f u l You can also use the piezoʼs ability to produce an
applications such as the electric field to measure movement or vibrations.
production and detection of sound, generation of high
voltages, electronic frequency generation,
microbalances, and ultra fine focusing of optical
assemblies.
The effect is also reversible, in that if an electric field

is applied across the piezoelectric material it will
cause the material to change shape (by as much as
0.1% in some cases).
Exercise
1. Change the notes

and beats to make oth
Birthdayʼ or ʻMerry Ch er tunes such as ʻHapp
ristmasʼ. y
2. Write a program to
make a rising and fal
similar to a car alarm ling tone from the pie
or police siren. zo,
70
Project 12
Serial Temperature Sensor
71
Project 12 - Serial Temperature Sensor

Now we are going to make use of the Temperature Enter the Code
Sensor in your kit, the LM35DT. You will need just one
component. Enter the code, then press the Serial Monitor button
on the Arduino IDE. You will now get a reading every
What you will need half a second(ish) that shows the analog reading from
Pin 0 and also the temperature (after conversion) from
the LM35DT sensor.
LM35DT
Leave it a little while to stabilise and then hold the
sensor. You will see the temperature rise as it reads
the temperature of your skin. Hold something cold
Connect it up against it and see it drop. The sensor can read
between 0 and 100 degrees C.
int potPin = 0;
float temperature = 0;
void setup()
{
Serial.begin(9600);
Serial.println("LM35 Thermometer ");
analogReference(INTERNAL);
}
void printTenths(int value) {

// prints a value of 123 as 12.3
Serial.print(value / 10);
Serial.print(".");
Serial.println(value % 10);
}
void loop() {
int span = 20;
int aRead = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < span; i++) {
aRead = aRead+analogRead(potPin);
}
aRead = aRead / 20;
temperature = ((100*1.1*aRead)/1024)*10;
// convert voltage to temperature
Serial.print("Analog in reading: ");
Serial.print(long(aRead));
// print temperature value on serial monitor
Serial.print(" - Calculated Temp: ");
printTenths(long(temperature));
delay(500);
}
72

We begin by setting variables to store the Analog Pin Next we create a function called printTenths
we will be using and a place to store the temperature (remember we can put functions before or after setup
read in from the sensor. and loop).
int potPin = 0; void printTenths(int value) {

float temperature = 0; // prints a value of 123 as 12.3
Serial.print(value / 10);
Then in our setup function a Serial object is created Serial.print(".");
running at 9600 baud. A message stating “LM35 Serial.println(value % 10);
Thermometer” is sent to the Serial Monitor (with a }
newline).
This function is designed to turn the integer values
void setup() from analog pin 0 and show the fractions of a degree.
{ The Arduinoʼs ADC reads values between 0 and 1023.
Serial.begin(9600); Our reference voltage is 1.1 volts and so the
Serial.println("LM35 Thermometer "); maximum reading we will get (at 100 Degrees C) will
be 931 (1024/1.1). Each of the 1024 values from the
Finally, we come across a new command ADC increment in steps of 0.00107421875 volts (or
just over 1 millivolt). The value from the ADC is an
analogReference(INTERNAL); integer value so the printTenths function is designed to
show the fraction part of the temperature reading.
The analogReference command configures the
reference voltage used for the analog inputs. When We pass the function an integer ʻvalueʼ, which will be
you use an analogRead() function (like we did in the reading from the temperature sensor. The function
Project 6 to read values from a potentiometer), the prints the value divided by 10. E.g. If the reading were
function will return a value of 1023 for an input equal 310, this would equate to 33.3 degrees (remember
to the reference voltage. 100 Degrees C is a reading of 931 and 1/3 of that is
310 (the value passed to printTenths is worked out in
The options for this function are: the main loop and we will come to see how that is
calculated shortly).
• DEFAULT: the default analog reference of 5 volts
• INTERNAL: an in-built reference, equal to 1.1 volts When the Serial.print(value / 10) command
• EXTERNAL: the voltage applied to the AREF pin is prints out 33.3, it will only print the 33 part of that
used as a reference number as the variable ʻvalueʼ is an integer and
therefore unable to store fractions of 1. The program
In our case we have used an internal reference (of 1.1 then prints a decimal point after the whole number
volts) which means voltages of 1.1v or higher from the Serial.print(".");
temperature sensor will give an analog reading of
1023. Anything lower will give a lower value, e.g. 0.55 Finally, we print out what is after the decimal point
volts will give 512. using the modulo (%) command. The modulo
command works out the remainder when one integer
We use a reference of 1.1v because the maximum is divided by another. In this case we calculate value
voltage out from the LM35DT Temperature Sensor is 1 % 10 which divides ʻvalueʼ by 10, but gives us the
volt. The sensor can read between 0 Degrees C and remainder instead of the quotient. This is a clever way
100 Degrees C with 0 Degrees C being an output of printing a floating pointer number, which was
voltage of 0 volts and 100 Degrees C being a voltage derived from an integer value.
of 1 volt. If we were to not use the INTERNAL setting
and leave it at the default (5 volts) then we would be Letʼs now take a look at the main loop of the program
reducing the resolution of the sensor readings as 100 and see what is going on here.
Degrees C would only be using 20% of the resolution
of the Arduinoʼs ADC (Analog to Digital Convertor)
which can convert analog voltages between 0 and 5
volts into digital readings between 0 and 1023.
73
void loop() { value between 0 and 1023 (100*1.1*aRead). This

int span = 20; value is then divided by 1024 to give is a maximum
int aRead = 0; value of 100, which in turn is multiplied by 10 to add
for (int i = 0; i < span; i++) { an extra digit to the end, enabling the modulo function
aRead = aRead+analogRead(potPin);
to work.
}
aRead = aRead / 20;
Letʼs look at that calculation step by step. Let us
temperature = ((100*1.1*aRead)/1024)*10; presume, for example, that the temperature being
// convert voltage to temperature read is 50 degrees C. As we are using a reference
Serial.print("Analog in reading: "); voltage of 1.1 volts, our maximum value from the
Serial.print(long(aRead)); sensor will be 930 as the sensors maximum output
// print temperature value on serial voltage is 1 volt. 50 Degrees C will therefore be half of
monitor that, or 465.
Serial.print(" - Calculated Temp: ");
printTenths(long(temperature)); If we put that value into our equation we get :-
delay(500);
(100 * 1.1 * 465.5) = 51205
}
51205 / 1024 = 50
The start of the loop sets up two local variables 50 * 10 = 500
(variables whose ʻscopeʼ, or visibility, is only between
the curly braces of the function it is within) called When passed to the printTenths() function we will get
ʻspanʼ and ʻaReadʼ. A for loop is then set up to loop a temperature of 50.0
between zero and 20 (or whatever value is stored in
the ʻspanʼ variable). Within the for loop the value read Letʼs try another example. The temperature is 23.5
in from analogPin(0) is added to the value stored in Degrees C. This will be read as a value of 219
aRead.
(100 * 1.1 * 219) = 24090
for (int i = 0; i < span; i++) { 24090 /1024 - 23.525
aRead = aRead+analogRead(potPin); 23.525 * 10 = 235
}
aRead = aRead / 20; When passed to the printTenths() function we get 23.5
The, after the for loop, the total value of aRead is After we have calculated the temperature, the program
divided by 20 (or whatever value is stored in ʻspanʼ). then prints out “Analog in reading: : to the Serial
This gives us an average value read in from the Monitor, then displays the value of aRead followed by
temperature sensor, averaged out over 20 consecutive “Calculated Temp: “ and the value stored in
readings. The reason we do that is because analog ʻtemperatureʼ. (passed to the printTenths function).
devices, such as our temperature sensor, are prone to
fluctuations caused by electrical noise in the circuit, The value of ʻtemperatureʼ has the word long before it
interference, etc. and therefore each reading, out of a when we pass it to printTenths. This is an example of
set of 20, will differ slightly. To give a more accurate ʻcastingʼ or forcing one variable type to become
reading, we take 20 values from the sensor and then another. The printTenths function is expecting an
average them out to give us a more accurate reading. integer, we pass it a long type instead. Any values
The readings are taken one after the other, without after the decimal point are truncated (ignored).
any delay and therefore it will take only a tiny fraction
of a second for the Arduino to perform this task. E.g.
We now have an averaged reading from the analogPin int i;

connected to the temperature sensor, which will be float f;
some value between 0 and 930 (o to 100 degrees C
respectively). That value now needs to be converted f = 3.6;
i = (int) f; // now i is 3
into a temperature in degrees C and the next line
performs that function:
In this example we have cast the floating point
temperature = ((100*1.1*aRead)/1024)*10; variable f into an integer.
This calculation multiplies the value from the digital pin Finally the program delays half a second and then
by 1.1 (our reference voltage) and again by 100. What repeats.
this does is stretch out or values from 0 to 930 to be a
74

The hardware used for this project is very simply a
LM35DT Temperature Sensor and
3 wires.
The LM35DT is an analogue

temperature sensor that can read
from 0 to 100 Degrees C and is
accurate to within 0.5 degrees.
The device requires a power

supply of anywhere between 4 to
30V DC. The output from the LM35DT will be
dependent on input voltage. In our case we are giving
the device 5V from the Arduino and therefore 0
Degrees C will give an output voltage of 0 volts. 100
Degrees C will give the maximum output voltage
(which will match the input voltage) of 5 volts.
If we take a look at the diagram of the

pinouts from the LM35DT datasheet,
you can see that there are 3 legs to
the device. The left hand leg (with the
device number facing you and
heatsink away from you) is the input
voltage. The middle leg goes to
ground and the right hand leg gives
you the output voltage, which will be
your temperature reading.
75
Project 13
Light Sensor
76
Project 13 - Light Sensor

In this project we are going to use the Light Enter the Code
Dependent Resistor in our kit to read values from it
and adjust the speed of a flashing LED. Enter the code, then upload it to your Arduino. You will
see the LED flashing on and off. If you cover the LDR
What you will need (Light Dependent Resistor) you will see the LED flash
slower. Now shine a bright light onto the LDR and you
will see it flash faster.
Light Dependent
Resistor
//Project 13 - Light Sensor

100Ω Resistor
// Pin we will connect to LED
int ledPin = 6;
// Pin connected to LDR
3 x 1K5Ω Resistors int ldrPin = 0;
// Value read from LDR
int lightVal = 0;
Green LED
void setup()
{
Connect it up ! // Set both pins as outputs
}
void loop()
{
! // Read in value from LDR
! lightVal = analogRead(ldrPin);
! // Turn LED on
! // Delay of length lightVal
! delay(lightVal);
! // Turn LED off
! // Delay again
! delay(lightVal);
}
77

This code is pretty simple and you should be able to ! lightVal = analogRead(ldrPin);
work out what it does yourself by now.
Then the LED is turned on and off, with a delay equal
The code starts off by initialising variables related to to the value read in from the analog pin.
Digital Pin 6, which the LED is connected to and
Analogue Pin 0, which the LDR is connect to. We also ! digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);
! delay(lightVal);
initialise a variable called lightVal which will store the
values red in from the LDR. ! delay(lightVal);
int ledPin = 6;
As more light falls on the LDR the value read in from
// Pin connected to LDR
Analog Pin 0 decreases and the LED flashes faster.
int ldrPin = 0;
// Value read from LDR
int lightVal = 0; Letʼs find out how this circuit works.
The setup function sets the pinmode of the LED pin to

output.
In the main loop of the program we read in analog

value from Analog Pin 0 and store it in the ʻlightValʼ
variable.
78

The only additional component used in this circuit is
Conditions Resistance
the LDR or Light Dependent Resistor (sometimes
called a photoresistor). An LDR initially has a very high LDR Covered by Finger 8KΩ
resistance. But, as light falls on it, the resistance will
drop, allowing more current through. Light in room (overcast day) 1KΩ
Our LDR is connected in series with 3 x Held under a bright light 150Ω
1.5KΩ Resistors and the input into Analog
Pin 0 is between these 2. This is what is
known as a voltage divider. We will explain So using these values of resistance, the input voltage
this in a second. and the calculation we listed above, the approx. output
voltage can be calculated thus:
The 3 x 1.5K give a total resistance of 4500Ω (4.5KΩ).
Resistors in series have a resistance equal to the sum
Vin R1 R2 Vout
of their individual resistances. In this case the value is
3 x 1500 = 4500.
5v 4500Ω 8000Ω 3.2v
A voltage divider is a circuit consisting of two
resistances across a voltage supply. An output 5v 4500Ω 1000Ω 0.9v
between the two resistances will give a lower voltage
depending on the values of the two resistors. 5v 4500Ω 150Ω 0.16v
The diagram on the left As you can see, as the resistance of the LDR (R2)
shows a voltage divider decreases, the voltage out of the voltage divider
made up of two resistors. decreases also, making the value read in from the
The value of Vout will be Analog Pin lower and therefore decreasing the delay
lower than the value of Vin. making the LED flash faster.
To work out the value of Vout A voltage divider circuit could also be used for
we use the following decreasing a voltage to a lower one if you used 2
calculation: standard resistors, rather than a resistor and an LDR
(which is a variable resistor). Alternatively, you could
use a potentiometer so you can adjust the voltage out
R2 by turning the knob.
Vout = Vin
R1 + R2
We are providing 5 volts into the circuit so letʼs work

out what values we will get out. Using a multimeter I
have measured the resistance from the LDR in
different conditions.
79
Project 14
Shift Register 8-Bit Binary Counter
80
Project 14 - Shift Register 8-Bit Binary Counter

Right, we are now going to delve into some pretty Connect it up
advanced stuff so you might want a stiff drink before
going any further. Examine the diagram carefully.
Connect the 3.3v to the top rail of
In this project we are going to use additional ICʼs your Breadboard and the Ground to
(Integrated Circuits) in the form of Shift Registers, to the bottom. The chip has a small
enable us to drive LEDʼs to count in Binary (we will dimple on one end, this dimple goes
explain what binary is soon). In this project we will to the left. Pin 1 is below the dimple,
drive 8 LEDʼs independently using just 3 output pins Pin 8 at bottom right, Pin 9 at top right
from the Arduino. and Pin 16 at top left.
What you will need You now need wires to go from

the 3.3v supply to Pins 10 & 16.
Also, wires from Ground to Pins
1 x 74HC595 Shift 8 & 13.
Registers
A wire goes from Digital Pin 8 to
Pin 12 on the IC. Another one
8 x 240Ω Resistor goes from Digital Pin 12 to Pin 14 and finally one from
Digital Pin 11 to Pin 11.
8 x Green LED The 8 LEDʼs have a 240Ω resistor between the

cathode and ground, then the anode of LED 1 goes to
Pin 15. The anode of LEDʼs 2 to 8 goes to Pins 1 to 7
on the IC.
Once you have connected everything up, have one

final check your wiring is correct and the IC and LEDʼs
are the right way around. Then enter the following
code. Remember, if you donʼt want to enter the code
by hand you can download it from the website on the
same page you obtained this book.
81
Enter the Code
Enter the following code and upload it to your Arduino.

Once the code is run you will see the LEDʼs turn on
and off individually as the LEDʼs count up in Binary
from 0 to 255, then start again.
// Project 14
//Pin connected to Pin 12 of 74HC595 (Latch)

int latchPin = 8;
//Pin connected to Pin 11 of 74HC595 (Clock)
int clockPin = 12;
//Pin connected to Pin 14 of 74HC595 (Data)
int dataPin = 11;
void setup() {
//set pins to output
pinMode(latchPin, OUTPUT);
pinMode(clockPin, OUTPUT);
pinMode(dataPin, OUTPUT);
}
void loop() {
//count from 0 to 255
for (int i = 0; i < 256; i++) {
//set latchPin low to allow data flow
digitalWrite(latchPin, LOW);
shiftOut(i);
//set latchPin to high to lock and send data
digitalWrite(latchPin, HIGH);
delay(500);
}
}
void shiftOut(byte dataOut) {

// Shift out 8 bits LSB first,
a bit
// on rising edge of clock
for (int i=0; i<=7; i++) {
//set clockPin to LOW prior to sending bit
boolean pinState;
digitalWrite(clockPin, LOW);
//clear shift register ready for
// if the value of DataOut and (logical
sending data
AND) a bitmask
digitalWrite(dataPin, LOW);
// are true, set pinState to 1 (HIGH)
if ( dataOut & (1<<i) ) {
// for each bit in dataOut send out
pinState = HIGH;
}
else {!
pinState = LOW;
}
//sets dataPin to HIGH or LOW depending on

pinState
digitalWrite(dataPin, pinState);
//send bit out on rising edge of clock
digitalWrite(clockPin, HIGH);
}
//stop shifting out data

}
82
The Binary Number System

Now before we take a look at the code and the Add that all together and you get 75.
hardware for Project 15, it is time to take a look at the
Binary Number System, as it is essential to Here are some other examples:
understand Binary to be able to successfully program
a microcontroller.
Dec 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20
128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1
Human beings use a Base 10, or Decimal number
system, because we have 10 fingers on our hands.
Computers do not have fingers and so the best way 75 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 1
for a computer to count is using itʼs equivalent of
fingers, which is a state of either ON or OFF (1 or 0). 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
A logic device, such as a computer, can detect if a
voltage is there (1) or if it is not (0) and so uses a 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
binary, or base 2 number system as this number
3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
system can easily be represented in an electronic
circuit with a high or low voltage state.
4 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
In our number system, base 10, we have 10 digits 12 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0
ranging from 0 to 9. When we count to the next digit
after 9 the digit resets back to zero, but a 1 is 27 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 1
incremented to the tens column to its left. Once the
tens column reaches 9, incrementing this by 1 will 100 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0
reset it to zero, but add 1 to the hundreds column to
itʼs left, and so on. 127 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
000,001,002,003,004,005,006,007,008,009 255 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
010,011,012,013,014,015,016,017,018,019
020,021,023 ………
...and so on.
In Binary the exact same thing happens, except the
highest digit is 1 so adding 1 to 1 results in the digit So now that you understand binary (or at least I hope
resetting to zero and 1 being added to the column to you do) we will first take a look at the hardware, before
the left. looking at the code.
000, 001
010, 011
100, 101... TOP TIP
An 8 bit number (or a byte) is represented like this You can use Google to convert between a Decimal
and a Binary number and vice versa.
27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 E.g to convert 171 Decimal to Binary type
128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1
171 in Binary
Into the Google search box returns
0 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 171 = 0b10101011
The 0b prefix shows the number is a Binary number
The number above in Binary is 1001011 and in
and not a Decimal number.
Decimal this is 75. So the answer is 10101011.
This is worked out like this : To convert a Binary number to decimal do the
reverse. E.g. Enter
1x1=1 0b11001100 in Decimal
1x2=2 Into the search box returns
1x8=8 0b11001100 = 204
1 x 64 = 64
83

We are going to do things the other way around for released to the 8 Pins (QA-QH). The Clock is simply a
this project and take a look at the hardware before we pulse of 0ʼs and 1ʼs and and the Data Pin is where we
look at the code. send data from the Arduino the the 595.
We are using a Shift Register. Specifically the To use the Shift Register the Latch Pin and Clock Pin
74HC595 type of Shift Register. This type of Shift must be set to LOW. The Latch Pin will remain at LOW
Register is an 8-bit serial-in, serial or parallel-out shift until all 8 bits have been set. This allows data to be
register with output latches. This means that you can entered into the Storage Register (the storage register
send data in to the Shift Register in series and send it is simply a place inside the IC for storing a 1 or a 0).
out in parallel. In series means 1 bit at a time. Parallel We then present either a HIGH or LOW signal at the
means lots of bits (in this case 8) at a time. So you Data Pin and then set the Clock Pin to HIGH. By
give the Shift Register data (in the form of 1ʼs and 0ʼs) setting the Clock Pin to HIGH this stores the data
one bit at a time, then send out 8 bits all at the exact presented at the Data Pin into the Storage Register.
same time. Each bit is shunted along as the next bit is Once this is done we set the Clock to LOW again,
entered. If a 9th bit is entered before the Latch is set then present the next bit of data at the Data Pin. Once
to HIGH then the first bit entered will be shunted off we have done this 8 times, we have sent a full 8 bit
the end of the row and be lost forever. number into the 595. The Latch Pin is now raised
which transfers the data from the Storage Register
Shift Registers are usually used for serial to parallel into the Shift Register and outputs it from QA to QH
data conversion. In our case, as (Pin 15, 1 to 7).
the data that is output is 1ʼs and
0ʼs (or 0v and 3.3v) we can use it I have connected a Logic Analyser (a device that lets
to turn on and off a bank of 8 you see the 1ʼs and 0ʼs coming out of a digital device)t
LEDʼs. o my 595 whilst this program is running and the image
at the bottom of the page shows the output.
The Shift Register, for this
project, requires only 3 inputs The sequence of events here is:
from the Arduino. The outputs of
the Arduino and the inputs of the 595 are as follows: Pin State Description
Latch LOW Latch lowered to allow data to be entered
Arduino 595 Description
Pin Pin Data HIGH First bit of data (1)
Clock HIGH Clock goes HIGH. Data stored.
8 12 Storage Register Clock Input
Clock LOW Ready for next Bit. Prevent any new data.
11 14 Serial Data Input Data HIGH 2nd bit of data (1)
Clock HIGH 2nd bit stored
12 11 Shift Register Clock Input
... ... …
Data LOW 8th bit of data (0)
We are going to refer to Pin 12 as the Clock Pin, Pin
14 as the Data Pin and Pin 11 as the Latch Pin. Clock HIGH Store the data
Clock LOW Prevent any new data being stored
Imagine the Latch as a gate that will allow data to Latch HIGH Send 8 bits out in parallel
escape from the 595. When the gate is lowered (LOW)
the data in the 595 cannot get out, but data can be
entered. When the gate is raised (HIGH) data can no In the image below, you can see that the binary
longer be entered, but the data in the SHift Register is number 00110111 (reading from right to left) or
Decimal 55 has been sent to the chip.
84
So to summarise the use of a single Shift Register in this project, we have 8 LEDʼs attached to the 8 outputs of
the Register. The Latch is set to LOW to enable data entry. Data is sent to the Data Pin, one bit at a time, the
CLock Pin is set to HIGH to store that data, then back down to low ready for the next bit. After all 8 bits have
been entered, the latch is set to HIGH which prevents further data entry and sets the 8 output pins to either High
(3.3v or LOW (0 volts) depending on the state of the Register.
If you want to read up more about the shift register you have in your kit, then take a look at the serial number on
the IC (e.g. 74HC595N or SN74HC595N, etc.) and enter that into Google. You can then find the specific
datasheet for the IC and read more about it.
Iʼm a huge fan of the 595 chip. It is very versatile

and can of course increase the number of digital
output pins that the Arduino has. The standard
Arduino has 19 Digital Outputs (the 6 Analog Pins
can also be used as Digital Pins numbered 14 to
19). Using 8-bit Shift Registers you can expand that
to 49 (6 x 595ʼs plus one spare pin left over). They
also operate very fast, typically at 100MHz. Meaning
you can send data out at approx. 100 million times
per second if you wanted to. This means you can
also send PWM signals via software to the ICʼs and
enable brightness control of the LEDʼs too.
As the outputs are simply ONʼs and OFFʼs of an output voltage, they can also be used to switch other low
powered (or even high powered devices with the use of transistors or relays) devices on and off or to send data
to devices (e.g. An old dot matrix printer or other serial device).
All of the 595 Shift Registers from any manufacturer are just about identical to each other. There are also larger
Shift Registers with 16 outputs or higher. Some ICʼs advertised as LED Driver Chips are, when you examine the
datasheet, simply larger Shift Registers (e.g. The M5450 and M5451 from STMicroelectronics).
85

The code for Project 14 looks pretty daunting at first void shiftOut(byte dataOut) {
look. But when you break it down into itʼs component
parts. Then a boolean variable called pinState is initialised.
This will store the state we wish the relevant pin to be
First, 3 variables are initialised for the 3 pins we are in when the data is sent out (1 or 0).
going to use.
boolean pinState;
int latchPin = 8;
int clockPin = 12; The Data and Clock pins are set to LOW to reset the
int dataPin = 11; data and clock lines ready for fresh data to be sent.
Then, in setup, the pins are all set to Outputs. digitalWrite(dataPin, LOW);
pinMode(latchPin, OUTPUT); After this, we are ready to send the 8 bits in series to
pinMode(clockPin, OUTPUT); the 595 one bit at a time.
A for loop that iterates 8 times is set up.
The main loop simply runs a for loop counting from 0
to 255. On each iteration of the loop the latchPin is set for (int i=0; i<=7; i++) {
to LOW to enable data entry, then the function called
shiftOut is called, passing the value of i in the for loop The clock pin is set low prior to sending a Data bit.
to the function. Then the latchpin is set to HIGH,
preventing further data entry and setting the outputs digitalWrite(clockPin, LOW);
from the 8 pins. Finally there is a delay of half a
second before the next iteration of the loop Now an if/else statement determines if the pinState
commences. variable should be set to a 1 or a 0.
void loop() { if ( dataOut & (1<<i) ) {

//count from 0 to 255 pinState = HIGH;
for (int i = 0; i < 256; i++) { }
//set latchPin low to allow data flow else {!
digitalWrite(latchPin, LOW); pinState = LOW;
shiftOut(i); }
//set latchPin to high to lock and send
data The condition for the if statement is:
digitalWrite(latchPin, HIGH); dataOut & (1<<i).
delay(500);
} This is an example of what is called a ʻbitmaskʼ and
} we are now using Bitwise Operators. These are logical
operators similar to the Boolean Operators we used in
The shiftOut function receives as a parameter a Byte previous projects. However, the Bitwise Operators act
(8 bit number), which will be our number between 0 on number at the bit level.
and 255. We have chosen a Byte for this usage as it is
exactly 8 bits in length and we need to send only 8 bits In this case we are using the Bitwise and (&) operator
out to the Shift Register. to carry out a logical operation on two numbers. The
first number is dataOut and the second is the result of
(1<<i). Before we go any further letʼs take a look at the
Bitwise Operators.
86
Bitwise Operators
The Bitwise Operators perform calculations at the bit ! 0 0 1 1! Operand1
level on variables. There are 6 common Bitwise ! 0 1 0 1! Operand2
Operators and these are: ! -------
! 0 1 1 0! (Operand1 ^ Operand2)
! &! Bitwise and
! |! Bitwise or Bitwise NOT (~)
! ^! Bitwise xor
! ~! Bitwise not The Bitwise NOT Operator is applied to a single
! <<! Bitshift left
operand to its right.
! >>! Bitshift right
The output becomes the opposite of the input.

Bitwise Operators can only be used between integers.
Each operator performs a calculation based on a set
! 0 0 1 1! Operand1
of logic rules. Let us take a close look at the Bitwsie
! -------
AND (&) Operator.
! 1 1 0 0! ~Operand1
Bitwise AND (&)
Bitshift Left (<<), Bitshift Right (>>)
The Bitwise AND operator act according to this rule:-
The Bitshift operators move all of the bits in the integer
to the left or right the number of bits specified by the
If both inputs are 1, the resulting outputs are 1,
right operand.
otherwise the output is 0.
variable << number_of_bits
Another way of looking at this is:
E.g.
! 0 0 1 1! Operand1
! 0 1 0 1! Operand2 byte x=9 ; // binary: 00001001
! ------- byte y=x<<3; //binary: 01001000 (or 72 dec)
! 0 0 0 1! (Operand1 & Operand2)
Any bits shifted off the end of the row are lost forever.
A type int is a 16-bit value, so using & between two int You can use the left bitshift to multiply a number by
expressions causes 16 simultaneous AND operations powers of 2 and the right bitshift to divide by powers of
to occur. In a section of code like this: 2 (work it out).
int x = 77; //binary: 0000000001001101
Now that we have taken a look at the Bitshift
int y = 121; //binary: 0000000001111001
Operators letʼs return to our code.
int z = x & y;//result: 0000000001001001
Or in this case 77 & 121 = 73
The remaining operators are:
Bitwise OR (|)
If either or both of the inputs is 1, the result is 1,

otherwise it is 0.
! 0 0 1 1! Operand1
! 0 1 0 1! Operand2
! -------
! 0 1 1 1! (Operand1 | Operand2)
Bitwise XOR (^)
If only 1 of the inputs is 1, then the output is 1. If both

inputs are 1, then the output 0.
87
Project 14 - Code Overview (continued)

The condition of the if/else statement was Value of I Result of b10001011(1<<i) in Binary
! dataOut & (1<<i)

5 00000000
6 00000000
And we now know this is a Bitwise AND (&) operation. 7 10000000
The right hand operand inside the parenthesis is a left
bitshift operation. This is a ʻbitmaskʼ. The 74HC595 will
only accept data one bit at a time. We therefore need So every time there is a 1 in the I position (reading
to convert the 8 bit number in dataOut into a single bit from right to left) the value comes out at higher than 1
number representing each of the 8 bits in turn. The (or TRUE) and every time there is a 0 in the I position,
bitmask allows us to ensure that the pinState variable the value comes out at 0 (or FALSE).
is set to either a 1 or a 0 depending on what the result
of the bitmask calculation is. The right hand operand is The if condition will therefore carry out its code in the
the number 1 bit shifted i number of times. As the for block if the value is higher than 0 (or in other words if
loop makes the value of i go from 0 to 7 we can see the bit in that position is a 1) or ʻelseʼ (if the bit inthat
that 1 bitshifted i times, each time through the loop, position is a 0) it will carry out the code in the else
will result in these binary numbers: block.
So looking at the if/else statement once more

Value of I Result of (1<<i) in Binary
0 00000001 if ( dataOut & (1<<i) ) {
pinState = HIGH;
1 00000010 }
2 00000100 else {!
pinState = LOW;
3 00001000 }
4 00010000
And cross referenciong this with the truth table above,
5 00100000 we can see that for every bit in the value of dataOut
6 01000000 that has the value of 1 that pinState will be set to
7 10000000 HIGH and for every value of 0 it will be set to LOW.
The next piece of code writes either a HIGH or LOW

So you can see that the 1 moves from right to left as a state to the Data Pin and then sets the Clock Pin to
result of this operation. HIGH to write that bit into the storage register.
Now the & operatorʼs rules state that digitalWrite(dataPin, pinState);

If both inputs are 1, the resulting outputs are 1,
otherwise the output is 0. Finally the Clock Pin is set to low to ensure no further
bit writes.
So, the condition of
dataOut & (1<<i)
So, in simple terms, this section of code looks at each
will result in a 1 if the corresponding bit in the same of the 8 bits of the value in dataOut one by one and
place as the bitmask is a 1, otherwise it will be a zero. sets the data pin to HIGH or LOW accordingly, then
For example, if the value of dataOut was Decimal 139 writes that value into the storage register.
or 10001011 binary. Then each iteration through the
loop will result in This is simply sending the 8 bit number out to the 595
one bit at a time and then the main loop sets the Latch
Value of I Result of b10001011(1<<i) in Binary Pin to HIGH to send out those 8 bits simultaneously to
Pins 15 and 1 to 7 (QA to QH) of the Shift Register,
0 00000001 thus making our 8 LEDʼs show a visual representation
1 00000010 of the binary number stored in the Shift Register.
2 00000000
3 00001000
4 00000000
88
Project 15
Dual 8-Bit Binary Counters
89
Project 15 - Dual 8-Bit Binary Counters

In Project 15 we will daisy chain another 74HC595 IC Connect it up
onto the one used in Project 14 to create a dual binary
counter. The first 595 is wired the same as in Project 15. The
2nd 595 has +5v and Ground wires going to the same
What you will need pins as on the 1st 595. Then, add a wire from Pin 9 on
IC 1 to Pin 14 on IC 2. Add another from Pin 11 on IC
1 to Pin 11 on IC 2 and Pin 12 on IC 1 to Pin 12 on IC
2 x 74HC595 Shift 2.
Registers
The same outputs as on the 1st 595 going to the first
set of LEDʼs go from the 2nd IC to the 2nd set of
8 x 240Ω Resistor LEDʼs.
Examine the diagrams carefully.

8 x Red LED
90
Enter the Code When you run this code you will see the Red set of
LEDʼs count up (in Binary) from 0 to 255 and the
Enter the following code and upload it to your Arduino. Green LEDʼs count down from 255 to 0 at the same
time.
// Project 15

int latchPin = 8;
int clockPin = 12;
int dataPin = 11;
void setup() {
}
void loop() {
//count from 0 to 255
for (int i = 0; i < 255; i++) {
//set latchPin low to allow data flow
digitalWrite(latchPin, LOW);
shiftOut(i);
shiftOut(255-i);
//set latchPin to high to lock and send data
digitalWrite(latchPin, HIGH);
delay(250 );
}
}
void shiftOut(byte dataOut) {

boolean pinState;
//clear shift register read for

sending data
digitalWrite(clockPin, LOW); pinState = HIGH;
}
// for each bit in dataOut send else {!
out a bit pinState = LOW;
for (int i=0; i<=7; i++) { }
//set clockPin to LOW prior to
sending bit //sets dataPin to HIGH or LOW
digitalWrite(clockPin, LOW); //depending on pinState
// if the value of DataOut and //send bit out on rising edge of clock
(logical AND) a bitmask digitalWrite(clockPin, HIGH);
// are true, set pinState to 1 digitalWrite(dataPin, LOW);
(HIGH) }
//stop shifting
}
91
Project 15 - Code & Hardware Overview

The code for Project 15 is identical to that in Project
14 apart from the addition of The data is input to Pin 14 on the 1st IC from the
Arduino. The 2nd 595 chip is ʻdaisy chainedʼ to the
shiftOut(255-i); first chip by Pin 9 on IC 1, which is outputting data,
into Pin 14 on the second IC, which is the data input.
In the main loop. The shiftOut routine sends 8 bits, to
the 595. In the main loop we have put 2 sets of calls to What happens is, as you enter a 9th bit and above,
shiftOut. One sending the value of I and the other the data in IC 1 gets shunted out of its data pin and
sending 255-i. We call shiftOut twice before we set the into the data pin of the 2nd IC. So, once all 16 bits
latch to HIGH. This will send 2 sets of 8 bits, or 16 bits have been sent down the data line from the Arduino,
in total, to the 595 chips before the latch is set HIGH the first 8 bits sent would have been shunted out of
to prevent further writing to the registers and to output the first chip and into the second. The 2nd 595 chip
the contents of the shift register to the output pins, will contain the FIRST 8 bits sent out and the 1st 595
which in turn make the LEDʼs go on or off. chip will contain bits 9 to 16.
The 2nd 595 is wired up exactly the same as the 1st An almost unlimited number of 595 chips can be daisy
one. The clock and latch pins are tied to the pins of chained in this manner.
the first 595. However, we have a wire going from Pin
9 on IC 1 to Pin 14 on IC 2. Pin 9 is the data output pin
and pin 14 is the data input pin.
Exercise
1. Re-create the Knigh

t Rid er light effect using all
16 LEDʼs
92
Project 16
LED Dot Matrix -
Basic Animation
93
Project 16 - LED Dot Matrix - Basic Animation

In this project we are going to use the 74HC595 chips If you take it that bottom left pin of the matrix is Pin 1,
to control a Dot Matrix array of 64 LEDʼs (8x8) and bottom right is Pin 8, top right is Pin 9 and top left is
produce some basic animations. Pin 16 then connect jumper wires between the 16
outputs as follows :-
This Project requires the Mini Dot Matrix Display.
Output Pin
What you will need 1 9
2 14
2 x 74HC595 Shift 3 8
Registers 4 12
5 1
6 7
8 x 240Ω Resistor
7 2
8 5
9 13
Mini Dot Matrix
10 3
11 4
12 10
Connect it up
13 6
The two 595 chips are left the same as in Project 16. 14 11
Leave the first 8 resistors and remove the 2nd 8. Put 15 15
your Dot Matrix unit at the end of the breadboard. 16 16
Make sure it is the right way around. To do this turn it
upside down and make sure the words are the right
Examine the diagrams carefully.
way up then flip it over (from right to left) in your hand.
Push it in carefully.
94
Enter the Code
// Project 16
#include <TimerOne.h>

int latchPin = 8;
int clockPin = 12;
int dataPin = 11;
uint8_t led[8];
long counter1 = 0;
long counter2 = 0;
void setup() {
led[0] = B11111111;
led[1] = B10000001;
led[2] = B10111101;
led[3] = B10100101;
led[4] = B10100101;
led[5] = B10111101;
led[6] = B10000001;
led[7] = B11111111;
Timer1.initialize(10000);
Timer1.attachInterrupt(screenUpdate);
}
void loop() {
counter1++;
if (counter1 >=100000) {counter2++;}
if (counter2 >= 10000) {
counter1 = 0;
counter2 = 0;
for (int i=0; i<8; i++) {
led[i]= ~led[i];
}
}
}
void screenUpdate() {
uint8_t row = B00000001;
for (byte k = 0; k < 9; k++) {
// Open up the latch ready to receive data
! digitalWrite(latchPin, LOW);
shiftIt(~row );
shiftIt(led[k] ); // LED array
// Close the latch, sending the data in the registers out to the
matrix
digitalWrite(latchPin, HIGH); row = row << 1;
}
}
95
void shiftIt(byte dataOut) {

boolean pinState;
//clear shift register read for sending data

// for each bit in dataOut send out a bit

for (int i=0; i<8; i++) {
//set clockPin to LOW prior to sending bit
// if the value of DataOut and (logical AND) a bitmask

// are true, set pinState to 1 (HIGH)
pinState = HIGH;
}
else {!
pinState = LOW;
}
//sets dataPin to HIGH or LOW depending on pinState

//send bit out on rising edge of clock
}
//stop shifting
}
When this code is run, you will see a very basic animation of a heart that flicks back and forth between a positive
and a negative image.
Before this code will work you will need to download the TimerOne library from the Arduino website. It can be
downloaded from http://www.arduino.cc/playground/uploads/Code/TimerOne.zip
Once downloaded, unzip the package and place the folder, called TimerOne, into the hardware/libraries
directory.
96

For this Project we will take a look at the Hardware Now let us imagine that we want to also light the LED
before we look at how the code works. at column 3, row 6. So we apply a current to the 6th
row and ground the 3rd column pin. The LED at
The 74HC595 and how to use them has been column 3, row 6 now illuminates. But wait… The
explained in the previous projects. The only addition to LEDʼs at column 3, row 6 and column 5, row 6 have
the circuit this time was an 8x LED Dot Matrix unit. also lit up.
Dot Matrix units typically come in either an 5x7 or 8x8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

matrix of LEDʼs. The LEDʼs are wired in the matrix 1
such that either the anode or cathode of each LED is 2
common in each row. E.g. In a Common Anode LED 3
DOt Matrix unit, each row of LEDʼs would have all of 4
their anodes in that row wired together. The Cathodes 5
of the LEDʼs would all be wired together in each 6
column. The reason for this will become apparent 7
soon. 8
A typical single colour 8x8 Dot Matrix unit will have 16 This is because we are applying power to row 3 and 6
pins, 8 for each row and 8 for each column. You can and grounding columns 3 and 5. We canʼt turn off the
also obtain bi-colour units (e.g. Red and Green) as unwanted LEDʼs without turning off the ones we want
well as Full Colour RGB (Red, Green and Blue) Units, on also. It would appear that there is no way we can
such as is used in large video walls. Bi or Tri (RGB) light just the two required LEDʼs with the rows and
colour units have 2 or 3 LEDʼs in each pixel of the columns wired together as they are. The only way this
array. These are very small and next to each other. would work would be to have a separate pinout for
each LED meaning the number of pins would jump
By turning on different combinations of Red, Green or from 16 to 65. A 65 pin Dot Matrix unit would be very
Blue in each pixel and by varying their brightnesses, hard to wire up and also to control as youʼd need a
any colour can be obtained. microcontroller with at least 64 digital outputs.
The reason the rows and columns are all wired Is there a way to get around this problem? Yes there
together is to minimise the number of pins required. If is, and it is called ʻmultiplexingʼ (or muxing).
this was not the case, a single colour 8x8 Dot Matrix
unit would have to have 65 pins. One for each LED Multiplexing
and a common Anode or Cathode connector. By wiring
the rows and columns together only 16 pin outs are Multiplexing is the technique of switching one row of
required. the display on at a time. By selecting the appropriate
columns that we want an LED to be lit in that row and
However, this now poses a problem. If we want a then turning the power to that row (or the other way
particular LED to light in a certain position. If for round for common cathode displays) on, the chosen
example we had a Common Anode unit and wanted to LEDʼs in that row will illuminate. That row is then
light the LED at X, Y position 5, 3 (5th column, 3rd turned off and the next row is turned on, again with the
row), then we would apply a current to the 3rd Row appropriate columns chosen and the LEDʼs in the 2nd
and Ground the 5th column pin. The LED in the 5th row will now illuminate. Repeat with each row till we
column and 3rd row would now light. get to the bottom and then start again at the top.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 If this is done fast enough (more than 100Hz or 100

1 times per second) then the phenomenon of
2 ʻpersistance of visionʼ (where an afterimage remains
3 on the retina for approx 1/25th of a second) will mean
4 that the display will appear to be steady, even though
5 each row is turned on and off in sequence.
6
7 By using this technique we get around the problem of
8 being able to display individual LEDʼs without other
LEDʼs in the same column or row also being lit.
97
For example, we want to display the following image 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

1 1
on our display:- 2 2
3 3
4 4
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
5 5
1 6 6
2 7 7
8 8
3
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
4
1 1
5 2 2
6 3 3
4 4
7
5 5
8 6 6
7 7
8 8
Then each row would be lit in turn like so…
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 By scanning down the rows and illuminating the

1 1 respective LEDʼs in each column of that row and doing
2 2
this very fast (more than 100Hz) the human eye will
3 3
4 4 perceive the image as steady and the image of the
5 5 heart will be recognisable in the LED pattern.
6 6
7 7
8 8 We have used this multiplexing technique in our
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Project's code and that is how we are able to display
1 1 the heart animation without also displaying extraneous
2 2
LEDʼs.
3 3
4 4
5 5
6 6
7 7
8 8
98

The code for this project uses a feature of the Atmega led[0] = B11111111;
chip called a Hardware Timer. This is essentially a led[1] = B10000001;
timer on the chip that can be used to trigger an event. led[2] = B10111101;
In our case we are setting our ISR (Interrupt Service led[3] = B10100101;
led[4] = B10100101;
Routine) to fire every 10000 microseconds, which is
led[5] = B10111101;
every 100th of a second. led[6] = B10000001;
led[7] = B11111111;
We make use of a library that has already been written
for us to enable easy use of interrupts and this is the By looking at the array above you can make out the
TimerOne library. TimerOne makes creating an ISR image that will be displayed, which is a box within a
very easy. We simply tell the function what the interval box. You can, of course, adjust the 1ʼs and 0ʼs yourself
is, in this case 10000 microseconds, and the name of to make any 8x8 sprite you wish.
the function we wish to activate every time the
interrupt is fired, in our case this is the ʻscreenUpdateʼ After this the Timer1 function is used. First, the
function. function needs to be initialised with the frequency it
will be activated at. In this case we set its period to
TimerOne is an external library and we therefore need 10000 microseconds, or 1/100th of a second. Once the
to include it in our code. This is easily done using the interrupt has been initialised we need to attach to the
include command. interrupt a function that will be executed every time the
time period is reached. This is the ʻscreenUpdateʼ
#include <TimerOne.h> function which will fire every 1/100th of a second.
After this the pins used to interface with the shift Timer1.initialize(10000);
registers are declared. Timer1.attachInterrupt(screenUpdate);
//Pin connected to Pin 12 of 74HC595 (Latch) In the main loop we set a counter that counts to
int latchPin = 8; 1,000,000,000 to create a delay. This is done by two
//Pin connected to Pin 11 of 74HC595 (Clock) loops, one that loops 100,000 times and the other one
int clockPin = 12; that loops 10,000 times. I have done it this way,
instead of using delay() as the current version of the
int dataPin = 11;
Timer1 library seems to interfere with the delay
function. You may try delay() instead and see if it
We now create an array of type uint8_t that has 8
works (updates to the libraries are occurring from time
elements and two counters of type long. An uint8_t is
to time). counter1 and counter2 are reset to zero once
simply the same as a byte. It is an unsigned integer of
they reach their targets.
8 bits.
void loop() {
uint8_t led[8]; counter1++;
long counter1 = 0; if (counter1 >=100000) {counter2++;}
long counter2 = 0; if (counter2 >= 10000) {
counter1 = 0;
The led[8] array will be used to store the image we are counter2 = 0;
going to display on the Dot Matrix display. The
counters will be used to create a delay. Once the end of the delay is reached, a for loop cycles
through each of the 8 elements of the led array and
In the setup routine we set the latch, clock and data inverts the contents using the ~ or NOT bitwise
pins as outputs. operator.
void setup() { for (int i=0; i<8; i++) {

//set pins to output led[i]= ~led[i];
pinMode(latchPin, OUTPUT); }
pinMode(clockPin, OUTPUT); }
pinMode(dataPin, OUTPUT); }
Once the pins have been set to outputs, the led array This simply turns the binary image into a negative of
is loaded with the 8-bit binary images that will be itself by turning all 1ʼs to 0ʼs and all 0ʼs to 1ʼs.
displayed in each row of the 8x8 Dot Matrix Display.
99
We now have the screenUpdate function. This is the Once we have shifted out that current rows 8 bits the
function that the interrupt is activating every 100th of a value in row is bitshifted left 1 place so that the next
second. This whole routine is very important as it is row is displayed.
responsible for ensuring our LEDʼs in the DOt Matrix
array are lit correctly and displays the image we wish row = row << 1;
to convey. It is a very simple but very effective
function. Remember from the hardware overview that the
multiplexing routine is only displaying one row at a
void screenUpdate() { time, turning it off and then displaying the next row.
uint8_t row = B00000001; This is done at 100Hz which is too fast for the human
for (byte k = 0; k < 9; k++) { eye to see the flicker.
// Open up the latch ready to receive
data Finally, we have a ShiftOut function, the same as in
the previous Shift Register based projects, that sends
shiftIt(~row );
the data out to the 74HC595 chips.
void shiftIt(byte dataOut)
// Close the latch, sending the data in
the registers out to the matrix
digitalWrite(latchPin, HIGH); row = row So, the basic concept here is that we have an interruot
<< 1; routine that executes every 100th of a second. In that
} routine we simply take a look at the contents of a
} screen buffer array (in this case led[] ) and display it
on the dot matrix unit one row at a time, but do this so
An 8 bit integer called ʻrowʼ is declared and initialised fast that to the human eye it all seems to be lit at once.
with the value B00000001.
The main loop of the program is simply changing the
uint8_t row = B00000001; contents of the screen buffer array and letting the ISR
do the rest.
We now simply cycle through the led array and send
that data out to the Shift Registers preceded by the The animation in this project is very simple, but by
row (which is processed with the bitwise NOT ~ to manipulating the 1ʼs and 0ʼs in the buffer we can make
make sure the row we want to display is turned off, or anything we like appear on the Dot Matrix unit from
grounded). shapes to scrolling text.
for (byte k = 0; k < 9; k++) {
// Open up the latch ready to receive
data
shiftIt(~row );
100
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on the planet.
mike@earthshineelectronics.com
© 2009
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Earthshine Electronics

Arduino Starter Kit Manual

©2009 M.McRoberts - Earthshine Design www.EarthshineElectronics.com

Arduino Starters Kit Manual

First Edition - May 2009

b. to Distribute and Publicly Perform the Work including as incorporated in Collections.

d. For the avoidance of doubt:

5. Representations, Warranties and Disclaimer

PLAIN LANGUAGE SUMMARY:

The Starter Kit Contents 8 ! Code Overview 68

What exactly is an Arduino? 9 ! Hardware Overview 70

Getting Started 11 Project 12 - Serial Temperature Sensor 71

Upload your first sketch 13 ! Code Overview 73

The Arduino IDE 15 ! Hardware Overview 75

The Projects 19 Project 13 - Light Sensor 76

Project 1 - LED Flasher 21 ! Code Overview 78

! Code Overview 22 ! Hardware Overview 79

! Hardware Overview 25 Project 14 - Shift Register 8-Bit Binary Counter 80

Project 2 - SOS Morse Code Signaller 29 ! The Binary Number System 83

! Code Overview 30 ! Hardware Overview 84

Project 3 - Traffic Lights 32 ! Code Overview 86

Project 4 - Interactive Traffic Lights 34 ! Bitwise Operators 87

! Code Overview 37 ! Code Overview (continued) 88

Project 5 - LED Chase Effect 41 Project 15 - Dial 8-Bit Binary Counters 89

! Code Overview 42 ! Code & Hardware Overview 92

! Code Overview 45 ! Hardware Overview 97

! Hardware Overview 46 ! Code Overview 99

Project 7 - Pulsating Lamp 48

Project 8 - Mood Lamp 51

Project 9 - LED Fire Effect 55

Project 10 - Serial Controlled Mood Lamp 58

What you will need

Firstly, you will need access to the internet to be able

The book starts off with an introduction to the Arduino,

The Starter Kit Contents

What exactly is an Arduino?

To program the Arduino (make it do what you want it

The Arduino is what is known as a Physical or

For example, a simple use of the Arduino would be to

The Arduino is an amazing device and will enable you

There are many different variants of the Arduino

Probably the most versatile Arduino, and hence the

Connect the Freeduino

First, make sure that the little power jumper, between

If you double-click the folder, you will see a few files

Install the USB Drivers

If you are using Windows you will find the drivers in

The wizard will now search for a suitable driver and

Upload your first Sketch

Now, before we upload the Sketch, we need to tell the

This is the Arduino IDE (Integrated Development

Once the data has been uploaded to the board

The Arduino IDE

Verify/Compile Checks the code for errors

Stop Stops the serial monitor, or un-highlights other buttons

New Creates a new blank Sketch

Open Shows a list of Sketches in your sketchbook

Save Saves the current Sketch

Upload Uploads the current Sketch to the Arduino

Project 1 - LED Flasher