Neopixels – Richard's Website

Bluetooth Circuit Playground What!

So anyone who has worked with me knows that I am a huge fan of Adafruit’s Circuit Playground development boards. It has been a huge help in getting people started with programming hardware because you can do so much with it before you even start plugging in other things.

I was so excited when they came out with the CP Express because now I could use Blockly to help even younger hardware developers on their way to making cool things. However, the MicroBit did offer a few more tantalizing options that made me choose it over the CP Express. Now it is hard to compare the two platforms because they both have a lot of value in different ways, but the one thing that stood out about MicroBit was Bluetooth Low Energy. The CP Express has IR communication and that is nice, but it is only line of site and that makes it hard to do projects that would involve networking. So the MicroBit typically would win out with projects that needed wireless communication.

Now with the introduction of CP Bluefruit this issue is solved an so many ways. I could see this coming based on some posts and a demo a few weeks ago on Ask an Engineer, but I was not sure if there would be a price increase with the new BLE support. Well it looks like not only is there no change in price, but the jump from and M0 to M4 Cortex processor makes this thing even more powerful as well.

I am supper excited about the idea of doing IOT workshops where the students get to program the devices that get networked. Basically this makes every CP Bluefruit into a smart light with a host of sensors on them. This could help students design and code puzzles for an escape room project… so many cool things that this can do now that is has BLE.

For now this is an Alpha version of the CP Bluefruit and that means that some hardware may change, but it is working for Arduino IDE and Circuit Python. Hopefully they will have a Blockly option soon as well. Not really time to start getting these for schools yet, but worth testing out as an early adopter and to keep an eye on for the near future.

More Info:

https://www.adafruit.com/product/4333

A rather good look at the most common addressable LEDs.

IOT Holiday Lights

This tutorial will walk you through setting up a string of colorful holiday lights that connect to the internet. The lights can display many types of animations and colors based on information sent to it using Adafruit’s IO service. Once connected and programmed, IFTTT can be used to set date triggers as well as change animations based on your GPS location, the weather report for the day, and even when you are getting a call from your mother.

The hard stuff is already done and with just a bit of soldering and a few code edits, you will be deep into the beast known as the Internet of Things. Continue reading IOT Holiday Lights

LEDiva™ Sparkle Dress

Coding for the LEDiva™

Tonight I got some real headway on my small LED driver. I added the ability to change the number of NeoPixels that are displayed, then update the onboard flash memory so that the ATtiny remembers what you selected even after a power cycle.

So now if you press and hold either of the two buttons, then turn the board on, it will let you select the number of LEDs to use. Just press the Color or Mode buttons to add or remove an LED address.

Q: why would I want to change the number of LEDs that I am using on the fly?

A: Basically, the LEDiva™ is intended to be a generic all purpose NeoPixel driver. You could use 140 NeoPixels, or just one. Some of the animations, like colorWipe();, start with the first LED address and loop until it gets to the last LED, as defined by the number of Pixels the NeoPixel library was told are available on startup. There is no way for the LEDs to tell the micro controller how many of them you just connected. So the animations will just run all the way out to 140 LEDs be damned. This can slow things as down if you are only using 3 physical LED. To fix this I simply tell the NeoPixel library that I want to use all 140, but make it so that the loop that updates the LEDs stops when it reaches the user defined number of LEDs.

So if you use the new sequence to tell the LEDiva™ that you want to use 3 LEDs, it will only loop LED updates 3 time rather than 140. Now that I have added storage to the EEPROM, it will remember the number of LEDs you selected the next time you turn it on. Are it and forget it.

Here is the latest code I have:

//Color and Pattern Mode selector for NeoPixels
//Uses C_BUTTON to cycle through 9 colors and P_BUTTON to select any of the 8 pattern sequences.
// 64 total options are available
//code by Richard Albritton

#include <Adafruit_NeoPixel.h>
#include <avr/power.h>
#include <EEPROM.h>

// Interrupt Code start
#ifndef cbi
#define cbi(sfr, bit) (_SFR_BYTE(sfr) &= ~_BV(bit))
#endif
#ifndef sbi
#define sbi(sfr, bit) (_SFR_BYTE(sfr) |= _BV(bit))
#endif
// Interrupt Code end

#define PIN 0
#define Sensor 1
#define C_BUTTON 4
#define P_BUTTON 3
#define Pixels 60

Adafruit_NeoPixel strip = Adafruit_NeoPixel(Pixels, PIN, NEO_GRB + NEO_KHZ800);

int C_MODE = 1; // Current color mode.
int P_MODE = 5; // Current pattern mode.
int Cn = 9; //The number of Color options.
int Pn = 10; //The number of Pattern options.
int STrigger = 0; // This tells us if the sensor interrupt was triggered.
int LEDs = 5;
int R;
int G;
int B;
long randNumber;
int wait = 10;

void setup(){
     // This is for Trinket 5V 16MHz, you can remove these three lines if you are not using a Trinket
#if defined (__AVR_ATtiny85__)
  if (F_CPU == 16000000) clock_prescale_set(clock_div_1);
#endif
  // End of trinket special code

  pinMode(C_BUTTON, INPUT_PULLUP);
  pinMode(P_BUTTON, INPUT_PULLUP);
  strip.begin();
  strip.show(); // Initialize all pixels to 'off'
  if (!digitalRead(C_BUTTON)||!digitalRead(P_BUTTON)){
    colorChange(strip.Color(50, 50, 50));
    delay(500);
    LESsetup(1);
  }
  if(EEPROM.read(0)>0){
    LEDs = EEPROM.read(0);
  }
  pinMode(Sensor,INPUT); // Interrupt Code
  sbi(GIMSK,PCIE); // Turn on Pin Change interrupt
  sbi(PCMSK,PCINT1); // Which pins are affected by the interrupt

    colorMode(C_MODE);
  colorChange(strip.Color(R, G, B));
}

void loop(){
// Change the line below to alter the color of the lights
// The numbers represent the Red, Green, and Blue values
// of the lights, as a value between 0(off) and 1(max brightness)
ColorSelect(); 
PatternSelect();
    //colorMode(C_MODE);
    patternMode(P_MODE);
    STrigger = 0;
}
void ColorSelect(){
  while (digitalRead(P_BUTTON) == LOW) {
    colorChange(strip.Color(R/4, G/4, B/4));
    while (digitalRead(C_BUTTON) == LOW) {
      delay(500);
      C_MODE += 1;
      if (C_MODE > Cn) {
        C_MODE = 1; 
      }
      colorMode(C_MODE);
      colorChange(strip.Color(R/4, G/4, B/4));
    } 
  }
} 
void PatternSelect(){
  while(digitalRead(C_BUTTON) == LOW) {
    //colorChange(strip.Color(R/4, G/4, B/4));
    while(digitalRead(P_BUTTON) == LOW) {
      delay(500);
      P_MODE += 1;
      if (P_MODE > Pn) {
        P_MODE = 1; 
      }
      patternMode(P_MODE);
    }
  }
} 
// Fill the dots one after the other with a color
void colorChange(uint32_t c) {
  for(uint16_t i=0; i<LEDs; i++) {
      strip.setPixelColor(i, c);
  }
  strip.show();
}

// Fill the dots one after the other with a color
void colorWipe(uint32_t c) {
  for(uint16_t i=0; i<LEDs; i++) {
      strip.setPixelColor(i, c);
      strip.show();
      
      delay(50);
  }
}

// Fill the dots one after the other with a color
void Sparkle(uint32_t c) {
  for(uint16_t i=0; i<LEDs; i++) {
      strip.setPixelColor(i, c);
      strip.show();
      delay(50);
  }
}

void colorMode(uint32_t m) {
  switch (m) {
    case 1: // Red
      R = 100;
      G = 0;
      B = 0;
      break;
    case 2: // Orange
      R = 75;
      G = 25;
      B = 0;
      break;
    case 3: // Yellow
      R = 50;
      G = 50;
      B = 0;
      break;
    case 4: // Green
      R = 0;
      G = 100;
      B = 0;
      break;
    case 5: // Sky Blue
      R = 0;
      G = 50;
      B = 50;
      break;
    case 6: // Blue
      R = 0;
      G = 0;
      B = 100;
      break;
    case 7: // Violet
      R = 25;
      G = 0;
      B = 75;
      break;
    case 8: // Pink
      R = 50;
      G = 0;
      B = 50;
      break; 
    case 9: // White
      R = 34;
      G = 33;
      B = 33;
      break;     
  }
}
void patternMode(uint32_t p) {
  switch (p) {
case 1: // Solid bright
      colorChange(strip.Color(R, G, B));
      break;
    case 2: // Solid dim
      colorChange(strip.Color(R/2, G/2, B/2));
      break;
    case 3: // Slow strobe
      wait = 800;
      colorChange(strip.Color(R, G, B));
      delay(wait);
      colorChange(strip.Color(0, 0, 0));
      delay(wait);
      break;
    case 4: // Fast strobe
      wait = 300;
      colorChange(strip.Color(R, G, B));
      delay(wait);
      colorChange(strip.Color(0, 0, 0));
      delay(wait);
      break;
    case 5: // Pulsate
      wait = 100;
      uint16_t i;
      for(i=0; i<7; i++) {
        if (STrigger) wait = 20;
        strip.setBrightness(255-(36*i));
        colorChange(strip.Color(R, G, B));
        delay(wait);
      }
      for(i=0; i<7; i++) {
        if (STrigger) wait = 20;
        strip.setBrightness(0+(36*i));
        colorChange(strip.Color(R, G, B));
        delay(wait);
      }
      break;
    case 6: // Tracer
    for(uint16_t i=0; i<LEDs; i++) {
      strip.setPixelColor(i, strip.Color(R, G, B));
      strip.show();
            PatternSelect();
          if (P_MODE != p) break;
      delay(50);
    }
    for(uint16_t i=0; i<LEDs; i++) {
        strip.setPixelColor(i, strip.Color(0, 0, 0));
        strip.show();
              PatternSelect();
            if (P_MODE != p) break;
        delay(50);
    }
      
      break;
    case 7: // Sparkle
      randNumber = 300;
      for(uint16_t i=0; i<LEDs; i++) {
        if (STrigger) randNumber = 60;
        if (random(randNumber) < 50) {
          strip.setPixelColor(i, strip.Color(R, G, B));
        } else {
          strip.setPixelColor(i, strip.Color(0, 0, 0));
        }
                strip.show();
        delay(20);
      }

      break;
    case 8: // Rainbow (This will not use the selected colors)
        uint16_t j;
        for(j=0; j<256; j++) {
          for(i=0; i<LEDs; i++) {
            strip.setPixelColor(i, Wheel((i+j) & 255));
          }
          strip.show();
          PatternSelect();
          if (P_MODE != p) break;
          delay(20);
        }
      break;
  case 9: // Color Pulsate
      wait = 100;
      for(i=0; i<7; i++) {
        if (STrigger){
          C_MODE += 1;
          if (C_MODE > 10)C_MODE = 1;
          colorMode(C_MODE);
        }
        strip.setBrightness(255-(36*i));
        colorChange(strip.Color(R, G, B));
        delay(wait);
      }
      for(i=0; i<7; i++) {
        if (STrigger){
          C_MODE += 1;
          if (C_MODE > 10)C_MODE = 1;
          colorMode(C_MODE);
        }
        strip.setBrightness(0+(36*i));
        colorChange(strip.Color(R, G, B));
        delay(wait);
      }
      break;  
  case 10: // red/white
      wait = 100;
      colorMode(1);
      for(i=0; i<7; i++) {
        strip.setBrightness(255-(36*i));
        colorChange(strip.Color(R, G, B));
        delay(wait);
      }
      for(i=0; i<7; i++) {
        strip.setBrightness(0+(36*i));
        colorChange(strip.Color(R, G, B));
        delay(wait);
      }
      colorMode(9);
      for(i=0; i<7; i++) {
        strip.setBrightness(255-(36*i));
        colorChange(strip.Color(R, G, B));
        delay(wait);
      }
      for(i=0; i<7; i++) {
        strip.setBrightness(0+(36*i));
        colorChange(strip.Color(R, G, B));
        delay(wait);
      }
      break;  
  }
}

// Input a value 0 to 255 to get a color value.
// The colours are a transition r - g - b - back to r.
uint32_t Wheel(byte WheelPos) {
  WheelPos = 255 - WheelPos;
  if(WheelPos < 85) {
   return strip.Color(255 - WheelPos * 3, 0, WheelPos * 3);
  } else if(WheelPos < 170) {
    WheelPos -= 85;
   return strip.Color(0, WheelPos * 3, 255 - WheelPos * 3);
  } else {
   WheelPos -= 170;
   return strip.Color(WheelPos * 3, 255 - WheelPos * 3, 0);
  }
}
// Set the number of LEDs that will be used
void LESsetup(int l) {
  uint16_t t=0;
  while(l){
    t++;
    if (digitalRead(C_BUTTON) == LOW) {
        delay(250);
        LEDs += 1;
        t=0;
    } 
    if (digitalRead(P_BUTTON) == LOW) {
      delay(250);
      LEDs -= 1;
      t=0;
    } 
    for(uint16_t i=0; i<strip.numPixels(); i++) {
      if (i<LEDs){
        strip.setPixelColor(i, strip.Color(50, 50, 50));
      }else{
        strip.setPixelColor(i, strip.Color(0, 0, 0));
      }
    }
    strip.show();
    if (t>1000){
      EEPROM.update(0, LEDs);
      l=0;
    }
  }
}
ISR(PCINT0_vect) {
        STrigger = 1;
}

Now I just need to save the color and mode to EEPROM, but I will save that for another day 🙂

LEDiva™ rev A sent to FAB

Yesterday I sent a new revision of my drop-in NeoPixel board, the LEDiva™, that included the new service mounted battery connector as well as a six pin programming connection.

This is the first step in getting the chip as small as possible. The next revision will replace the through hole version of the ATTiny 85 with a surface mounted version. After that, I will try to add a charging circuit to the board so that the battery can be charged via micro USB cable.

I do still need to work on the firmware to save data to the EPROM so it will remember the last color and pattern selected on startup. I have also thought of a way to select the number of LEDs that are being used so that the more elaborate animations look better.

The LEDiva™ is made to be used with up to 140 LEDs with unique addresses. Since I am mostly just going to sell the controller board, I do not know how many LEDs any one person will be using. So I will like have the default LED number set as 30, then create a scenario were you can use the two buttons to turn more LEDs on or off. Once you exit the LED selection mode, it will remember the number of LEDs. The sequence will likely be something like; press and hold one of the buttons on startup, then press and hold both buttons for 5 seconds to lock in the new settings.

I will do a video of me assembling the first rev A board when it comes back from OSH Park.

Adding some LEDs to an artists work.

Weather Cloud Project Update

I have ported the code over to the Particle Photon and am working on some new lighting and sounds to represent data being sent to the device.

Thanks to James Bruce and his How to Build a Cloud Lamp with Sound Reactive Lightning tutorial, I think I have found a cool Thunder animation. Continue reading Weather Cloud Project Update

I made an X-mass scarf today…

With family coming in for Thanksgiving from all over, I wanted to make a holiday scarf that really slapped people in the face with a big sack of JOY! Something not so annoyingly gaudy that I would not go out in public with it, but at the same time visually irresistible.

So the Ultimate Holiday Scarf is born.

This scarf is designed to look like a Christmas tree with all the trimmings. Aside from the glittery tinsel, I added some NeoPixel LEDs from Adafruit to really brighten the mood. Upon startup, the scarf will play a holiday tune to get you going while putting on a colorful LED light show. People love the scarf, then drop their jaws when it is turned on.

Blue glowy dress

On Friday Emily and I went to an event at the Olympic Sculpture Park here in Seattle. This was an addition to her dress that I put together the day before. Continue reading Blue glowy dress

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