Variable LED Strip Color

Use the ‘Parts List’ image along with the component cards in your box to correctly plug in the electronic hardware to your Maker Board. The colorful dots next to the legs of the components match up to the ports where that leg should go on Maker Board’s ports.

Code

The code in the editor below is ready to run! Plug in the electronic components just like the Parts List card above, connect Maker Board to your computer's USB port with the cable, and hit 'Upload Your Code!'. Tinker with the code and change something! If you get stuck, you can hit the 'Restore' button to make the code go back to the working example.

/* Use a variable to control the color of the entire LED strip from 0 to 299 */ #include "LEDStrip.h" //The LEDStrip.h library gives your code access to special functions exclusive to the LED Strip LEDStrip strip = LEDStrip(15, 13, 12); //Set up the strip by defining how many pixels (15) and where the wires are connected (green = 13, blue = 12) int color = 0; //Create a variable called 'color' that is an integer (whole number) and starting value of 0 void setup() { } void loop() { strip.setPixel(strip.ALL,color); //set all of the pixels (strip.ALL) to the color value equal to the color variable strip.draw(); //send the setPixel data to the strip color++; //increase the value of the color variable by 1 delay(1000); //Wait 1000 milliseconds (1 second) between color changes if(color==299){ //If the color variable reaches its maximum of 299... color=0; //reset the color variable to 0 } } // (c) 2019 Let's Start Coding. License: www.letsstartcoding.com/bsdlicense

Walkthrough Video

Watch the video for a line-by-line explanation of how the example program works. Then you'll be ready to make some changes of your own!

Use this spectrum to estimate the color values you'll need for your 'setPixel' arguments to achieve your favorite color!

Challenges

Can you complete the challenges? Change the code in your code editor above. Upload your code to see the effect when you're finished. Complete a challenge? Check it off the list!

Change the delay to change the speed of the tone rising. What happensChange the delay. Before you upload, what effect do you think this delay will have on the program?

Instead of having the setPixel function light up the entire LED strip, change the first argument of the setPixel function to turn on only one pixel and change that pixel’s color.

Change the number inside the parentheses of the ‘if’ statement to change the color value where the strip ‘resets’. Remember any color value above 299 will not display any color.

Change the number between the curly braces of the ‘if’ statement to change where the color value starts after the strip ‘resets’. Using this number and the number from the last challenge, you can customize the strip to only show a small range of colors, like blue to purple.

Concepts

These are the new code concepts covered in this example program. To become a great coder, read through these concepts to learn new vocabulary.

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