Our Learning Path is an itinerary designed to teach all the foundaments and a little more about electronics, coding and robotics.
When you complete all the projects you will be able to develop almost any project you can imagine. In each chapter new concepts are introduced. You will learn by doing in a funny way.
Build a lamp able to show and fade different colors thanks to the RGB LED.
Discover all the secrets of RGB and Neopixel LEDs
• DIFFICULTY LEVEL: Beginner
• DURATION OF THE ACTIVITY: 40 min.
1 - Build&Code 4in1 board
1 - RGB Module
1 - Buzzer
1 - Switch Button
Battery holder, USB cable and wires.
The RGB Led emits any color on the visible spectrum by combining the red (R), green (G), and blue (B) values. Our module uses NeoPixel addressable LED
Common RGB LEDs are 3 different color leds encapsulated together, and we can control each color as a regular led. This requires 3 digital outputs to control it.
NeoPixel addressable LED?
Yes! it's a regular LED combined with a little chip which make it adressable, so we can control with only one digital output a serial of NeoPixel LEDs, and set each of them with different state .
To use it, we need to install some additional libraries in our programming software. In MBlock5 it is not possible to use them yet, you must change to MBlock3
As a Neopixel RGB LED, we just need one digital output to control the three base colors.
Connect wires according colours from 4in1 board to components:
- DIO4 to Button module
- DIO6 to RGB module
- A1 to Potentiometer
We need to use function from Adafruit library. Here how install it in Arduino IDE . For mBlock5 we use the extension from Robokacija de Ivan Kunovi (not v2) See the coding video for details.
// include the libery of adafruit neopixel.h
#include <Adafruit_NeoPixel.h>
int ledpin = 6;
// change == strip but is just and variable.
Adafruit_NeoPixel change = Adafruit_NeoPixel(1, ledpin, NEO_RGB + NEO_KHZ800);
void setup()
{
// put your setup code here, to run once:
change.begin(); //neopixel begin the rgb
change.show();
}
void loop()
{
// put your main code here, to run repeatedly:
// Led color blue
change.setPixelColor(0, 0, 0, 255);
change.show();
delay(2000);
change.setPixelColor(0, 0, 255, 0);
change.show();
delay(2000);
change.setPixelColor(0, 255, 0, 0);
change.show();
delay(2000);
}
With 3 led colors, Red, Green and Blue, we can show any color. Let's see a beatiful rainbow colours sequence as example
#include <Adafruit_NeoPixel.h>
//int rainbow = random(0,255);
int i = 0;
Adafruit_NeoPixel change = Adafruit_NeoPixel(1, 6, NEO_RGB + NEO_KHZ800);
void setup()
{
// put your setup code here, to run once:
change.begin();
change.show();
}
void loop()
{
// put your main code here, to run repeatedly:
change.setPixelColor(0, 254, 0, 0);//red
change.show();
delay(350);
change.setPixelColor(0, 250, 147, 0);//orange
change.show();
delay(350);
change.setPixelColor(0, 238, 249, 0);//gellow
change.show();
delay(350);
change.setPixelColor(0, 79, 249, 0);//green
change.show();
delay(350);
change.setPixelColor(0, 5, 249, 249);//light blue
change.show();
delay(350);
change.setPixelColor(0, 5, 68, 249);//dark blue
change.show();
delay(350);
change.setPixelColor(0, 169, 68, 248);//purple
change.show();
delay(350);
change.setPixelColor(0, 248, 68, 248);//pink
change.show();
delay(350);
}
Do you remeber exercises of project 3? You can try same exercise but using RGB LED instead of 3 colored LED's
#include <Adafruit_NeoPixel.h>
Adafruit_NeoPixel semaforo = Adafruit_NeoPixel(1, 6, NEO_RGB + NEO_KHZ800);
int valor = A0 + 1;
void setup()
{
// put your setup code here, to run once:
semaforo.begin();
semaforo.show();
}
void loop()
{
valor = analogRead(valor);
if(valor < 341)
{
semaforo.setPixelColor(0,0,255,0);
semaforo.show();
}
else if(valor < 682)
{
semaforo.setPixelColor(0, 0, 255, 0);
semaforo.setPixelColor(0, 147, 250, 0);
semaforo.show();
}
else if(valor < 1023)
{
semaforo.setPixelColor(0, 255, 0, 0);
semaforo.show();
}
}
Recover from your memory the siren of Project 4, it can be done also with a RGB LED instead of regular leds. Let's try!!
#include <Adafruit_NeoPixel.h>
Adafruit_NeoPixel sirena = Adafruit_NeoPixel(1, 6, NEO_RGB + NEO_KHZ800);
void setup()
{
sirena.begin();
sirena.show();
pinMode(4, INPUT);
}
void loop()
{
if(digitalRead(4) == HIGH){
sirena.setPixelColor(0, 0, 255, 0);
sirena.show();
delay(200);
sirena.setPixelColor(0, 0, 0, 255);
sirena.show();
delay(200);
}
else
{
sirena.setPixelColor(0, 0, 0, 0);
sirena.show();
noTone(10);
}
}
In life there is also space for beautiful creations and not just practical systems. Get out your creative part to do this lava lamp shine incredible!! Here cardboard template if you need it.
#include <Adafruit_NeoPixel.h>
int i = 0;
Adafruit_NeoPixel change = Adafruit_NeoPixel(1, 6, NEO_RGB + NEO_KHZ800);
void setup()
{
// put your setup code here, to run once:
change.begin();
change.show();
}
void loop()
{
// put your main code here, to run repeatedly:
change.setPixelColor(0, 254, 0, 0);//red
change.show();
delay(350);
change.setPixelColor(0, 250, 147, 0);//orange
change.show();
delay(350);
change.setPixelColor(0, 238, 249, 0);//gellow
change.show();
delay(350);
change.setPixelColor(0, 79, 249, 0);//green
change.show();
delay(350);
change.setPixelColor(0, 5, 249, 249);//light blue
change.show();
delay(350);
change.setPixelColor(0, 5, 68, 249);//dark blue
change.show();
delay(350);
change.setPixelColor(0, 169, 68, 248);//purple
change.show();
delay(350);
change.setPixelColor(0, 248, 68, 248);//pink
change.show();
delay(350);
}
The Mega Maker Kit fits perfectly with the Learning Path, you can build all projects with it, but if you have other kits, you can also follow the entire itinerary and finish some projects, or buy the missing components. You can check in our Learning Path page.
