Print PDF
Favorite
Email
This is my first instructable !!! yay..
Before I continue. I do not go into details of how to cut the wood, or piece everything together. I freestyled the entire build process, whatever came to mind is what I reproduced. The point of this instructable is to be able to create the circuit, program the arduino, and create something of your own imagination.
Also this instructable is meant for people who are familiar with the ever so popular Arduino !!!
If you want to learn more about what the Arduino is all about please visit : Arduino Home Page
Alright now a little explanation what this exactly is. This is simply an arduino controlling an RGB LED to control lighting. There are 3 different modes. These modes can be selected by pressing a button. The Modes and values of the RGB are being displayed on a LCD screen.
Modes :
1) Hue Cycle : This cycles through the hue spectrum. You scroll the wheel (potentiometer) to control the speed at which the color changes from one to another.
2) Hue Selection : Scroll the wheel (potentiometer) to select the color you chose. IT remains at this color
3) Random Hue : The arduino randomly selects a target RGB color. It fades to that target RGB color. Then the process starts over again. You can select the speed at which the color fades from one to another
The following video is the creation of the Arduino controlled RGB LED Lamp from start to end.
Before I continue. I do not go into details of how to cut the wood, or piece everything together. I freestyled the entire build process, whatever came to mind is what I reproduced. The point of this instructable is to be able to create the circuit, program the arduino, and create something of your own imagination.
Also this instructable is meant for people who are familiar with the ever so popular Arduino !!!
If you want to learn more about what the Arduino is all about please visit : Arduino Home Page
Alright now a little explanation what this exactly is. This is simply an arduino controlling an RGB LED to control lighting. There are 3 different modes. These modes can be selected by pressing a button. The Modes and values of the RGB are being displayed on a LCD screen.
Modes :
1) Hue Cycle : This cycles through the hue spectrum. You scroll the wheel (potentiometer) to control the speed at which the color changes from one to another.
2) Hue Selection : Scroll the wheel (potentiometer) to select the color you chose. IT remains at this color
3) Random Hue : The arduino randomly selects a target RGB color. It fades to that target RGB color. Then the process starts over again. You can select the speed at which the color fades from one to another
The following video is the creation of the Arduino controlled RGB LED Lamp from start to end.
Remove these ads by
Signing UpStep 1Materials
1) Arduino : decimila, freeduino, Rock Bottom Freeduino Kit (RBFK). (I used the RBFK because its cheaper and I was giving this away as a present.).
2) Potentiometer : Im using 120ohm but any will do in this particular application.
3) Push Button : Do not use a ON/OFF button. It must be a push button.
4) RGB LED : Make sure it is common cathode RGB LED's. Meaning 1 pin is GROUND and the other 3 pins R,G,B pins are POSITIVE.
5) HD44780-compatible LCD : From my best experience, all 16x2 LCD's I worked with are work with the 4bit library.
6) 5 x Resistors:
- 22ohm = LCD Contrast... *NOTE : Use a POT to determine best contrast for LCD.
- 2.2Kohm = PushButton
- 3 more resistors. You need to determine the values depending on your RGB LED. Details below.
2) Potentiometer : Im using 120ohm but any will do in this particular application.
3) Push Button : Do not use a ON/OFF button. It must be a push button.
4) RGB LED : Make sure it is common cathode RGB LED's. Meaning 1 pin is GROUND and the other 3 pins R,G,B pins are POSITIVE.
5) HD44780-compatible LCD : From my best experience, all 16x2 LCD's I worked with are work with the 4bit library.
6) 5 x Resistors:
- 22ohm = LCD Contrast... *NOTE : Use a POT to determine best contrast for LCD.
- 2.2Kohm = PushButton
- 3 more resistors. You need to determine the values depending on your RGB LED. Details below.
| « Previous Step | Download PDFView All Steps | Next Step » |
Build_it_Bob
The LCD contrast for my display ( UNIQe/Vision GC-1602I1 ) requires the contrast pin to be pulled to ground via resistor. I used a 1Kohm variable and found that 780 ohms gave the best visability.
This paves the way for many ideas ...THANK YOU Silverbyte and contributors !
Awesome project ...I have it running now and it looks great on the customized board I made for it.
Build_it_Bob
Build_it_Bob
Yes you can just use a 1RGB led + Arduino Duemilanove. Any Arduino compatible board will work. Although I have extra code to select the different modes with a pushbutton and select its values with the potentiometers
You can remove alot of uneeded code (for the pushbutton and the LCD) , or you can refer to the following link
http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1207331496
which is the main function which controls the RGB values.
If your a beginner and new to programming, this is where i'd start.
If your a good programmer then you can attack my code. You'll notice my code needs some cleaning up (project was done within timeframe so i scrambled through everything) but you can tackle it pretty easily.
cheers
Thanks for any advice!
Jeremy
I was at work when I read your email. I don't have Arduino IDE here at work so I decided to install the latest version here at work. I download my project on instructables and tested it out, and i found no problems what so ever with the program.
I have a hunch (almost 100% certain) that the library is not in the correct location. Do not install in "\lib" directory, this is not the library directory. The library should be installed under
(your drive letter):\ (path of arduino ide) \ hardware \ libraries \ LCD4Bit
example: (using latest Arduino version 0017)
C:\arduino-0017\hardware\libraries\LCD4Bit
I ran and compiled it with no problems. Give it a go, it should work. If your on a Mac... I don't know how mac paths work bust it SHOULD be the same. (linux as well)
Jeremy
Regards
Jeremy
I wish I had access to a workshop like you do. The things I'd make....
Alot of people like you that do not have workspaces usually gather a group of people and rent our a huge lofts or garages or large spaces. they call it
"hacker spaces"
http://hackerspaces.org/wiki/List_of_Hacker_Spaces
you can check if one exists in your area. Might be worth checking out !!!
(I did in my area, montreal quebec, fantastic hacker space where a group of 20 or so people shared a huge loft to build all sorts of thing, to collaborate, throw parties and become productive.)
Check if one exists in your area.
Cheers
when I press the button, the power shorts! The red and yellow wire on the resistor are to change!
michael
This is how the button should be hooked up.
http://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/Button
Thanks for noticing and reporting.
Cheers
thanks for the info im learning alot and it makes sense. i wanna make the exact same project as you did but with a wireless remote or connect it to and xbee which would could also be comunicated to a web page via php or java and you could ulimatly control it through a web browser. any thoughts on that
I would have to research that a little, but i know it can be done... Theres a router called the FONERA (i bought one) that i can communicate with the arduino through serial port. I would be able to connect through wifi and basically surf pages extract data and so forth..
In anycase you can definitely do what you want with a little research, all u need to do is be able to get those RGB values to the function, and the arduino will control the LED color for you.
how you do that is up to you, im sure you'll find tons of people trying to do similar projects.
cheers
Joe
http://www.tradekey.com/product_view/id/1058216.htm - or something simllar to it. they are going to be hidden my krown molding to light up a ceiling. and i want to be able to contoll then with my laptop or iphone over the network. also it would be nice to create chanels so i can controll certain secetions at once.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIp0n0mHteo
Once you get that, you would be able to control the LED pretty easily with my code, don't bother getting an LCD and using the 4Bit LCD portion of it.
Everything I leanred off the Ardunio can be found EVERYHWHERE on the internet, its the MOST POPULOR programming circuit board out there, and is growing exponentinally...
the best places to get information is
www.youtube.com & www.arduino.cc
on www.arduino.cc theres TONS and TONS of code examples... its the best place to start, thats where i got most of my code and learned the most!
cheers
Joe