IDeATe

Outcome

Intention

Developing a simple blinking led to a programmed rhythm as an introduction to IoT. I wanted to develop an understanding on connected a simple LED appliance to a cloud so that it can be controlled remotely. Also building skills in connecting LEDS and controlling two to create patterns.

Move up Delete Move down

Process

Following along with the simple internet appliance document, I began with connecting a single LED to blink based on code in my particle build, then adding a second to learn how to control two. Once this was functioning, I connected the LED to cloud so that it could be controlled across my particle console sandbox. Here I also began with one LED to respond at HIGH or LOW being called, added a blinking pattern, and tried again with two LEDS. However when trying to control two, I came across an issue where when called on HIGH, the lights would blink but only for one cycle. Since I wanted this to last longer as a consistent loop until LOW was called to stop it, I turned to GPT for help in understanding a solution to edit my code. Here I learned about using a global boolean variable that can be used to control the behavior of my LEDS in my code later under the loop with an if else statement.

Move up Delete Move down

// Blinking LED
// Connecting Practice and controlling LEDS directly



// Include Particle Device OS APIs
#include "Particle.h"

// Let Device OS manage the connection to the Particle Cloud
SYSTEM_MODE(AUTOMATIC);

// Show system, cloud connectivity, and application logs over USB
// View logs with CLI using 'particle serial monitor --follow'
SerialLogHandler logHandler(LOG_LEVEL_INFO);

// First make a variable
// This is the shorthand that will be used throughout the program
int led1 = D2; // Instead of writing D0 over and over again, we will use led1
// I will need to wire an led to this one to see it blink
int led2 = D3;

// setup() runs once, when the device is first turned on
void setup() {
  // We want to tell the Photon that we'll use
  // D2 as an output pin.
  pinMode(led1, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(led2, OUTPUT);

  // Put initialization like pinMode and begin functions here
}

// loop() runs over and over again, as quickly as it can execute.
void loop() {
// Basics Demo
  // First... On
//   digitalWrite(led1, HIGH);   // Turn ON the LED pins
//   delay(1000);               // Wait for 1000mS = 1 second

//   // Now... Off
//   digitalWrite(led1, LOW);   // Turn OFF the LED pins
//   delay(1000);               // Wait for 1000mS = 1 second
  // rinse + repeat

  // The core of your code will likely live here.

  // Example: Publish event to cloud every 10 seconds. Uncomment the next 3 lines to try it!
  // Log.info("Sending Hello World to the cloud!");
  // Particle.publish("Hello world!");
  // delay( 10 * 1000 ); // milliseconds and blocking - see docs for more info!
  
  
  
// Exercise 1
//   digitalWrite(led1, HIGH);   // Turn ON the LED pins
//   delay(3000);               // Wait for 3000mS = 3 second

//   // Now... Off
//   digitalWrite(led1, LOW);   // Turn OFF the LED pins
//   delay(3000);               // Wait for 3000mS = 3 second
  
  
  
//Exercise 2
//   digitalWrite(led1, HIGH);   // Turn ON the LED pins
//   delay(500);               // Wait for 500mS = .5 second

//   // Now... Off
//   digitalWrite(led1, LOW);   // Turn OFF the LED pins
//   delay(500);               // Wait for 500mS = .5 second

//   digitalWrite(led1, HIGH);   // Turn ON the LED pins
//   delay(500);               // Wait for 500mS = .5 second

//   // Now... Off
//   digitalWrite(led1, LOW);   // Turn OFF the LED pins
//   delay(500);               // Wait for 500mS = .5 second

//   digitalWrite(led1, HIGH);   // Turn ON the LED pins
//   delay(500);               // Wait for 500mS = .5 second

//   // Now... Off
//   digitalWrite(led1, LOW);   // Turn OFF the LED pins
//   delay(500);               // Wait for 500mS = .5 second

//   digitalWrite(led1, HIGH);   // Turn ON the LED pins
//   delay(500);               // Wait for 500mS = .5 second

//   // Now... Off
//   digitalWrite(led1, LOW);   // Turn OFF the LED pins
//   delay(500);               // Wait for 500mS = .5 second

//   digitalWrite(led1, HIGH);   // Turn ON the LED pins
//   delay(500);               // Wait for 500mS = .5 second

//   // Now... Off
//   digitalWrite(led1, LOW);   // Turn OFF the LED pins
//   delay(3000);               // Wait for 500mS = 3 second
  
  
  
// Exercise 3
 // First... On
  digitalWrite(led1, HIGH);   // Turn ON the LED1 pins
  delay(1000);               // Wait for 2000mS = 1 second

  // Now... Off
  digitalWrite(led1, LOW);   // Turn OFF the LED1 pins
  delay(0);               // Wait for 0mS = 0 second
  
  digitalWrite(led2, HIGH);   // Turn ON the LED2 pins
  delay(1000);               // Wait for 1000mS = 1 second

  // Now... Off
  digitalWrite(led2, LOW);   // Turn OFF the LED1 pins
  delay(0);               // Wait for 0mS = 0 second

}

Show Advanced Options

Move up Delete Move down

// Connecting LED to Cloud
// Practice with controlling simple LED patterns with remote control using HIGH and LOW to start or stop pattern



// Include Particle Device OS APIs
#include "Particle.h"

// Let Device OS manage the connection to the Particle Cloud
SYSTEM_MODE(AUTOMATIC);

// Show system, cloud connectivity, and application logs over USB
// View logs with CLI using 'particle serial monitor --follow'
SerialLogHandler logHandler(LOG_LEVEL_INFO);

// First make a variable
// This is the shorthand that will be used throughout the program
int led1 = D2; // Instead of writing D0 over and over again, we will use led1
// I will need to wire an led to this one to see it blink
int led2 = D3;

// setup() runs once, when the device is first turned on
void setup() {
    //Register our Particle function here
    Particle.function("led", ledControl);
  // We want to tell the Photon that we'll use
  // D2 as an output pin.
  pinMode(led1, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(led2, OUTPUT);

  // Put initialization like pinMode and begin functions here
  // Initialize both the LEDs to be OFF
  digitalWrite(led1, LOW);
  digitalWrite(led2, LOW);
}

// loop() runs over and over again, as quickly as it can execute.
void loop() {
    //nothing
}

int ledControl(String command)
{
   int state = LOW;

   // find out the state of the led
   if(command == "HIGH"){
       // LED 1 Blink 3 times test
    //   digitalWrite(led1, HIGH);   // Turn ON the LED1 pins
    //   delay(500);
    //   digitalWrite(led1, LOW);   // Turn OFF the LED1 pins
    //   delay(500);
    //   digitalWrite(led1, HIGH);   // Turn ON the LED1 pins
    //   delay(500);
    //   digitalWrite(led1, LOW);   // Turn OFF the LED1 pins
    //   delay(500);
    //   digitalWrite(led1, HIGH);   // Turn ON the LED1 pins
    //   delay(500);
    //   digitalWrite(led1, LOW);   // Turn OFF the LED1 pins
    
    // LED 1 & 2 blink back and forth
    digitalWrite(led1, HIGH);   // Turn ON the LED1 pins
    delay(1000);               // Wait for 2000mS = 1 second

    // Now... Off
    digitalWrite(led1, LOW);   // Turn OFF the LED1 pins
    delay(0);               // Wait for 0mS = 0 second
  
    digitalWrite(led2, HIGH);   // Turn ON the LED2 pins
    delay(1000);               // Wait for 1000mS = 1 second

     // Now... Off
     digitalWrite(led2, LOW);   // Turn OFF the LED1 pins
     delay(0);               // Wait for 0mS = 0 second

   }else if(command == "LOW"){ 
	   state = LOW;
   }else{
	   return -1;
   }

   // write to the appropriate pin
   digitalWrite(led1, state);
   return 1;
   
   digitalWrite(led2, state);
   return 1;
}

Show Advanced Options

Move up Delete Move down

Outcome

In the end, I was able to successfully have my two LEDs blink in a consistent pattern back and forth when HIGH was called, and turn off when LOW was called. I've linked images to my code along the way as well as a video of the final working product.

Move up Delete Move down

Show Advanced Options

Move up Delete Move down

Show Advanced Options

Move up Delete Move down

// GPT HELP
    // Since I was able to get the lights blinking back and forth in the Connected_LED app, I realized that this would only make them blink through a single loop.
    // I wanted these LEDs to blink back and forth in a loop when HIGH was called, and stop when LOW was called
    // With GPTs help, I was able to figure out that a global boolean variable would be needed, so that this controls the LEDS by setting true or false statements on their behavior

//Explanation
    // Global Variable blinking: This boolean variable controls whether the LEDs are blinking or not.
    // loop() Function: If blinking is true, the loop() function alternates the LEDs on and off with a 500 ms delay
    // ledControl Function: When HIGH is passed, blinking is set to true, so the LEDs start blinking. When LOW is passed, blinking is set to false, stopping the blinking loop.
    
    // Now, when I call HIGH, the LEDs will continuously blink back and forth until I call LOW.



// Include Particle Device OS APIs
#include "Particle.h"

// Let Device OS manage the connection to the Particle Cloud
SYSTEM_MODE(AUTOMATIC);

// Show system, cloud connectivity, and application logs over USB
// View logs with CLI using 'particle serial monitor --follow'
SerialLogHandler logHandler(LOG_LEVEL_INFO);

// Define LED pins
int led1 = D2; 
int led2 = D3;

// Define a global variable to control the blinking state
bool blinking = false;

// setup() runs once, when the device is first turned on
void setup() {
    // Register our Particle function here
    Particle.function("led", ledControl);

    // Set the LED pins as outputs
    pinMode(led1, OUTPUT);
    pinMode(led2, OUTPUT);

    // Initialize both LEDs to be OFF
    digitalWrite(led1, LOW);
    digitalWrite(led2, LOW);
}

// loop() runs over and over again, as quickly as it can execute.
void loop() {
    // If blinking is true, alternate the LEDs
    if (blinking) {
        digitalWrite(led1, HIGH);    // Turn ON LED1
        digitalWrite(led2, LOW);     // Turn OFF LED2
        delay(500);                  // Wait for 500ms

        digitalWrite(led1, LOW);     // Turn OFF LED1
        digitalWrite(led2, HIGH);    // Turn ON LED2
        delay(500);                  // Wait for 500ms
    } else {
        // Make sure LEDs are off if blinking is false
        digitalWrite(led1, LOW);
        digitalWrite(led2, LOW);
    }
}

// Function to control LEDs via cloud command
int ledControl(String command) {
    if (command == "HIGH") {
        blinking = true; // Start blinking when HIGH is called
    } else if (command == "LOW") {
        blinking = false; // Stop blinking when LOW is called
    } else {
        return -1; // Invalid command
    }
    return 1;
}

Show Advanced Options

Move up Delete Move down

Show Advanced Options

Move up Delete Move down

Reflection

Throughout this exercise, I enjoyed learning about the way in which LEDS connect and respond across the board to remote connection. While I am completely new to learning about using a Photon2 let alone working with IoT, I think that I will continue to strengthen my understanding around the physical components and how they connect and what purposes they serve as I continue to make future projects. While my understanding of the physical components is not the strongest, I feel that with repetition, I will better recall their purposes and how to use them, eventually creating my own projects. As for the programming portion, I think this project really strengthened my understanding on how the board connects to the internet and ways in which I am able to manipulate the board not only directly but across the internet as well. This to me was especially interesting, as I have only had minimal experience with Arduino, where there was only ever direct contact. I'm excited to see where else I can apply these skills in my other projects as well.

Move up Delete Move down

Show Advanced Options

You can upload files of up to 20MB using this form.

Add Rich Text Add Code Block Add Embeddable Content

Outcome

Intention

Process

Attribution

Attribution

Outcome

Attribution

Attribution

Attribution

Attribution

Reflection

Attribution