Hi all,
I’ve recntly began messing around with an arduino uno and and WS2812B led strips and have been able to run the demo reel and a few other sketches and I’d like to get more involved with coding but really don’t know where to start. Whats the best way to learn how to code and is it possible to run different sequences on different output pins? My idea is to run 4 or 5 strips of 60 LEDS on 2 seperate outputs so the sequences would be different at times. Thanks for reading.
The learning to code is really out of scope for this board. There are lots of resources for learning to program for the Arduino world just using Google. You can build up some knowledge by going through a world of tutorials, enough to be dangerous anyway.
What you want to do is possible. Your statement above makes it sound like what you’re going to want to do would be just outside the what the Uno can do. You can find lots of posts here about memory and FastLED. There are also lots of posts in here about how to power the strips adequately, making sure you have enough energy to drive all of the lights.
It’s a big learning curve, but if you’re patient, and work some tutorials on how to do small things first, you’ll figure out the gist of Arduino programming, and then get into the bigger projects as you get used to it all. It takes time, and a lot of mistakes, but it’s worth it.
I found the adafruit tutorials really helpful. I still refer back quite a bit. There’s one on multitasking the arduino which might offer answers
Thanks for the replies. I have been reading some of the Christmas light forums for some time and I am aware of voltage drop being a problem over long strings and a bought a more than adequate power supply. I had a feeling the uno might be the wrong choice for what I wanted to do but I have been impressed with its capabilities. I have been reading Arduino for dummies to learn the basics but what I would like to achieve is a bit above beginner level which is where I am at. Thanks again for the advice.
Try stuff, post questions. This forum is really good about that sort of experimentation. Use http://gist.github.com or http://pastebin.com to post code. Good luck, this is a lot of fun, especially when you start to get the hang of it.
Look into getting a teensy 3.2. I made the switch from Arduino because I literally reached the peak of what an Arduino could accomplish. It’s still coded exactly like an Arduino, it’s just much more capable.
Thanks I will look into Teensy when I have some spare time. Im loving these LEDs!