Arduino, WS2812 Addressable LEDS, FastLED Library

 

video by Andrew Tuline

We all do it, try something new, have a little play with things then stand back to admire our most recent achievement. Then curiosity leads us to down the youtube path, to see how other people are doing in this field.

Arduino is no exception. I was so proud of myself after purchasing some small WS2812 Driver boards and with a little bit of coding I finally created my rear night flashing cycle lights! (project will be uploaded very soon)

https://www.youtube.com/user/atuline/videos

To be honest here, this is pretty extreme for such a simple project, normal LEDs would have worked just as well, if not better. But !!!

I wanted to be different!!

Very proud of my self with my projects results, where part of the code required the FastLED library. So I decided to look up the creator and he gave some really good advice and there are some really great demo codes you can try.

https://github.com/atuline/FastLED-Demos

Also visit his youtube channel:-

https://www.youtube.com/user/atuline/videos

I feel I have found one of the pioneers in this field, and his demo codes are freely available, well commented with hints on how to change to suit ones purposes.

I want to make christmas tree lights just like in that video, but baby steps first!!

Simple Arduino Proyotyping Setup

Simple setup; an Arduino Uno R3, breadboard, component tester, power source all combined onto a single plastic case that makes this an extremely versatile project.

This is the 2nd one I've made, by adding the component tester it made sense. I have so many loose components lying around I got too lazy to search up there values, it was far easier to just grab new parts out of the labeled drawers, very wasteful.

What I get out of this:-
- a "portable" arduino prototyping board
- a component tester
- an USB powerbank (charge your mobile phone)

Stored inside the case:
- arduino USB cable
- an ATtiny85 shield
- an TTL UART convertor
- microUSB cable
- arduino pro mini
- pocket multimeter

Linux Mint 19 Xfce Installed

This is something I should've done last month the moment it came out, I did not like the previous 18.3 KDE environment at all but did give it a good try.

Xfce works for me!

Re-installing all the programs  I cannot live without.

Basics to Transistor Selection

This is similar to how I select a transistor along with calculating the value of the Base Resistor required to place the transistor in saturation mode; ie a transistor in switching On/OFF mode. There is no point is creating my own video when this explains quite clearly the process.

A project is currently under way where I use this process, soon to be posted. Just a small heads up, the following small switching Transistor is my all time favorite, the S8050 NPN transistor :-)

Datasheet: S8050 Wing Shing Computer Components.

click here to go to ebay listing

So cheap .....

Backup FireFox Bookmarks and Favorite Extensions

Yes this seems to be an obvious option to find, but for years I have been using an extension called FEBE with FireFox which now no longer exists. So I finally used DuckGo to find the solution and here it is :-) So now when I change my hardware everything can easily be moved to the new machine. It's a shame I cannot export FireFox passwords but I guess that is a good thing, I also use Keepass2 which works just as good.

These extensions I cannot live without, especially the NoScript which is my all time favorite.

Todays Walk

It has been a while since I've done a walk, so my body wasn't feeling too comfortable half way through this loop but I'm sure it would get easier once I get back into some sort off  routine.

Aotearoa Bike Challenge Update

Failed goal, oh wow. Well it's Monday so lets get this Challenge up and running once more! Good thing to know when logging in this morning I have gained a few more badges :-)

Nice to see the Champion badge 1,000km recorded on this site :-)

New goal added, let's see if I can achieve this one!

Endomondo: Entered A New Challenge.

It has been a while since I've used Endomondo, especially over this wet winter period. Still nothing like getting re-motivated by joining a small challenge. Yes there is only 2 people in this challenge, myself and the challenge creator but I'm about to embark in creating my own challenges, especially targeted at local riders here in Wellington New Zealand.

First activity added to this challenge, it was a really wet ride as well I got totally drenched but still enjoyed the ride.

TimeLapse: Petone Foreshore Wellington, NZ

Not sure how this would turn out, but from looking at the results it seems OK. Even though everyone is going 4K these days, my computer still struggles to play this quality but I will keep on creating these rendered this way. 1080p50fps works for me right now.

download/view 4k25fps here
download/view 1080p50fps here
download/view 720p50fps here

Camera: Sony FDR-X3000 5sec Intervals 600images.

TimeLapse: Wainuiomata Mary Crowther Park, LH, NZ

Really enjoying creating these, need a better way to manage my time while waiting the 48mins necessary to capture the 600 images. Leaving the camera unattended during capture is not an option.

Download original 4K25fps here.

TimeLapse: Wainuiomata Shopping Centre LH, NZ.

What happens outside our shopping centre at 9am on a Sunday morning in the middle of winter, not a lot.

Well on this mornings ride I had a small crash. I went up a driveway that had a triangular piece missing right in the middle of it. My front wheel lodged at this spot and instantly stopped the bike from progressing any further, which resulted in me flying over the handle bars. A quick check over the bike no visible damage and a test ride in the car park everything seemed good.

24kms later I wasn't feeling too good, so I stopped at this spot for a timelapse opportunity and check myself over. The graze on my legs I fixed up fine (I always carry a full 1st aid kit) but a few of my ribs was making it uncomfortable to ride, time go ride home.

With this timelapse I changed it up a little from 2sec intervals to 5sec intervals because I knew it was a boring place to capture LoL. The only problem with doing this it took 48mins to create this 24sec timelapse.

Download/View Original 4K25 Here.