next topic »

[on:]

is it possible to get a delay quicker than 1ms?

Im building a POV, and need to pull the refresh rate to about 0.5ms..

example of code I'm using.

byte refreshrate = 1;//delay time for pixels to refresh in milliseconds- experiment with different values

[Reply #1 on:]

You can use delayMicroseconds, or preferably not use delay at all.

You can call micros() to find the elapsed time to microsecond resolution.

[Reply #2 on:]

Heres the code..
please can you put in your change..

I see that "BYTE refreshrate =1 is used as  a reference throughout.. would be good if I could make it 0.5 i.e 500 microseconds

many thanks for any help.

Code:

//POV Wand Arduino code
//by Amanda Ghassaei
//instructables.com/amandaghassaei
//April 2012

//for use with arduino uno or duemilanove with atmel328


/*
 * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
 * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
 * the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or
 * (at your option) any later version.
 *
 * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
 * GNU General Public License for more details.
*/

//in most of this code I have used the arduino portpin assignments to send data to pins, you can read more about how that works here: http://www.arduino.cc/en/Reference/PortManipulation
//I've also included (and commented) the standard arduino library commands that perform the same functions and the port commands in case you are interested


#include <avr/pgmspace.h>//need to store letter arrays in flash memory- or else we run out of space, more info here: http://arduino.cc/en/Reference/PROGMEM


/*******************************************************************************
THIS NEXT SECTION IS WHAT YOU'LL WANT TO EDIT TO CREATE YOUR OWN MESSAGES
*******************************************************************************/
// setup  
String povtext = " HELLO ";//PUT YOUR MESSAGE HERE!!- must be in all caps, spaces are fine, no punctuation
[b]byte refreshrate = 1;[/b]//delay time for pixels to refresh in milliseconds- experiment with different values



 
//LOTS OF BOOLEAN HERE..
};

  
//// }
//// if (letterArray[15*12+t]) {
////   digitalWrite(A4, HIGH);
//// }
//// else {
////   digitalWrite(A4, LOW);
//// }
//// if (letterArray[16*12+t]) {
////   digitalWrite(A3, HIGH);
//// }
//// else {
////   digitalWrite(A3, LOW);
//// }
//// if (letterArray[17*12+t]) {
////   digitalWrite(A2, HIGH);
//// }
//// else {
////   digitalWrite(A2, LOW);
//// }
//// if (letterArray[18*12+t]) {
////   digitalWrite(A1, HIGH);
//// }
//// else {
////   digitalWrite(A1, LOW);
//// }
//// if (letterArray[19*12+t]) {
////   digitalWrite(A0, HIGH);
//// }
//// else {
////   digitalWrite(A0, LOW);
//// }
////
////
//// delay(refreshrate);//delay after each column of data is displayed
//// }//go to next time step
  
 




void setup() {
  
  

 //port/pin assignments- set all pins to output- more info here: http://www.arduino.cc/en/Reference/PortManipulation
  DDRB = 0xFF;//port b- digital pins 8-13
  DDRC = 0xFF;//port c- anlog pins 0-5
  DDRD = 0xFF;//port d- digital pins 0-7
  
//the three lines above are the same as setting all pins as outputs using arduino library:
//  pinMode(A0, OUTPUT);
//  pinMode(A1, OUTPUT);
//  pinMode(A2, OUTPUT);
//  pinMode(A3, OUTPUT);
//  pinMode(A4, OUTPUT);
//  pinMode(A5, OUTPUT);
//  
//  for (int pin=0; pin<14; pin++){
//    pinMode(pin, OUTPUT);
//  }
  
  
  
 //run intialization so we know device is working- leds should light up in order from top of wand to bottom
 for (byte j=0; j<20; j++){ //for each time step

  for (byte i=0; i<6; i++){ //for first six rows of data
    data1 = data1 << 1;//bitwise shift left
    data1 |= load[(i*20+j)];//add next value from dataset
  }
  for (byte i=6; i<14; i++){ //for next eight rows of data
    data2 = data2 << 1;//bitwise shift left
    data2 |= load[(i*20+j)];//add next value from dataset
  }
  for (byte i=14; i<20; i++){ //for next six rows of data
    data3 = data3 << 1;//bitwise shift left
    data3 |= load[(i*20+j)];//add next value from dataset
  }
  PORTB = data1;
  PORTD = data2;
  PORTC = data3;
  delay(100);
  
 }

////SAME AS ABOVE LOOP, BUT USING ARDUINO LIBRARY:
// //turn on each LED one by one using arduino library commands
//  for (int pin= 13; pin>=0; pin--){//turn on each digital pin sequentially for 100ms
//    digitalWrite(pin, HIGH);
//    delay(100);
//    digitalWrite(pin,LOW);
//  }
//  //the following lines turn on each analog pin individually
//  digitalWrite(A5, HIGH);
//  delay(100);
//  digitalWrite(A5,LOW);
//  digitalWrite(A4, HIGH);
//  delay(100);
//  digitalWrite(A4,LOW);
//  digitalWrite(A3, HIGH);
//  delay(100);
//  digitalWrite(A3,LOW);
//  digitalWrite(A2, HIGH);
//  delay(100);
//  digitalWrite(A2,LOW);
//  digitalWrite(A1, HIGH);
//  delay(100);
//  digitalWrite(A1,LOW);
//  digitalWrite(A0, HIGH);
//  delay(100);
//  digitalWrite(A0,LOW);


 //clear data storage
 data1 = 0;
 data2 = 0;
 data3 = 0;
 //clear ports- set all arduino pins to 0Volts
 PORTB = data1;
 PORTD = data2;
 PORTC = data3;
 


}

void loop() {
  
  //space at beginning of text
   PORTB = 0;
   PORTD = 0;
   PORTC = 0;
  [b] delay(refreshrate*3);[/b]
  
  for (n=0; n<dimtext; n++) {//go through each character of povtext and call function sendToWand to display letter
    if (povtext.charAt(n)=='A') {
      sendToWand(letterA);
      }
    else if (povtext.charAt(n)=='B') {
      sendToWand(letterB);
    }
    else if (povtext.charAt(n)=='C') {
      sendToWand(letterC);
    }
    else if (povtext.charAt(n)=='D') {
      sendToWand(letterD);
    }
    else if (povtext.charAt(n)=='E') {
      sendToWand(letterE);
    }
    else if (povtext.charAt(n)=='F') {
      sendToWand(letterF);
    }
    else if (povtext.charAt(n)=='G') {
      sendToWand(letterG);
    }
    else if (povtext.charAt(n)=='H') {
      sendToWand(letterH);
    }
    else if (povtext.charAt(n)=='I') {
      sendToWand(letterI);
    }
    else if (povtext.charAt(n)=='J') {
      sendToWand(letterJ);
    }
    else if (povtext.charAt(n)=='K') {
      sendToWand(letterK);
    }
    else if (povtext.charAt(n)=='L') {
      sendToWand(letterL);
    }
    else if (povtext.charAt(n)=='M') {
      sendToWandMW(letterM);
    }
    else if (povtext.charAt(n)=='N') {
      sendToWand(letterN);
    }
    else if (povtext.charAt(n)=='O') {
      sendToWand(letterO);
    }
    else if (povtext.charAt(n)=='P') {
      sendToWand(letterP);
    }
    else if (povtext.charAt(n)=='Q') {
      sendToWand(letterQ);
    }
    else if (povtext.charAt(n)=='R') {
      sendToWand(letterR);
    }
    else if (povtext.charAt(n)=='S') {
      sendToWand(letterS);
    }
    else if (povtext.charAt(n)=='T') {
      sendToWand(letterT);
    }
    else if (povtext.charAt(n)=='U') {
      sendToWand(letterU);
    }
    else if (povtext.charAt(n)=='V') {
      sendToWand(letterV);
    }
    else if (povtext.charAt(n)=='W') {
      sendToWandMW(letterW);
    }
    else if (povtext.charAt(n)=='X') {
      sendToWand(letterX);
    }
    else if (povtext.charAt(n)=='Y') {
      sendToWand(letterY);
    }
    else if (povtext.charAt(n)=='Z') {
      sendToWand(letterZ);
    }
    else if (povtext.charAt(n)==' ') {
      PORTB = 0;
      PORTD = 0;
      PORTC = 0;
   delay(refreshrate*3);//off for 3 pixels
    }
    //space between each character
    PORTB = 0;
    PORTD = 0;
    PORTC = 0;
  [b] delay(refreshrate);[/b]
  }
  
  //space at end of text
   PORTB = 0;
   PORTD = 0;
   PORTC = 0;
   [b]delay(refreshrate*3);[/b]
 
 
 
}

[Reply #3 on:]

please can you put in your change..

I doubt anybody here is willing to do that, Nick has answered your reply perfectly. There is another function micros() that does exactly the same as millis(), except in microseconds, not milliseconds.

[Reply #4 on:]

Code:

String povtext = " HELLO ";//PUT YOUR MESSAGE HERE!!- must be in all caps, spaces are fine, no punctuation

A char * would be a much better idea.

[Reply #5 on:]

please can you put in your change..

I doubt anybody here is willing to do that, Nick has answered your reply perfectly. There is another function micros() that does exactly the same as millis(), except in microseconds, not milliseconds.

ok.  Done as Nick suggested..  Removed the reference..  And just changed everything to 500microseconds.   And when in the code it asks for refresh rate *3.  I have changed that to say 1500 Micros.

Was looking for an easier way to keep the reference,  so I would only need to change one value..

Cheers
David

[Reply #6 on:]

As Nick suggested, you could change to this:

Code:

unsigned int refreshrate = 500;  //delay time for pixels to refresh in MICROseconds- experiment with different values

and change all delay() to delayMicroseconds() like this:

Code:

...
     delayMicroSeconds(refreshrate);  // was delay(refreshrate)
...
     delayMicroSeconds(refreshrate*3);  // was delay(refreshrate*3)
... 

Is that what you mean?

[Reply #7 on:]

As Nick suggested, you could change to this:

Code:

unsigned int refreshrate = 500;  //delay time for pixels to refresh in MICROseconds- experiment with different values

and change all delay() to delayMicroseconds() like this:

Code:

...
     delayMicroSeconds(refreshrate);  // was delay(refreshrate)
...
     delayMicroSeconds(refreshrate*3);  // was delay(refreshrate*3)
... 

Is that what you mean?

Yes..  Perfect ! -)

Many thanks John..  That's exactly what I need..

Just trying to get this POV to write faster...

Awesome.

David