Hi there,
-not sure if this is the right section, sorry if it is.-
my younger brother and I are working on a quizsystem. He wrote a program in C# which communicates via USB with the Arduino Uno.
-Press button
-Arduino sends data to pc
-Pc sends data back to arduino to control the LEDS and more.
This all worked fine.
We were one port to short so we added a shifter to the arduino, this controls all the "status LEDs" now. These are the LEDs on the box so you can see which button pressed first.
Arduino also controls a rgb led string.
Like I said before, it worked all fine till the shifter was added. It look like Arduino now misses some data it gets from the pc.
Before it was like IOIOIOIO for the leds blinking, but now its more like IOOIOIIIOO and all sorts of variations. It sometimes doesn't get the "out"-command or the "on"command.
This is the data the pc sends to Arduino.
@0+
#240000000
@0-
#000000000
@0+
#240000000
@0-
#000000000
@0+
#240000000
@0-
#000000000
@0+
#240000000
@0-
#000000000
@0+
#240000000
@0-
#000000000
And this is the Arduino code:
const int amountButtons = 8;
// set the first pin of the row of buttons
const int PinButton[] = {A0, A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, 12, 13}; // *
// what are the pins the leds are in, has to be the size of the buttons *
const int PinLed[] = {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7};
// what character corresponds with what led (led 0 -> 0, led 1 -> 1 etc) *
const char LedByte[] = {'0', '1', '2', '3', '4', '5', '6', '7'};
// the pins that the rgp strip is connected to (Red = 1st, Green = 2nd, Blue = 3rd)
const int PinRGBStrip[] = {10, 9, 11};
//Pin connected to latch pin (ST_CP) of 74HC595
const int latchPin = 2;
////Pin connected to Data in (DS) of 74HC595
const int dataPin = 3;
//Pin connected to clock pin (SH_CP) of 74HC595
const int clockPin = 4;
// set the standalone mode, whether it needs a computer to operate
const int PinStandalone = 8;
// after how many miliseconds can someone press the button again
const int buttonPressDelay = 2000;
const int ledBlinkDelay = 500;
const int ledBlinkTimes = 5;
// this is the first symbol that is defining the message is a color
const char colorSign = '#';
// this is the character that determines that the next bytes are for leds
const char ledSign = '@';
// dont fiddle with these
boolean appendreceive = false;
String receiveMessage;
boolean buttonPressed[] = {false, false, false, false}; // *
long previousMillisButton[] = {0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0}; // *
long previousMillisLed[] = {0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0}; // *
boolean nextIsLed = false;
int ledNum = -1;
boolean nextIsLedState = false;
boolean standalone = true;
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// * = array has to be the same length as amount of buttons
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// the setup routine runs once when you press reset:
void setup()
{
// loop #buttonAmount times to set some stuff
for(int i=0; i<amountButtons; i++)
{
// set all the leds as output
//pinMode(PinLed[i], OUTPUT); // removed since we use a shifter now
// set all the buttons as input
pinMode(PinButton[i], INPUT);
// set all the button state's to high
digitalWrite(PinButton[i], HIGH);
}
pinMode(latchPin, OUTPUT);
pinMode(dataPin, OUTPUT);
pinMode(clockPin, OUTPUT);
if(false) // just so we are able so skipy the startup test sequence
{
// turn all the lights on at the start, this way we can check if all the lights are connected properly
for(int n=0; n<amountButtons; n++)
{
SetLedState(PinLed[n], true);
delay(1000);
SetLedState(PinLed[n], false);
delay(100);
}
for(int m=0; m<5; m++)
{
switch (m)
{
case 0:
SetLedStripColor(255, 255, 255);
break;
case 1:
SetLedStripColor(255, 0, 0);
break;
case 2:
SetLedStripColor(0, 255, 0);
break;
case 3:
SetLedStripColor(0, 0, 255);
break;
case 4:
SetLedStripColor(0, 0, 0);
break;
}
delay(1000);
}
}
}
// the loop routine runs over and over again forever:
void loop()
{
// Loop through buttons to get if they are pressed
for(int i=0; i<amountButtons; i++)
{
// if button pressed
if(digitalRead(PinButton[i]) == LOW && buttonPressed[i] == false)
{
// send the button number over serial
if(!standalone)
Serial.println(i);
else
FlashLights(PinLed[i], 500, 500, 5);
buttonPressed[i] = true;
// set the time for the button press delay
previousMillisButton[i] = millis();
}
}
if(!standalone)
{
// check if there is a message to receive
if (Serial.available() > 0)
{
char incomingByte = (char)Serial.read();
// check if the character is the colorSign OR if we want to collect the characters
if(incomingByte == colorSign || appendreceive)
{
if(incomingByte == colorSign)
appendreceive = true;
else
{
if(receiveMessage.length() < 9)
receiveMessage += incomingByte;
if(receiveMessage.length() >= 9)
{
SetLedStripColor(receiveMessage.substring(0, 3).toInt(), receiveMessage.substring(3, 6).toInt(), receiveMessage.substring(6, 9).toInt());
receiveMessage = "";
appendreceive = false;
}
}
}
if(incomingByte == ledSign || nextIsLed || nextIsLedState)
{
if(incomingByte == ledSign)
{
nextIsLed = true;
}
if(nextIsLed)
{
if(nextIsLedState)
{
SetLedState(ledNum, (incomingByte == '+' ? true : false));
nextIsLed = false;
nextIsLedState = false;
}
if(!nextIsLedState)
{
// loop # amount of times to check if there is a led linked to the received byte
for(int n=0; n<amountButtons; n++)
{
// check the byte to the current led
if(incomingByte == LedByte[n])
{
ledNum = n;
nextIsLedState = true;
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
// BUTTONS STATE SET
for(int a=0; a<amountButtons; a++)
{
// check if the current button is pressed
if(buttonPressed[a] == true)
{
unsigned long currentMillis = millis();
// check if enough time has passed to set the buttonpressed to false
if(currentMillis - previousMillisButton[a] > buttonPressDelay)
{
buttonPressed[a] = false;
previousMillisButton[a] = 0;
}
}
}
if(digitalRead(PinStandalone) == HIGH)
{
if(standalone)
{
Serial.begin(57600);
standalone = false;
}
}
else if(digitalRead(PinStandalone) == LOW)
{
if(!standalone)
{
Serial.end();
standalone = true;
}
}
}
void FlashLights(int led, int onTime, int offTime, int amount)
{
for(int i=0; i<amount; i++)
{
SetLedState(led, true);
SetLedStripColor(255, 255, 255);
delay(onTime);
SetLedState(led, false);
SetLedStripColor(0, 0, 0);
delay(offTime);
}
}
void SetLedState(int led, boolean on)
{
if(on)
{
//digitalWrite(PinLed[led], HIGH); // Removed since we use a shifter now
registerWrite(PinLed[led], HIGH);
}
else
{
//digitalWrite(PinLed[led], LOW); // Removed since we use a shifter now
registerWrite(PinLed[led], LOW);
}
}
void SetLedStripColor(int red, int green, int blue)
{
analogWrite(PinRGBStrip[0], red);
analogWrite(PinRGBStrip[1], green);
analogWrite(PinRGBStrip[2], blue);
}
// This method sends bits to the shift register: (Origional arduino code)
void registerWrite(int whichPin, int whichState) {
// the bits you want to send
byte bitsToSend = 0;
// turn off the output so the pins don't light up
// while you're shifting bits:
digitalWrite(latchPin, LOW);
// turn on the next highest bit in bitsToSend:
bitWrite(bitsToSend, whichPin, whichState);
// shift the bits out:
shiftOut(dataPin, clockPin, MSBFIRST, bitsToSend);
// turn on the output so the LEDs can light up:
digitalWrite(latchPin, HIGH);
}
I really hope you can find a bug or something like it. If it's not totally clear what the problem is I can upload a short movie of the problem.
It can't be the Arduino being to slow to handle it, it's not much it gets to process??
