Hello members, Im Austin from North Devon and a newbie here along with being a complete Arduino virgin.
I thought it would be civil to introduce myself and say hi
I have a electrical & engineering background but its been over 25 years since I've used microcontrollers or pcb's
I have been inspired by an online post i saw on PetaPixel by a gentleman called Dirk Essl and his pixel stick style arduino driven build so I thought I'd dive in a try it.
The hardware side of the build is easy however the arduino side is a little scary
I've purchased the Arduino 2560 mega pro and hope to start wiring it up and testing that side of the project soon and i may raise my hand in the classroom for help.
Welcome! You'll find lots of help here, so ask questions! When you do have a problem, please remember to refer back to How to get the best out of this forum to maximize your, and our, enjoyment of the solve-the-puzzle game!
Remember, start small. The best project path forward, small or large, is to test each element separately, figure out how it works, then fold it into your plan. Then do the next element. Don't try to "jump the ocean" all at once! For example, a keypad, sensor, display project might be broken into
figure out the keypad (read, absorb, and play with the examples)
figure out the sensor (read...)
figure out the display (you guessed it)
At that point, you can add keypad to display, then add sensor, and celebrate!
Along the way, you'll encounter something called Serial Monitor - learn to use it to your advantage, to display things within your code that aren't right, or you're curious about.
That's the recipe for a project full of learning and fun, leaving you with your hair intact at the end.
You may find the wokwi online simulator to be useful. It's no harder to use than coming to grips with the IDE and uploading, and lets you work with many common components as you work through code you write, or examples you find.
It is also a good way to share the entirety of a project so if you need help, you can share your project and we can see it run, or fix it or whatever. On our own copies.
One great benefit is that as long as you wire things correctly, you won't be distracted by hardware issues, you won't lose any money destroying things and you can move the software into real life, where if things are different you can almost certain all be sure it is a matter of hardware, be it wiring errors, broken or wrong components or power supply issues.
Thought I'd share an update on my diy led pixel stick.
The easy part for me is the wiring and overall material component construction
I've meticulously followed a wiring diagram and made all connections between my Arduino Mega, 5 way cursor mini joystick, Oled display and micro SD card reader
Made a prototype enclosure to gauge the size to house all my components
Cut to length 1M of anodised black 2020 aluminium extrusion which acts as my building substrate
With 3M self adhesive I've mounted my diffused Aluminum led profile
Mounted my 2x ford transit grab handles onto my 2020 profile
Affixed my 144 WS2812B led tape into my diffuser
Now im reading every thread i can to help me on my way with the "hard part" the Arduino....
My project is one that's been shared online by it's creator Drik Essl in Germany
I've copied his exact parts list, wiring diagram and now looking at the sketch and trying to figure out where i go from here.
Ive download Arduino IDE and FastLed
Can i somehow copy and paste the exact sketch used for this project from Pastebin into Arduino IDE and maybe bring my project to life..... ??
