Help with BT Controlled RGB LED Strip

Projects Programming
1 
char colour; // Store received byte here

//Define RGB pins
int redPin = 9;
int greenPin = 10;
int bluePin = 11;

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(9600);     // Start serial communication to BT module
  pinMode(redPin, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(greenPin, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(bluePin, OUTPUT);

  // Set LEDs OFF
  setColourRGB(0, 0, 0);
}

void loop() {
  if (Serial.available() > 0) {
    colour = Serial.read();
    }

  // OFF
  if (colour == 'n') {
    setColourRGB(0, 0, 0);
  }
  
  // RED
  if (colour == 'r') {
    setColourRGB(255, 0, 0);
  }
  
  // GREEN
  if (colour == 'g') {
    setColourRGB(0, 255, 0);
  }

  // BLUE
  if (colour == 'b') {
    setColourRGB(0, 0, 255);
  }

  // ORANGE
  if (colour == 'o') {
    setColourRGB(255, 20, 0);
  }

  // MINT
  if (colour == 'm') {
    setColourRGB(0, 255, 30);
  }

  // CYAN
  if (colour == 'c') {
    setColourRGB(1, 255, 208);
  }

  // YELLOW
  if (colour == 'y') {
    setColourRGB(255, 65, 0);
  }

  // WHITE
  if (colour == 'w') {
    setColourRGB(255, 255, 255);
  }

  // PINK
  if (colour == 'p') {
    setColourRGB(255, 0, 255);
  }

  // RANDOM
  if (colour == '?') {
    int redValue = random(0, 256);
    int greenValue = random(0, 256);
    int blueValue = random(0, 256);
    setColourRGB(redValue, greenValue, blueValue);
  }

  // COLOUR CYCLE
  if (colour == 's') {
    unsigned int rgbColour[3];

    while (Serial.available() == 0) {
    // Start off with red.
    rgbColour[0] = 255;
    rgbColour[1] = 0;
    rgbColour[2] = 0;  
  
    // Choose the colours to increment and decrement.
    for (int decColour = 0; decColour < 3; decColour += 1) {
      int incColour = decColour == 2 ? 0 : decColour + 1;
  
      // cross-fade the two colours.
      for(int i = 0; i < 255; i += 1) {
        rgbColour[decColour] -= 1;
        rgbColour[incColour] += 1;
        
        setColourRGB(rgbColour[0], rgbColour[1], rgbColour[2]);
        delay(50);
      }        
      }
    }
  }
}

void setColourRGB(unsigned int red, unsigned int green, unsigned int blue) {
  analogWrite(redPin, red);
  analogWrite(greenPin, green);
  analogWrite(bluePin, blue);
}

This is my code to control an RGB LED strip via bluetooth using an app I made. The app simply sends letters depending on the button pressed, the Arduino then takes that character and, depending on what it is, changes the RGB LED strip to display a colour.

However, I am having two problems with it right now:
1: The random colour mode only ever produces white and it flickers slightly - any clue as to why that is?
2: If you try to change the colour while a colour cycle is happening, the program has to finish the current colour cycle before it will react to the change you made - how do I stop this and make a new byte received break out of that while loop?

Thanks :slight_smile:

2

What is the purpose of this line

    while (Serial.available() == 0) {

what happens if you remove it and its corresponding }

...R

3

Robin2:
What is the purpose of this line

    while (Serial.available() == 0) {

what happens if you remove it and its corresponding }

...R

I removed it and it works the same, my bad, I just thought if I didn't do that it would only cycle once but now I realise it will continuously cycle.
Any idea on how to interrupt it though, or why my random colour generation only produces white?

4

One thing that is wrong for sure is your call to random(). The min and max are inclusive, so the max should be 255, not 256.

You should look at the types being used as well. The function setColourRGB() takes unsigned int but analogWrite() expects an int. Your random values are ints being set by random(), which returns a long, which are passed to setColourRGB() which expects unsigned ints.

Since you never clear out the colour variable it's setting a new random value every time through loop(), which might explain the flickering.

5

One thing that is wrong for sure is your call to random(). The min and max are inclusive, so the max should be 255, not 256.

That is WRONG. The min value is inclusive. The max value is NOT. So, the OP's code IS correct.

how do I stop this and make a new byte received break out of that while loop?

You deleted the while loop, you said. So, there is no while loop to break out of.

Your nested for loops, containing delay(), have blinders on. NOTHING else happens while the outer loop is executing.

You could see if there is serial data to read, in the inner loop, and return if there is.

Or, you could realize that executing a for loop in the loop() function is silly, and stop doing that.

6

What is actually being received by Serial?

if (Serial.available() > 0) {
    colour = Serial.read();

Temporarily add in a Serial.print() statement so you can see what is happening.

Also, post the latest version of your program so we can keep up with exactly what you are doing.

...R