LCD Countdown Timer Stops When While Loop Starts

Projects Programming
1

I am very new to using arduinos, and I have taken on this project.

It is meant to be a game clock for the game Go. In one of my functions, everything works up until it hits the while loop. After that, I am not sure why it doesn't keep displaying new numbers as it is counting down. I will post the function I am having trouble with along with the setup() method, because I am using those two to try and troubleshoot.

# include <LiquidCrystal.h>

const int playerButton = 13;
LiquidCrystal lcd(0, 1, 8, 9, 10, 11);

int minsWhite = 10, secsWhite = 0, periodWhite = 5, periodWhiteSecs = 30;
int minsBlack = 10, secsBlack = 30, periodBlack = 5, periodBlackSecs = 30;
char timeline[16];

//BLACK AND WHITE TURNS CODE HERE

void blackTurn(){
  int blackMinutes = minsBlack; 
  int blackSeconds = secsBlack;

  lcd.clear();
  lcd.setCursor(0,0);
  lcd.print("Black Playing");
  
  lcd.setCursor(0, 1);
  sprintf(timeline, "%0.2d mins %0.2d secs", blackMinutes, blackSeconds);
  lcd.print(timeline);
  delay(1000);
  
  while(blackMinutes > 0 and blackSeconds >= 0){
    blackSeconds--;
    if(blackSeconds < 0){
      blackMinutes--;
      blackSeconds = 59;
    }
    
    lcd.setCursor(0, 1);
    sprintf(timeline, "%0.2d mins %0.2d secs", blackMinutes, blackSeconds);
    delay(1000);
    
  }
  
}

void setup() {
  pinMode(playerButton, INPUT);
  lcd.begin(16, 2);
  lcd.print("Black Plays"); 

  //CALLING FUNCTION TO TEST HERE
  blackTurn();

}
2

Without looking at the rest of the code, you're missing a print to the LCD within the while() loop:

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    while(blackMinutes > 0 and blackSeconds >= 0)
    {
        blackSeconds--;
        if(blackSeconds < 0)
        {
            blackMinutes--;
            blackSeconds = 59;
        }
    
        lcd.setCursor(0, 1);
        sprintf(timeline, "%0.2d mins %0.2d secs", blackMinutes, blackSeconds);
        
        lcd.print(timeline); //<--- missing this line?
        
        delay(1000);
    
    }

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3

This fixed it. Such a simple mistake. Thank you!