Multiple RGB LED state stored in array

Projects Programming
1

Good day amazing community,

First, a few words about my project so you can have a better understanding at what I want so you can help me easier:

Project:

I'm trying to recreate a police lightbar for 1/43 miniature cars. this lightbar have about 8 LEDS: 2 are blue only and 6 can either flash in blue (emergency mode) or yellow (traffic advisor). here is a video example

My issue

Following a lot of research, i was able to come up with the following code to turn on / off multiple LEDS using a custom flashing pattern using millis().
However, although this code is great for one color LED, it may not be the best one for RGB led, therefore:
Could anyone provide any assistance on how to optimize it for RGB led ? I know blue is: 0b001 and yellow is: 0b110, but I don't know wether i should do something in the array or in the function where i set the LED state to either HIGH or LOW

const uint16_t PINS[] = {3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12};
const uint16_t PINS_NO = sizeof(PINS) / sizeof(PINS[0]);

struct seq_entry
{
  uint16_t pattern;
  uint32_t interval;
};

uint32_t lastIntervalChangeTime = 0;
uint32_t intervalLength;

const seq_entry HST_SEQUENCE[] = {
                                  {0B0000000011, 1000},
                                  {0B0000111111, 1000},
                                  {0B1111111111, 1000},
                                  {0B0000000000, 500},
                                  {0B1111111111, 500},
                                  {0B0000000000, 500},
                                  {0B1111111111, 500},
                                  {0B0000000000, 500},
                                  {0B1111111111, 3000},
                                  {0B1111111100, 500},
                                  {0B1111000000, 500},
                                  {0B0000000000, 1500}
                                 };
const uint16_t HST_SEQUENCE_NO = sizeof(HST_SEQUENCE) / sizeof(HST_SEQUENCE[0]);
uint16_t hst_sequence_index = 0; //controls which step of the sequence it starts on

void hstSequence()
{
  for ( int i = 0; i < PINS_NO; i++ )
  {
    if ((HST_SEQUENCE[hst_sequence_index].pattern & (0x1 << i)) != 0)
    {
      level = HIGH;
    }
    else
    {
      level = LOW;
    }

    digitalWrite(PINS[i], level );
  }

  intervalLength = HST_SEQUENCE[hst_sequence_index].interval;

  hst_sequence_index++;

  if ( hst_sequence_index == HST_SEQUENCE_NO )
  {
    hst_sequence_index = 0;
  }
  //intervalLength = HST_SEQUENCE[hst_sequence_index].interval;
} // End of void hstSequence

Thank you very much for taking the time to read and help

2

It really depends on what type of RGB leds you have. If you have a strip of individually controllable RGB leds (WS2811 or same) then you do it completely differently. If you just have a 4 pin RGB led, then you are going to need more pins.

What do you have? If you don't have either, the individually controllable ones are cheap and easy to control.

3

blh64:
It really depends on what type of RGB leds you have. If you have a strip of individually controllable RGB leds (WS2811 or same) then you do it completely differently. If you just have a 4 pin RGB led, then you are going to need more pins.

What do you have? If you don't have either, the individually controllable ones are cheap and easy to control.

I will be using 6, 4 pin RGB leds. (and I must be able to be able to control each leds invidiually to create a custom pattern).

4

In that case, you are going to need a lot of pins. assuming a common anode/cathode, you need 6 x 3 = 18 I/O pins. That won't work on a UNO, need a larger board like a Mega.

This is why the WS2811 chips are so popular. One 1 pin for hundreds of leds.