Need help =Game timer tower for kids church

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#1

Hello. I am the children's ministry director at my church. I want to build a game timer tower. I have done a little with IC chips and pcb's but I want to start using programmable boards to do more. I have very little understanding on HOW it works, just good at putting in pieces and following directions.

I want to build a tower about 5' tall. I would like it to have 12 segments of LEDs. The Top row would be "Standby" or waiting mode. Push a button, and the lights would move consecutively down the tower until the last. It would then stay on the last for a set amount of time, then reset back to "Standby" until someone hits the button again.

I have the ARDUINO UNO board, a spst button, and LOTS of LEDs. What I don't have is the knowledge. Also, I only have 3 weeks to get this programed and built.

I have spent a couple of days reading through the forum and playground, and understand the "debounce" code, but was not sure if it is needed since pushing the button would start the sequence of set times.

I also wondered if a sketch could be written so that the towers default would be a fast top to bottom loop, then go to standby when the button is pushed once, then do the actual countdown on a second push (obviously need a debounce here), then pause for a set time, and go back to loop.

If anyone is able to help me with this, I would so appreciate it. I will be checking here hourly, but I can also be reached at 727-809-0926 or at darin@firstprotestant.com. Thank you.

#2

I know people are reading this. Please help.

#3

What do you have for a power supply?
What I would recommend is wiring the LEDs in strings, say 3 for a 12V supply, 4 for a 15V supply, then wire the strings in parallel for as many LEDs you want in each group, and use two TPIC6B595 to drive the strings.

Arduino-shiftregisters-LEDs.jpg
Arduino-shiftregisters-LEDs.jpg960×720 52 KB

#4

And some test code to light them up:

#include<SPI.h>
byte ssPin = 10;
byte button = 2;
byte x;
byte lightArray [] = {
  0b00000000, 0b00000001, // row  0 on
  0b00000000, 0b00000010, // row  1on
  0b00000000, 0b00000100, // row  2 on
  0b00000000, 0b00001000, // row  3 on
  0b00000000, 0b00010000, // row  4 on
  0b00000000, 0b00100000, // row  5 on
  0b00000000, 0b01000000, // row  6 on
  0b00000000, 0b10000000, // row  7 on
  0b00000001, 0b00000000, // row  8 on
  0b00000010, 0b00000000, // row 9  on
  0b00000100, 0b00000000, // row  10 on
  0b00001000, 0b00000000, // row 11 on
};
void setup(){
  SPI.begin();
  pinMode (ssPin, OUTPUT);
  pinMode (button, INPUT_PULLUP);
}
void loop(){
  if (digitalRead(button) == LOW){
    for (x=0; x<12; x=x+1){
      digitalWrite (ssPin, LOW);
      SPI.transfer(lightArray[x*2]); // 0,2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16,18,20
      SPI.transfer(lightArray[(x*2)+1]); // 1,3,5,7,9,11,13,15,17,19,21
      digitalWrite(ssPin, HIGH);
      delay (1000);
    }
  }
}
#5

pinMode (13, OUTPUT);
pinMode (12, OUTPUT);
pinMode (11, OUTPUT);
pinMode (10, OUTPUT);
pinMode (9, OUTPUT);
pinMode (8, OUTPUT);
pinMode (7, OUTPUT);
pinMode (6, OUTPUT);
pinMode (5, OUTPUT);
pinMode (4, OUTPUT);
pinMode (3, OUTPUT);
pinMode (2, OUTPUT);

digitalWrite(13, HIGH); // sets the LED on
delay(1000); // waits for a second
digitalWrite(13, LOW); // sets the LED off
digitalWrite(12, HIGH); // sets the LED on
delay(1000); // waits for a second
digitalWrite(12, LOW); // sets the LED off
digitalWrite(11, HIGH); // sets the LED on
delay(1000); // waits for a second
digitalWrite(11, LOW); // sets the LED off
digitalWrite(10, HIGH); // sets the LED on
delay(1000); // waits for a second
digitalWrite(10, LOW); // sets the LED off
digitalWrite(9, HIGH); // sets the LED on
delay(1000); // waits for a second
digitalWrite(9, LOW); // sets the LED off
digitalWrite(8, HIGH); // sets the LED on
delay(1000); // waits for a second
digitalWrite(8, LOW); // sets the LED off
digitalWrite(7, HIGH); // sets the LED on
delay(1000); // waits for a second
digitalWrite(7, LOW); // sets the LED off
digitalWrite(6, HIGH); // sets the LED on
delay(1000); // waits for a second
digitalWrite(6, LOW); // sets the LED off
digitalWrite(5, HIGH); // sets the LED on
delay(1000); // waits for a second
digitalWrite(5, LOW); // sets the LED off
digitalWrite(4, HIGH); // sets the LED on
delay(1000); // waits for a second
digitalWrite(4, LOW); // sets the LED off
digitalWrite(3, HIGH); // sets the LED on
delay(1000); // waits for a second
digitalWrite(3, LOW); // sets the LED off
digitalWrite(2, HIGH); // sets the LED on
delay(5000); // waits for a second
digitalWrite(2, LOW); // sets the LED off

}

#6

Here's a simpler way. I haven't tested it but it looks like it'll work fine.

// Choose an appropriate pin for pushbutton input here
const int INPUT_PB = 14;
const int TOP_ROW = 13;
const int BOTTOM_ROW = 2;

void setup()
{
	// Put the rest of your setup code here...

	
	pinMode(INPUT_PB, INPUT);
	// Activate input pullup
	digitalWrite(INPUT_PB, HIGH);
	
	// Quick top to bottom cycle
	cycle(100);	
}


void loop()
{
	// Top row ON
	digitalWrite(TOP_ROW, HIGH);
	
	// Wait for button press (assume switch to ground)
	while(digitalRead(INPUT_PB) == HIGH)
	{
		// 50 ms response time
		delay(50);
	}
	
	// Cycle down at 1 second per row
	cycle(1000);
	
	// Bottom row on for 1 extra second
	digitalWrite(BOTTOM_ROW, HIGH);
	delay(1000);
	digitalWrite(BOTTOM_ROW, LOW);
}

void cycle(int time)
{
	// Cycle top to bottom
	for (int i = TOP_ROW; i >= BOTTOM_ROW; i--)
	{
		// LED on
		digitalWrite(i, HIGH);
		// Wait
		delay(time);
		// LED off
		digitalWrite(i, LOW);
	}	
}
#7