Hi! I'm brand new to Arduino and have no programming experience whatsoever.
I want to create a light fixture using this light ring where brightness can be controlled by one potentiometer and color can be controlled by another potentiometer. I'd also like to incorporate an on/off switch.
As I have no experience with this stuff, I don't know what arduino to buy, and since this is something I'd like to have as a permanent piece on my wall, and I don't plan to take apart and reuse the parts for a new project, I don't want to overspend on components that are more powerful than they need to be.
Can someone point me in the right direction here? I don't want to end up buying the wrong thing.
Actually you could use any Arduino board you like for your application as it looks as if you can solve everything with
2 analog inputs
1 digital output
5 V Power Supply
As the NeoPixel Ring is controlled by 5V level, it is recommended to use a controller/board that supports 5 V digital, which are e.g. Micro, NANO, UNO, Leonardo (also MEGA but that is certainly "overpowering" see List of Arduino Boards etc. )
Your choice might be a NANO or Micro, because they have small dimensions. Depending on your soldering capabilities, make sure to buy one with soldered pins.
If you do not like soldering at all, you might also buy a complete Arduino "NANO screw shield"
In any case make sure to read and apply to the information about powering the NeoPixels at
Once you have prepared the hardware (even when it is just breadboard state), you may come back to this forum if you have any questions regarding the software ...
You should look at a schematic capture program to generate schematics as you get involved. There are many available such as KiCad and Eagle. These should be put on your when I get around to it list. It will also keep you busy when you are waiting for parts. Fritzing is used a lot of people. All I see from it are pictures that are hard to read and many times not the same as the user is trying to depict.
a switch for on off, meaning here disconnect power to the whole thing
(if you meant something else, like dim/bright, then get a pushbutton)
a 100 uF 16 volt electrolytic capacitor
a 470 ohm resistor 1/4 watt or more
a 10K potentiometer
and
almost my Arduino board. I suggest one that has pins for using Dupont jumper wires, and a USB port for easier hookup to you PC for programming.
Any switches you like the look of will be fine.
I buy cheap clones and pay a different kind of price, so I will let someone else point out an exact Arduino or several and a source for legitimate copies thereof.
For a practical project, not a UNO, Leonardo or Mega 2560, since that form factor only suits the use of a matching "shield" which happens to include all the interface parts your project requires. Clearly not the case here.
The memory of the ATmega328 is more than adequate to handle 24 LEDs, so a 2650 is clearly not a consideration.
That leaves the Nano and Pro Mini, the former if you wish to retain USB connectivity in the final project. Otherwise you can program a Pro Mini with a USB adapter module.
Actually, you probably should develop with a Nano and perhaps use the Pro Mini for the final unit. A Pro Mini can be programmed with a "jury-rigged" Nano. While you do not want to "waste" anything more than necessary for your final application, it is most improbable that this is the only project you want to do using Arduino, so you should think in terms of buying multiple cheap boards as Alto describes so you can swap around projects.
A Nano or Pro Mini with pins fitted mounts in a "solderless breadboard" for prototyping, or solders to stripboard for a final product, or the "screwshield" that ec2021 illustrates. Without the fitted pins, you can solder permanent wires to the pads.
Or if you need WiFi for a project, you swap to an ESP8266 board such as the WeMOS D1 Mini.
Consider a rotary encoder instead of potentiometers. More precision and repeatability - you can store values in EEPROM so it holds the last used values on power-up. You use the push function to swap between setting modes such as brightness and colour and if needed, on/ off (given that it is only switching the display on and off with the Arduino still running).
