I have a little clock project but want to update the code so you don’t see any flashing of the code. One of the things I could do is change digitalWrite() to PortD B00100001
But I have some problems:
I use 4 LEDS (digital port nr 2,3,4 and 5) and 4 buttons (6,7,8 and 9)
When I use PortD, there are strange things happens with my buttons, could anyone explain me this and give a solution?
thx
#include <Wire.h> //http://arduino.cc/en/Reference/Wire
#include <Time.h> //http://playground.arduino.cc/Code/Time
#include <DS3232RTC.h> //http://github.com/JChristensen/DS3232RTC
byte newMinute = 99;
const byte LEDs[] = {2, 3, 4, 5};
tmElements_t tm;
void setup() {
Wire.begin();
Serial.begin(9600);
setSyncProvider(RTC.get); // the function to get the time from the RTC
for (byte i=0; i< 4; i++) {
pinMode (LEDs[i], OUTPUT);
for (byte i=0; i< 4; i++) {
pinMode (i + 6, INPUT_PULLUP);
}
}
}
void loop() {
if (digitalRead(9) == LOW) {
newMinute = 99;
Serial.println("ButtonPushed");
PORTD = B00000000;
}else{
if (!RTC.read(tm)) {
time_t t = now();
int iMinute = minute(t);
if (newMinute != iMinute ) {
Serial.println(iMinute);
newMinute = iMinute; //Set newMinute to the new value
int y = 2;
int test;
for (int i=2; i <= (iMinute % 5)+1 ; i++){
y = 2 * y;
test = test + y;
}
PORTD = test;
}
}
}
}
You don't need to update clock output very often. There should be no flashing if digitalWrite() is used properly - it may be slow compared with port manipulation but that "slow" is a number of microseconds.
I have a little clock project but want to update the code so you don't see any flashing of the code.
Can you please post your original code that shows the flashing ? I can't help feeling that there is an easier way to solve the problem rather than writing to PORTD.
UKHeliBob:
When I suggested that you post your code I actually meant all of it, not snippets. A circuit diagram would be handy too.
The code is in my first post...
UKHeliBob:
If you want to avoid seeing flashes when changing minutes why not leave the LEDs on and just turn on the new one ?
just turn the new leds??
0 minutes = 0 leds
1 minutes = led 1
2 minutes = led 1 & led 2
3 minutes = led 1, led 2 & led 3
4 minutes = led 1, led 2, led 3 and led 4
5 minues = 0 leds
that's why the minutes%5 is for
so when you go from 4 to 5 minutes (for example) no leds to turn on...
Is that not the code using PORTD ? I meant your original code using digitalWrite()
just turn the new leds??
Yes, if there are any to be turned on. At the moment you are turning off all the LEDs then turning on some of them again, hence the flashing. As a start try commenting out the for loop that turns the LEDs off. Obviously they will need to be turned off when the minutes go back to zero but not every minute.
#include <Wire.h> //http://arduino.cc/en/Reference/Wire
#include <Time.h> //http://playground.arduino.cc/Code/Time
#include <DS3232RTC.h> //http://github.com/JChristensen/DS3232RTC
byte newMinute = 99;
const byte LEDs[] = {2, 3, 4, 5};
tmElements_t tm;
void setup() {
Wire.begin();
Serial.begin(9600);
setSyncProvider(RTC.get); // the function to get the time from the RTC
for (byte i=0; i< 4; i++) {
pinMode (LEDs[i], OUTPUT);
for (byte i=0; i< 4; i++) {
pinMode (i + 7, INPUT_PULLUP);
}
}
}
void loop() {
if (digitalRead(6) == LOW) {
newMinute = 99;
Serial.println("ButtonPushed");
PORTD = B00000000;
}else{
if (!RTC.read(tm)) {
time_t t = now();
int iMinute = minute(t);
if (newMinute != iMinute ) {
newMinute = iMinute; //Set newMinute to the new value
int y = 2;
int test;
if ((newMinute % 5) == 0){
Clear_CornerLEDS(); //minute = 0, 5, 10, ... clear the LEDs
}else{
//Turn on the right LED's for the minutes
for (int i=1; i <= (newMinute % 5); i++){
digitalWrite(i+1,HIGH);
}
}
}
}
}
Ok this is what I have now, it seems to work
Is there a solution to work with PORTD? maybe it is only some millis faster, When I am done whit the whole project, are the many millis perhaps 2 seconds…
I see that you still think that you need to use PORTD but I still doubt it.
As to your latest program I have some observations.
You appear to have 4 LEDs as in
const byte LEDs[] = {2, 3, 4, 5};
But in this for loop
//Turn on the right LED's for the minutes
for (int i=1; i <= (newMinute % 5); i++){
digitalWrite(i+1,HIGH);
you do not use the LED array, which would be neater.
In practice, as I pointed out in a previous post, you only need to turn on one extra LED each time the minute increments. In one of your previous posts you had this table
1 minutes = led 1
2 minutes = led 1 & led 2
3 minutes = led 1, led 2 & led 3
4 minutes = led 1, led 2, led 3 and led 4
From it you can see that when the minute changes, and only then, one new LED needs to be turned on, perhaps like this
digitalWrite(LEDS[newMinute - 1], HIGH);
By all means use port manipulation as a learning exercise but is in needed ?
The problem is: when I power up the clock at - let say 8u03, there should be 3 leds ON but wit the code you wrote, nominate - 1, only the 3th led will be ON… do you understand what I mean?
BramWerbrouck:
The problem is: when I power up the clock at - let say 8u03, there should be 3 leds ON but wit the code you wrote, nominate - 1, only the 3th led will be ON... do you understand what I mean?
Turn on the correct number of LEDs in setup() then let them be updated in loop()
BramWerbrouck:
Would this be faster than what I have??
Setting the clock LEDs, presumably at least hours and minutes would run as fast as it does at the moment. Updating the minutes LEDs by turning on one LED per minute instead of four in the worst case would of course be faster than now.
Minute 1 - same speed
Minute 2 - twice as fast
Minute 3 - 3 times as fast
Minute 4 - 4 times as fast
In which case when the minutes go from 58 to 59 it will be 59 times as fast to turn on one LED than it would be to turn on 59 LEDs. As for turning them off when the minutes roll over from 59 to zero it would be neat to turn them off from the top down.
How many LEDs are you aiming to have in your clock ?
59 for minutes at least, presumably but you mentioned 100 at one stage
How are you going to drive that many LEDs ?
Perhaps you could share your clock design with us as we are working in the dark at the moment.
