Arduino Project #1: Creating a Blinking LED Wave

Project #1: Creating a Blinking LED Wave

Let’s put some LEDs and resistors to work. In this project, we’ll use five

LEDs to emulate the front of the famous TV show vehicle KITT from the

television show Knight Rider, creating a kind of wavelike light pattern.

The Algorithm

Here’s our algorithm for this project:

1. Turn on LED 1.

2. Wait half a second.

3. Turn off LED 1.

4. Turn on LED 2.

5. Wait half a second.

6. Turn off LED 2.

7. Continue until LED 5 is turned on, at which point the process reverses

from LED 5 to 1.

8. Repeat indefinitely.

The Hardware

Here’s what you’ll need to create this project:

• Five LEDs

• Five 560 W resistors

• One breadboard

• Various connecting wires

• Arduino and USB cable

We will connect the LEDs to digital pins 2 through 6 via the 560-ohm

current-limiting resistors.

The Sketch

Now for our sketch. Enter this code into the IDE:

// Project 1 - Creating a Blinking LED Wave

u void setup()

{

pinMode(2, OUTPUT); // LED 1 control pin is set up as an output

pinMode(3, OUTPUT); // same for LED 2 to LED 5

pinMode(4, OUTPUT);

pinMode(5, OUTPUT);

pinMode(6, OUTPUT);

}

44 Chapter 3

v void loop()

{

digitalWrite(2, HIGH); // Turn LED 1 on

delay(500); // wait half a second

digitalWrite(2, LOW); // Turn LED 1 off

digitalWrite(3, HIGH); // and repeat for LED 2 to 5

delay(500);

digitalWrite(3, LOW);

digitalWrite(4, HIGH);

delay(500);

digitalWrite(4, LOW);

digitalWrite(5, HIGH);

delay(500);

digitalWrite(5, LOW);

digitalWrite(6, HIGH);

delay(500);

digitalWrite(6, LOW);

digitalWrite(5, HIGH);

delay(500);

digitalWrite(5, LOW);

digitalWrite(4, HIGH);

delay(500);

digitalWrite(4, LOW);

digitalWrite(3, HIGH);

delay(500);

digitalWrite(3, LOW);

// the loop() will now loop around and start from the top again

}

Circuit layout for Project 1