Recently active topics in ThingM about BlinkM

Is it possible to use digital pins on the Arduino to switch a BlinkM on and off, and then have the BlinkM run a pre-loaded 'standalone' sequence, so as to not require using the analogue pins for i2c communications? As the BlinkMs would be pre-loaded with what they need to do whenever they receive the 'go' and perhaps 'stop' (if a 'stop' in this sense is possible)

This is because I plan to use the 6 analogue pins on my arduino for 6 analogue sensor inputs. Then use six 6 blinkMs - with each one set to start a cycle whenever a corresponding sensor input is sensed (ie BlinkM 1 whenever sensor 1, BlinkM2 when sensor 2... etc you get the drift.

Only I would like to not have to worry with multiplexing/shift out/in types of scenarios if there is no need.

Also - each blinkM would be with its corresponding analogue sensor in six independent satellite units - ie the arduino is the base, and then the 6 units plug in to the arduino box but are able to be moved around separately from one another - each attatched with about 6 feet of cable. Due to this, would relying on an i2c situation (if not able to just go independent digital pin on/off way) be an issue as their would be 12 feet between each BlinkM on the i2c chain.

I'm setting up a chain of BlinjM's. What is the recommended way to assign the unique I2C addresses? I've tried using the test code and the "a" command, but the address don't seem to stay loaded. Maybe something with power sequencing?

Is it possible to have a sequence that runs for longer then 120 seconds?
I want to make a countdown timer that will run for 12 mins.

NEWBEE WARNING! --- How do you program the I2C address to the BlinkM? When I try this, it will report the new address when using the a command in the BlinkMTester, however when disconnecting the BlinkM to program the address of the next one, it seems to have lost the address when reconnecting the first BlinkM. I've tried this with four different BlinkM and 1 BlinkM MaxM.

I've read some other posts on this forum, but could not deduct the basics of programming the address.

Should the BlinkM retain its address when unpowered?
- if so, what would be the sequence to do so?
- if not, what would be the sequence to program several units all connected at once?

Could you let your light shine on this one?

Thanks,

Best regards,

Jeroen

I am having trouble retrieving the BlinkM address and version info using a Basic Stamp:
The address comes back as 255.

Sending commands work fine.

BlinkMAddress: 'doesn't work
GOSUB I2C_Start
I2C_data = DeviceAddr << 1 ' shift left because address is upper 7 bits
GOSUB I2C_Send
I2C_data = "a"
GOSUB I2C_Send
IF (I2C_ack = Nak) THEN BlinkMAddress ' wait until not busy
I2C_ack = Nak
I2C_data = 0
SHIFTIN SDA, SCL, MSBPRE, [I2C_data\8]
SHIFTOUT SDA, SCL, LSBFIRST, [I2C_ack\1] ' send ack or nak
DEBUG "Address: ", DEC I2C_data, CR
GOSUB I2C_Stop
PAUSE 1
RETURN

'Send Address or Data Procedure
I2C_Send:
SHIFTOUT SDA, SCL, MSBFIRST, [I2C_data] '[I2C_data\8] 'Send Byte To Device
SHIFTIN SDA, SCL, MSBPRE, [I2C_ack\1] '[I2C_ack\1] ' Get Acknowledge Bit
RETURN

' -----[ Low Level I2C Subroutines]----------------------------------------
I2C_Start: ' I2C Start Bit Sequence
INPUT SDA
INPUT SCL
LOW SDA ' SDA --> Low While SCL High
RETURN

I2C_Stop: ' I2C Stop Bit Sequence
LOW SDA
INPUT SCL
INPUT SDA ' SDA --> High While SCL High
RETURN

I am trying to run the BlinkM Sequencer application on a Basic Stamp platform. There is a program I downloaded called BlinkM Test to initially see if the application would work.
As far as I can go is to enter a hue value which will correspondingly light the RGB.
I can't proceed any further.

Hello. I'm trying to to use the BlinkMscriptWriter to make a script that very slowely and evenly fades through all colours including white. Mainly I want to hit red, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple, and white. But just having a very even fade so you can see everything in between in what I'm mainly after.

I wrote this script:

blinkm_script_line script1_lines[] = {
{ 1, {'f', 1,00,00}},
{ 1, {'t', 120,00,00}},
{ 50, {'c', 0xff,0x7e,0x59}}, // white
{ 50, {'c', 0x00,0x00,0xff}}, // blue
{ 50, {'c', 0x00,0xff,0xff}}, // cyan
{ 50, {'c', 0x00,0xff,0x00}}, // green
{ 50, {'c', 0xff,0xff,0x01}}, // yellow
{ 50, {'c', 0xff,0x00,0x00}}, // red
{ 50, {'c', 0xff,0x00,0xff}}, // purple
};
int script1_len = 9; // number of script lines above

But it doesn't work properly, it goes to the inbetween colours ok but it doesn't settle on deep red, blue, or green. I've fooled with a bunch of different settings and I had it sort of working, but it always ends up dwelling on the white for too long. Why does it do these erratic things?

Also, I'm unsure as to what the '50' is before the command. I didn't see it mentioned anywhere in the datasheet, I just used that because that's what it was on the #1 script RGB fading in the nonvol_data file.

What's the best way to create a very slow fade through all colours? I can't seem to figure it out. Thanks.

p.s. The reason why my "white" has less green and blue is to make it more neutral looking, otherwise it's a very blue white.

hello,

i'm using lovely blinkms and maxms to create a small scale light show. my color composition is of the most importance, and i can work it by use of sequencer but i can not run my own scripts in arduino (BlinkMScriptWriters and BlinkMScripTesters) through arduino. what is the best way to create my own sequence that needs to be longer than 6 minutes and have more transitions than there are available within the applet. also, after i upload the sequence through applet i can not overwrite it. how can i get around that?

thanks,

scott

I'm trying to use a Liquidware Illuminato to program the BlinkM. The board is supposed to be compatible with Arduino and the BlinkMCommunicator compiles and runs without an error. That said, the BlinkM doesn't appear to get power, so I'm guessing there's an issue with either the mapping of the analog pins or the i2c isn't compatible.

I can successfully program the BlinkM via my old Decimilia, but want to use the Illuminato for the extra pins.

Does anyone know if there's a way to get the Illuminato to play nice?

I am going to be using a bunch of blink m's possibly as many as 126 or more. (gotta buy em a few at a time. budget dont allow me to splurge on that many all at once, Its a project for a costume, but I'm going to use these with a propeller from parallax, too bad its a bit complicated :) first blinkMs are going to arrive tomorrow sometime, just wondering if anyone has used a propeller with them before.

Hello,
I've received a fresh set of 4 blinkm's (2 are maxm's) and tried connecting them to the Arduino Duemilanove.
The only thing that happends is that Blinkm's are playing their default colors.
I've tried all 4 of the blinkm's with and without external power, but they don't seem to listen to Arduino. Orrr, maybe Arduino isn't speaking correctly i2c.
How can I find out if my fresh Arduino is broken or not?

Someone on here described their I2C bus as "long" when it was only 4 feet. I'm planning on using some MaxM LED units in a display that requires several meters of cable between the Arduino and the units. Will this work okay?

I am trying to sot out serial communications with an array of 35 blinkms.

I am running them off an arduino, and talking to it from processing.

Anyway I am sending 35 RGB tuplets as bytes, and have noticed that I get strange values appearing..

I am fairly confident the byte list I am sending in processing is correct.

I have used the blinkmcommunicator arduino sketch and it works but is rather slow when trying to update all blinkms at a decent rate.

below is the arduino code, any help would be greatly appreciated

#include "Wire.h"
#include "BlinkM_funcs.h"

// 106 bytes of data 0x00 then 35 colour tuplets. no other colour value will be 0
#define slen 106
byte colors[106]; // array to hold incoming bytes

// 1 if powered from Arduino analog, 0 if powered independently
#define BLINKM_ARDUINO_POWERED 0
// 1 for fade, 0 for cut
#define BLINKM_FADE 1
// blinkm fadespeed (01 to FE, FF is cut, 00 is reserved)
#define BLINKM_FADESPEED 0x0F

void setup()
{

if( BLINKM_ARDUINO_POWERED ) {
BlinkM_beginWithPower();
}
else {
BlinkM_begin();
}

Serial.begin(19200);

BlinkM_stopScript(0x00);
BlinkM_setRGB(0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00);
if (BLINKM_FADE) {
BlinkM_setFadeSpeed(0x00, BLINKM_FADESPEED);
}

}

void loop() {

//read the serial port and create a string out of what you read
int spos = readSerialData();

// slen = number of chars sent && 0x00 is the first byte
if(spos == 106 && colors[0] == 0x00) {
byte addr = 0x0;
for ( int i = 0; i < 35; i++) {
byte addr = addr++;
BlinkM_fadeToRGB( addr, colors[(i*3)+1], colors[(i*3)+2], colors[(i*3)+3] );
}

// memset to init array
memset(colors,0,slen);
//Serial.print('a',BYTE);
}

delay(100);

}

//read a data from the serial and store it in an array
int readSerialData () {
int i=0;
if(!Serial.available()) {
return -1;
}

while ( i != slen) {
colors[i++] = Serial.read();
}

Serial.flush();
return i;
}

Is there a way to re-program scripts 1 through 16?

I know the docs say only 0 can be re-written, but there were mentions on revising the firmware to make that possible.

Thanks.

As per the title - is an Eagle library for the BlinkM available for implementation onto my own custom PCB

First of all thank you for a great product...I am of course talking about the BlinkM and the sequencer software as well. Currently I am playing around with both and they are just great :o)

Now I was thinking; do you plan to update the sequencer software with further functionalities? I am hereby thinking about being able to save a sequence in order to be able to upload it later on to another BlinkM (or just to save a great sequence).

Another great function would be to set the time manually or do a sequence step by step by pressing a key on the PC keyboard (for example).

Another nice feature to have would be to be able to set some setting so that the curser in the sequencer would move to the next time slice whenever a colour was selected (for example a double click on a specific colour would select that colour and then move to the next slot automatically).

Hope that you can use the input and that you can provide me (us) with some great news ;o)

Best regards Arne

Hello,

I have a burning question about the Sequencer. I need to use BlinkMs and MaxMs for the quick light project that I am building. The LEDs are in order and work well with Communicator when running it on both Arduino 0015 and 0011, but the Sequencer applet doesn't work. I'm on OS X system and I have done all the steps described in Quick Start and http://getsatisfaction.com/thingm/top...
and http://getsatisfaction.com/thingm/top... but it is still not working. I also tried manipulating the source code in Sequencer through Processing but this doesn't have an effect either. I am also trying to input script in serial monitor within Arduino, BlinkMTester.pde. But serial monitor gives me bunch of o like characters and doesn't want to send the command that I write it into the input field (as in the attached screenshot).

My experience with programing and Arduino is limited, which was the reason why I got these products that are advertised as LEDs that don't require previous programming or hardware skills. Few days ago I have emailed ThinkM about it, but didn't get a response. I would appreciate any help on changing the light sequence.

Thank you!