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Just starting. Have the arduino blinking the LED on pin 14. Now wanted to get the BlinkM going.

Opening BlinkMCommunicator.pde and trying to download...

I'm getting the error
"In function 'void BlinkM_beginWithPower()':
At global scope:"

with no more helpful info. Sorry, this error doesn't make sense to me. Any help would be appreciated.

Mac OS X 10.5, G5 PowerMac

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?

Why is the LED spaced off the board? I want to use this in an application with lower clearances. Will it hurt anything if I re-solder the board so that the LED is flush with the PCB? If possible, what is the manufacturer/part number of the LED? I'm curious to read through their datasheet.

Hi.
Does anyone in here know Mikro Basic? I am trying to get the BlinkM to work with Mikro Basic, but i can't!

This code isn't working, as i thought should work, but it doesn't:

program RGBI2C

main:
dim i as byte
i = 256
I2C_Init(100000) ' initialize I2C module 100 kHz clk, full master mode
while true

I2C_Start ' issue I2C start signal
I2C_Wr($09) ' join I2C, talk to BlinkM 0x09
I2C_Wr("c") ' ‘c’ == fade to color
I2C_Wr($ff) ' value for red channel
I2C_Wr($ff) ' ‘value for blue channel
I2C_Wr($ff) ' value for green channel
I2C_Stop ' issue I2C stop sinal

dec(i)
Delay_ms(500)

wend
end.

i think i may have cooked my blinkm - i accidentally hit it with 5v on the i2c line when i was connecting it for testing, now it blinks once (white) and then dies

Is there a way to save a BlinkM sequencer scripts (to a local file?) and load them at a later date?

I have an array of 20 BlinkMs connected to a PING))) sensor. The color changes as someone gets closer. I did a test and it works fine. Now want to change the number of steps and the change from white (far) to red (near). Whenever I change the RGB values I get random readings of 0 returned at regular intervals. This NEVER happens with the test set up. I am using the EXACT same code just with different RGB values. If anyone has any ideas I will be very grateful. This has me going nuts. Here is my working test code:

#include "Wire.h"
#include "BlinkM_funcs.h"
#define BLINKM_ADDR 0x09
int pin = 7;
unsigned long duration;

void setup()
{

BlinkM_begin();
BlinkM_setAddress (BLINKM_ADDR);
BlinkM_stopScript(0x09);
Serial.begin(9600);
}

void getAdistance(){
pinMode(pin, OUTPUT);
delay(1);
digitalWrite(pin, LOW);
delayMicroseconds(5);
digitalWrite(pin, HIGH);
delayMicroseconds(5);
digitalWrite(pin, LOW);
pinMode(pin, INPUT);
duration = pulseIn(pin, HIGH);

}

void loop()
{
getAdistance();
Serial.println(duration, DEC);
delay(50);

if(duration>20000){
BlinkM_setRGB(0x09,153,0,255);
delay(100);
BlinkM_fadeToRGB(0x09,0,0,255);
Serial.print("IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE? ");}

if ((duration<19999>10001)){
BlinkM_fadeToRGB(0x09,255,102,0);
Serial.print("HEY YOU! ");}

if((duration<10000>3001)){
BlinkM_fadeToRGB(0x09,0,255,0);
Serial.print("HELLO! ");}

if(duration<3000>

If a fade speed of 255 causes colors to change "instantly",
and 1 is the slowest fade speed, then what value do I use
for the fade speed if I want a script to take 5-seconds to
fade from one primary color (say Red) to another (say Blue)?
Thanks!
-Rusty-

I am wondering about the code in the chip. I love your Lighting sequence and your water one as well (i guess i just like blue..) Is it possible to get the code that you used for them? I am the proud owner of three with four more on the way. I am interested in how you did what you did with the leds. I played with software PWM on my basic stamp 2 and my Atom but the stamp wasnt fast enough and i just dont think out side of the box enough with the atom to get the results i wanted (which are pretty close to your water effect). I also wanted to know what mosfets i could use to power some leds off of this right now i am using two npn transistors to power each color (had to invert the singal) Thanks for your time.

Hello,
Got a problem whith my blinkm, when I set color to RGB or HSB of it via my arduino board, the color is correctly set but the led fades out after some seconds. Why ?
It seems to me that it happens since I played with fadetime parameter, how could I reset blinkM to factory parameters ?
Thanks for the help, and sorry for my english ;)

I have 6 BlinkM modules wired together, I tried using your BlinkMTester and shorting the reset pin on the modules not being addressed, but when I cycle the power the addresses are reset to 0x97. Have you seen this before?

Hi There.

Armed with a new AVRISP, I'm going to reflash my 100 BlinkMs with a custom firmware.
The long-term idea is to have a matrix of leds play the "game of life" without external intervention.

The hardest part looks leveraging I2C. I was thinking to tweak Wire.cpp library, but I'm not sure it feasible.

Could you give your opinion on this matter or hand out any pointer to re-implement what the original firmware already does?

Thanks in advance.

-matteo

I'm trying to have several blinkms talk each other, but want to also retain original blinkm functionalities. I'd tweak it and reflash.

How do I run BlinkMSequencer on linux?

I'll ask my question in joke format:

Q. Did you hear about the student who fell madly in love with 2 different light scripts??

A. Everything was perfect until he found out he could only take one to the eeprom!

I would think that if I changed this: byte script_id = 0
to this: byte script_id = 1
I would be able to overwrite script id 1 with a new script, but it doesn't work...which doesn't surprise me since the BlinkM datasheeet indicates that I can only write to id 0. So I make the assumption that I can't readily pimp out oodles of my own custom light scripts and fill up the eeprom.

I see blinkm_nonvol_data.h...which is part of the firmware...so get the idea of how light scripts are stored into the eeprom, but I don't think I have access to modify the BlinkM's eeprom through the Arduino interface. Perhaps I am wrong. I'm not sure.

So my question becomes: Is there method which I can implement to store multiple new light scripts in the BlinkM's eeprom, and if not, is there any plans to update the firmware so people can store more than one light script?

thanks,
brian