Showing posts with label LoLshield. Show all posts
Showing posts with label LoLshield. Show all posts

Sunday, January 27, 2013

LoL Shield: first own sketch

Next in LoL Shield history: a sort of "growth simulation":

  1. Place a particle (say: light a LED) at a random place on the shield.
  2. start a new particle at (0, 0).
  3. move this particle randomly; north, south, east or west.
  4. if the particle hits a placed one, fix it at its last free place.
  5. repeat from 2. until (0, 0) is occupied.
  6. then blink the result, clear the screen and start at 1.
If the movement crosses a border then move to the other side. Mathematically spoken: we are on a torus.

First a short video (sorry for the poor quality - it seems that google reduces quality extremely):



And here is the sketch:


/*  growth01 - simulating a sort of growth.
 *
 *  23 Jan 2013   danimath   created
 *
 **********************************************************************/

#include 
boolean used [14][9];      // array of "used" points
int     x, y;              // actual point
int     xold, yold;        // last point

const int BLINKNUM   =  10; // number of blinks
const int BLINKDELAY = 300; // ms; blink speed
const int MOVEDELAY  =  50; // ms; move speed

/* ****************************************************************** */
void setup ()
{
    LedSign::Init ();
    randomSeed (analogRead(0));
    for (int j = 0;   j < 14;   j++)
    {
        for (int k = 0;   k < 9;   k++)
        {
            used [j][k] = false;
        }
    }
    x = random (14);
    y = random (9);
    LedSign::Set (x, y, 1);
    used [x][y] = true;
    x = y = 0;
}

/* ****************************************************************** */

void loop ()
{
    int dir = random (4);
/*
 *  1. light my fire
 *  ================
 */
    for (int j = 0;   j < 14;   j++)
    {
        for (int k = 0;   k < 9;   k++)
        {
                LedSign::Set (j, k, used [j][k]);
        }
    }
/*
 *  2. get next point
 *  =================
 */
    xold = x;
    yold = y;
    switch (dir)
    {
        case 0:
            x--;
            if (x < 0) x = 13;
            break;
        case 1:
            x++;
            if (x > 13) x = 0;
            break;
        case 2:
            y--;
            if (y < 0) y = 8;
            break;
        case 3:
            y++;
            if (y > 8) y = 0;
            break;
    }
/*
 *  3. check, if used
 *  =================
 */
    if (used [x][y])
    {
        used [xold][yold] = true;
        for (int j = 0;   j < BLINKNUM;   j++)
        {
            LedSign::Set (0, 0, 0);
            LedSign::Set (xold, yold, 0);
            delay (MOVEDELAY);
            LedSign::Set (0, 0, 1);
            LedSign::Set (xold, yold, 1);
            delay (MOVEDELAY);
        }
        x = y = 0;
    }
    LedSign::Set (x, y, 1);
    delay (MOVEDELAY);
/*
 *  4. nothing more possible
 *  ========================
 */
    if (used [0][0])
    {
/*
 *      4.1. blink result
 *      -----------------
 */
        for (int i = 0;   i < BLINKNUM;   i++)
        {
            LedSign::Clear (0);
            delay (BLINKDELAY);
            for (int j = 0;   j < 14;   j++)
            {
                for (int k = 0;   k < 9;   k++)
                {
                    LedSign::Set (j, k, used [j][k]);
                }
            }
            delay (3 * BLINKDELAY);
        }
/*
 *      4.2. clear all
 *      --------------
 */
        for (int j = 0;   j < 14;   j++)
        {
            for (int k = 0;   k < 9;   k++)
            {
                used [j][k] = false;
            }
        }
        x = random (14);
        y = random (9);
        LedSign::Set (x, y, 1);
        used [x][y] = true;
        x = y = 0;
    }
}


LoL Shield assembly

For a long time I'm addicted to blinking LEDs, so it was only natural to buy a LoL Shield by Jimmie P. Rogers. I ordered it at Watterott and - as usual - they delivered very quickly. With trembling hands I unpacked the parts - and decided to wait until tremor disappeared. After reading some descriptions of the assembly and watching this recommendable video from Super Awesome Sylvia. I started to solder the 126 LEDs; a good exercise.

Unfortunately all instructions handle 3 mm LEDs; and there is a pitfall with 5 mm LEDs:
the instructions recommend to solder the headers last, and so did I. But two headers (for the digital pins) have to be soldered between the LEDs:





This was a little bit difficult. Thus I recommend to solder the inner headers first and work with the LEDs from this point. Finally solder the headers at the edge (the analogue ones).


Finally I noticed that the solder joints were so high, that they contacted the USB port of the Arduino, so I used a proto shield as a spacer.


Here is a view of the result:



Next I started the example sketches. They worked rather good, but I had some "ghost LEDs" when LED 42 was lit. I suspected a cold soldering spot, so I re-soldered the LED. Everything was fine - for five minutes, then the ghost LEDs reappeared. Fortunately there were six spare LEDs, and I replaced LED 42. Then everything worked fine.

Next I tried the fonttest example, but this did not work. It seems that there is a bug in the library, so that it does not work wit IDE 1.0.1. Lots of research to do.