How to turn on and off a led light with Arduino from scratch? step by step guide

While it is true, a LED is defined as a light-emitting diode device or a particular type of diode that provides light when passed through by an electric current. Thus, the union of two semiconductor materials with different doping. Whereby, Typically, they are used as indicators in lighting and in many devices.

On the other hand, when develop projects based on Arduinousually use LED lights for improve the functioning of systems and achieve the desired result. Taking into account that, fortunately, Arduino is an open source platform that allows extend its functionalities thanks to the connection of other elements (such as, for example, an LED).

Now, at the time of make use of LED lights for Arduino projectsit is essential to know how can these be turned on and off from scratch so that it can show correct operation. For this reason, in this post, we will teach you each step to follow to turn on and off an LED light with Arduinolike the best kits out there to use RGB LED lights.

Learn step by step how to turn on and off a Led light with Arduino

Although many fans of Arduino suppose to use, turn an LED light on and off in your projects built with such plates, it is difficult. In fact, it’s not complicated and therefore, without the need for advanced knowledge, anyone can do it. However, in order to do it correctly, it is essential to know each step to follow when implementing this process.

Therefore, below, we explain step by step what you have to do to turn on and/or turn off an LED from scratch with Arduino:

Choose the LED to use

Currently on the market There is a wide range of LEDs available. (both the most common of small power as well as those of great power). So, the users They have many alternatives to choose from.depending on your requirements to build the project.

In this sense, if you opt for a high power LEDNaturally, these require additional power stages or drivers when turning them on from an automaton or arduino board. While, if you choose small power LED, everything will be simpler and you will even be able to save more money. Assessing that, the most common are the traditional 3mm or 5mm LED packages.

Apart from that, it is also possible to get Transparent LEDs and opaque LEDs. Which are basically characterized by their ability to light up. Well, the opaque LEDs have been designed to turn on by themselves and, instead, the transparent LEDs They are designed to illuminate a certain area.

On the other hand, other types of leds that are found, are those that have different angles. Whereas, those who have wider angles, are characterized by illuminating a large area and concentrating a smaller amount of light forward. While, the LEDs with a smaller illumination anglehave a narrower beam and only concentrate the light in a narrow area.

Calculate the value of the resistor

In order to carry out a quality assembly, it is necessary to use a resistor that limit the amount of current flowing through the diode. Since otherwise a large current may be generated which will destroy the diode.

Apart from that, if the resistor is not placed, the system can only have two unusual states:

• The LED does not lightif fed to a undervoltage to forward bias voltage (You).
• The LED breaksif fed to a top tension a You.

However, it is also essential calculate the value of the resistor needed to power an LED. To do it correctly, it is ideal to connect three parameters that are: The supply voltage (VDC), the forward bias voltage of the LED (You) and the rated current of the LED (In).

After that, you can compute the value of the resistor which, luckily, is easy. Whereas, the voltage that the LED withstands is the difference between the applied voltage and the forward bias voltage of the LED. Additionally, it must apply Ohm’s law with the value of the nominal intensity of LED and in this way, the value of the resulting resistance will be obtained.

At this point, you must take into account that, the commercial resistances usually have normalized values and because of it, surely you will not find a resistance with the exact digit that you have obtained after the calculation. Therefore, in this case, we recommend choose the normalized resistance higher than the calculated value in order to ensure that the current is less than the nominal.

Assemble the circuit

Third, it’s time to make the electrical connection. To do this, start by placing the previously calculated resistor in series with the LED and then connect the anode to pin 13 of the Arduino board you prefer to use. Whereas, the cathode of said LED will have to place it to ground or “ground”.

In addition to that, for the assembly, a Protoboard is used that refers to a board that has holes electrically connected to each other, following line patterns. By means of this, it is possible to add electronic components and cables for the construction of prototypes of electronic circuits and similar systems.

Thus, the breadboard it will help to insert the LED and install the circuit by wires. With this, it only remains to develop the code in the Arduino-IDE in order to establish the correct operation of the LED light to turn on and off with Arduino.

Use the Arduino IDE to code the circuit

Lastly, you have to make use of Arduino IDE to fix the correct operation of your new system. So start with access the “Tools” drop-down menu and in the option “License plate”proceed to select the card Arduino that you are using (One, Elder brotherMega, etc).

Also, in Port”it is necessary to choose the USB port in which the board will be connected Arduino with the computer. Once you carry out the steps mentioned above, you need to take into account other important factors to get the circuit coded as it should be.

Among these factors are:

• Declare the necessary variables. Generally, constant type variables are used, which are those that do not change their value. after they have been defined. To do this, use the “const” command and if it is an integer, use the “int” command as well. Also, you have to set its name and assign the value 13 to it in the code (if the anode was connected to pin 13 on the board).
• Defines the type of variable. Either “entry” or “exit”through “voidsetup()” and to find out what this command contains, use the brace symbols ({,}). Considering that, inside the square bracket, it can be declared that the variable LED is output with the command “pinMode(LED, OUTPUT);”.
• Develop the code inside the void loop() command. Internally, in the bracket you use, you have to set the instructions that the Arduino will execute continuously.
• Turn on the LED with the command “digitalWrite”. Being this command, the one in charge of sending the digital signal to the pin indicated at the beginning of the process. In such a case, to turn on the pin, HIGH is indicated and therefore, the pertinent code to use is “digitalWrite(LED, HIGH)”. Also, the delay command is used in order to delay the time until the execution of the next instruction.
• Turns off the LED with a low signal LOW. Now, to get the LED off, you’ll need to give it a low signal LOW via the digitalWrite command. In such a case, it is necessary make use of “digitalWrite(LED,LOW)” and the delay command should also be used.

Get to know the best Arduino Kits to work with RGB LED lights

Fortunately, when working with Arduinoamateurs and professionals have different solutions at hand that They facilitate the construction of their projects. With this, we refer to the arduino kits that are available in the market and provide different elements for increase the functionality of the various models of existing panels.

So, in order for you to have much more simplicity when it comes to working with RGB LED lights in conjunction with Arduino, here we show you some of the best kits that you can buy for that:

Keyestudio KS-177 Colorduino Arduino 4x4x4 RGB LED Cube Kit

Is about a kit designed by the famous brand Keyestudio which has a price of around 60 euros. Basically, in it you can get an RGB LED with an ATMega328P chipset which has 2.54 connectors and operates under an I2C interface. Added to this, it includes a microcontroller, an acrylic frame, a set of LED framesa set of fixings and a UARTFT232 module.

Apart from that, also contains a 10-pin header, a 1 meter USB cable, a soldering guide and a general instruction manual. Among other details, it should be noted that its operating temperature is in a range between -40°C to 85°C. In addition to this, the transmission voltage is between 7 and 12Vit is a kit that requires soldering and its specific model is the KS-177.

Keystudio SuperKit KS0078

It ranks as one of the best kits out there for gaming enthusiasts. Arduino. Since, by default, includes a total of 32 projects They range from the simplest to the most complex and have detailed tutorials. In addition to this, it is characterized by provide large capacity functional modules (such as: RFID, humidity and temperature module). In addition to that, the present kit offers one RGB LED, 5 red LEDs, 5 blue LEDs and 5 yellow LEDs, just like an 8x8x1 LED matrix.

It also contains 4 large button switches, one active and one passive buzzer, more than 15 resistors of different types, an IR remote control, a servo motor, an IR infrared receiver, a stepper motor, various modules (stepper driver, joystick, relay, etc.). Even, has a PIR motion sensoran HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensor, a gas sensor, a DHT11 temperature and humidity sensor, one LM35 temperature sensor and a soil moisture sensor.

Elego Robotlinking

This has been considered one of the most relevant starter kits of all, in view of the different types of projects that it facilitates. Taking into account that it allows working with RGB LED lights, since it contains these elements and, in addition, provides 25 LED units of different shades (white, red, green, yellow and blue). Among other details, offers an Arduino Uno R3 boardan extension board containing breadboard and LCD1602 display without backlight.

Among other elements, this kit, which costs approximately 30 eurosalso contains a USB cable, 65 jumper cables, a power adapter, a gyroscopea 4-pin DuPont line (female to female), one HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensoran ultrasonic sensor bracket, a thermistor, a single path relay module, a potentiometer, a remote controller, and more.

Arduino Smraza Kit

Has two Arduino boards (UNO and Mega), so it stands out as an Arduino kit capable of building different Arduino-based projects, regardless of their level of complexity. In addition to this, includes an RGB LED, along with 15 units of LEDs between green, yellow and red colors. It also provides passive and active buzzers, a USB cable, 65 jumper wires, and 30 resistors.

Additionally, with the Ruiye Arduino Kit, you can have at hand a potentiometer, an infrared head, one HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensorone HC-SR501 PIR motion sensor module, one sound sensor module, a temperature and humidity sensor module. Like, an IR remote control, a digital tube, a driver board, a 16-button matrix keyboard module, etc. All this, for a total price of 30 euros, approximately.

Arduino Kit – Newest RFID Starter

To learn how to turn an LED light on and off with Arduino from scratch, it is also appropriate to make use of this Arduino kit, which mainly stands out for providing an Arduino UNO R3 board. In addition to that, it has a total of 15 LEDs (5 yellow, 5 red and 5 green), it has an LCD module and an RFID module, it contains a total of 5 resistors and more than 10 resistors.

Among other details, it contains a voice detector, a joystick, a servomotor, a humidity sensor modulea DS1302 clock module, a numeric keypad module, one LM35 temperature sensor and an adjustable potentiometer. Additionally, in this kit, you can find a USB cable, a real time clocka digital control, 4 digital tubes, an infrared receiver, three photo resistors, etc.