micahstevens / ftrgbled

Arduino library for Freetronics RGBLED module - WS2801 based RGB LED

This is an Arduino library for the Freetronics RGBLED module, based on the WS2801 LED controller chip.

http://www.freetronics.com/products/rgb-led-module

Supported on Arduino 1.0.5 or newer, or Arduino 1.5.4 or newer.

Usage

The library ships with 3 examples which you can find under File -> Examples -> FTRGBLED. Adapting an example is the easiest way to get started.

Include library

At the very top of your sketch, include the library:

#include <FTRGBLED.h>

Declare RGBLEDChain

Near the top of the sketch but after the include line, declare a RGBLEDChain like this:

RGBLEDChain leds(NUM_LEDS, PIN_CKI, PIN_SDI);

NUM_LEDS is the number of LEDs in the chain.

PIN_CKI and PIN_SDI are the pin numbers for the CKI and SDI pins on the module.

Setup section - call begin

In the setup method, call begin() on the RGBLEDChain like this:

void setup() {
    leds.begin();
}

Set colours

To set individual colours, call setLED():

leds.setLED(0, LED_YELLOW);

The first parameter is the LED number (starting from zero.)

The second parameter is the LED colour.The library predefines some constants for colours - LED_WHITE, LED_BLACK, LED_RED, LED_GREEN, LED_YELLOW, LED_VIOLET.

You can also specify a colour as { Red, Green, Blue } values. Either like this:

leds.setLED(0, { 200, 100, 0 });

Or like this:

const FTLEDColour MY_COLOUR = { 200, 100, 0 };
leds.setLED(0, MY_COLOUR);

To set all the LEDs to the same colour, use the setLEDs() method:

leds.setLEDs(LED_GREEN);

Calling setLED and setLEDs doesn't change the colours of the LEDs though. To actually change the colours you have to call update():

leds.update();

This means you can set multiple LEDs to different colours, and then call update() once to save time.

Copyright & License

Copyright (C) 2013 Freetronics Pty Ltd. Released under the GNU Lesser General Public License V3 as described in the LICENSE file.