RGB LED Strip Controller

This tutorial will show you how to put together an interactive display of RGB LEDs using three Wireling inputs to change the LED color, the number of LEDs lit up, the position of the illuminated LED segment, and the brightness of the LEDs.

New to Wirelings? Learn more about the Wireling platform!

Making a Wireling

The RGB LED strip is not a Wireling, but with a 0.1" Breakout Wireling, it is easy to make it one! All you need to do is make soldered connections from GND, 3V3, and INT to the matching labeled 0.1" Breakout Wireling.

For this project, we attached wires between the Breakout Wireling and the LED strip. Optionally, you could skip the Breakout Wireling and solder the Wireling cable wires directly to the LED strip.

Step 1: Assembly (Hardware)

Use Wireling Cables to plug your Wirelings into the ports indicated in the table below. (You can change these ports within the included Arduino Sketch using the Wireling.selectPort() function.)

NOTE: Be mindful when inserting Wireling Cables - the connector pins inside the 5-pin connectors on Wirelings can be bent when cables are inserted at an angle.

Wireling Port Assignments Port 0 RGB LED Strip Port 1 Rotary Switch Port 2 Capacitive Touch Slider Port 3 Joystick

Make sure the processor is powered on and connect the hardware to your computer using a Micro USB cable.

Step 2: Software (Setup)

For this project, you will need to download the Wireling library and a few other libraries for the different Wirelings used in the project. Lastly, you will need the Arduino program for the RGB LED Strip controller. All of these libraries and files can be found under attachments below.

To install an Arduino library, check out our Library Installation Help Page.

Make the correct Tools selections for your development board. If unsure, you can double-check the Help page that mentions the Tools selections needed for any TinyCircuits processor.

Step 3: The Code

After downloading the program from the attachments below, unzip the files and open the code in the Arduino IDE. Plug in the appropriate USB cable for your development board of choice (if you haven't already) and upload the code!

Once the program is uploaded, watch the LEDs change as you interact with the input Wirelings:

Port 1: Capacitive Touch - drives the brightness of the LEDs

Port 2: Rotary - drives the color of the LEDs

Port 3: Joystick - drives the position with one direction, and the number of LEDs shown in the other

Any number of LEDs can be present in your project with an LED Strip or string of RGB LED Wirelings, just be sure to specify the quantity via the NUM_LEDS definition in the code.

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