Introduction

A general purpose class library for use with LEDs. For now only normal, single color, LEDs are supported. A future release will bring classes for RGB and RGBW LEDs.

I would like to call this library lightweight, but I have no clue if that's the case. I think it's not.

Still... it offers a lot of functionality with only a small amount of code needed in a sketch, so why not give it a try?

Background

In a lot of my projects LEDs are used. Not just for indicative purposes, but almost always decorative. The main functionalities I needed are:

• Gamma Correction
• Fading (in and out, but also waving)
• Blinking
• Sparkling
• All of them combined
• Colors (Soon...)

Every project I had to copy/paste the same functionality and most of the times I saw some things that could be done better. Then, when I changed something in the sketch, those changes should also make their way to newer and older projects. This made the choice for a LED library all the more appealing. It was also a good C++ exercise to do so.

So I started writing a simple Arduino library, containing one class that had all the functionality I wanted. In the end it was a cluttered LED class that could sparkle, blink, fade and act as a constant lightsource. This was not a good way to do that, since there was no way to just create a blinker, without having the sparkle functionality.

That's why I started over. This time with a more hierarchical/layered approach. Starting with a GammaLED class, that just has the gamma correction and the basic functionalities such as:

• Setting brightness, increasing, decreasing, correcting and mapping.
• Writing the corrected values to the outputs
• Smoothing the actual output (low pass filter)
• ...

Then I made a fader class that inherits from the LED class, but adds fading functionality. After that, it was time to make a blinker and a sparkler class, which both act as the name suggest. And finally a class that inherits from both the blinker and the sparkler and can act as both.

Applications

Currently, the library is only tested for the ESP8266 using the Arduino IDE, but Arduino board support shall be added soon.

Usage

The usage of the classes in the library is fairly simple. Each class has a header file. So if you want to...

Create a Blinker:

#include <Blinker.h>

Blinker led1 = Blinker("LED1", HWPIN_LED1, GAMMACORRECTION_ON, BRIGHTNESS_TYPE_MIN, BRIGHTNESS_TYPE_MAX);

Use the Blinker:

led1.setHighBrightness(4095); // led1.setBrightness(4095) does the same.
led1.setLowBrightness(0);
led1.setHighTime(1000);
led1.setLowTime(1000);
led1.setOffset(5000);
led2.filter.enable(); // Enable the output filter to create a smoothing effect.
led2.filter.setSmoothing(0.999); // Set the strength of the smoothing effect.
...
led1.start();
...
led1.updateAndWrite(); // Call this in the loop();

Create a Sparkler:

#include <Sparkler.h>

Sparkler led1 = Sparkler("LED1", 5, GAMMACORRECTION_ON, BRIGHTNESS_TYPE_MIN, BRIGHTNESS_TYPE_MAX);

Use a Sparkler:

led1.setBrightness(3000); // Sets the average spark brightness.
led2.setIntensity(1000); // Sets the intensity of the sparks.
led2.setSparkInterval(250); // Sets the interval on which sparks are generated.

led2.filter.enable(); // Enable the output filter to create a smoothing effect.
led2.filter.setSmoothing(0.999); // Set the strength of the smoothing effect.
...
led1.updateAndWrite(); // Call this in the loop();

Create a Fader:

#include <Fader.h>

Fader led1 = Fader("LED1", 5, GAMMACORRECTION_ON, BRIGHTNESS_TYPE_MIN, BRIGHTNESS_TYPE_MAX);

Use a Fader:

// The time given as an argument is the MIN to MAX time. So in case of an 8-bit pwm driver, the time to go from 0 to 255.
// If you are already at a value of 128, the time it will take to go to 255 (difference of 127) is half the time given in the argument.

led1.fadeToValue(1023, 5000); // If the current brightness is 0, fade to a brightness of 1023 within 5000 milliseconds.

led1.fadeToMax(5000); // If the current brightness is 0, fade to maximum brightness within 5000 milliseconds.
led1.fadeToMin(5000); // If the current brightness is 0, fade to minimum brightness within 5000 milliseconds.
led1.fadeToggle(5000); // If the led is lighted, fade to minimum. If it's not, fade to maximum.

led1.fadeWave(5000, 0); // Fade up and down a number of timer. If the second value is 0, it will continue to wave until stopped.

// These callbacks can be used to do some sequencing or other tasks. The function signature needs to be 'void function()'.
setFadeValueReachedCallback(onLED1ValueReached);
setFadeWavingCompleteCallback(onLED1FadeWavingComplete);

...
led1.updateAndWrite(); // Call this in the loop();
...

void onLED1ValueReached() {
	Serial.println("I've reached my final fading value!");
}

void onLED1FadeWavingComplete() {
	Serial.println("I'm done with my waves for today!");
}

Create an UltiLED:

#include <UltiLED.h>

UltiLED led1 = UltiLED("LED1", 5, GAMMACORRECTION_ON, BRIGHTNESS_TYPE_MIN, BRIGHTNESS_TYPE_MAX);

Using an UltiLED:

The UltiLED is a class that can act as any of the above, using the same functions. Additional functions set the operating mode.

led2.setToBlink(BRIGHTNESS_TYPE_MAX, BRIGHTNESS_TYPE_MAX / 2, 1000, 2000);
led2.filter.enable();
led2.filter.setSmoothing(0.999);

led3.setToSpark(1000, 2000, 20);
led3.filter.enable();
led3.filter.setSmoothing(0.999);

led4.setBrightness(BRIGHTNESS_TYPE_MAX);

Class Diagram

Below diagram is an overview of the available classes and their relation from one to another.