Hi all,
I thought I'd post this as it might be of some interest to users here.
When I built my Arducopter last year I loved the fact that the guys had integrated a system for adding navigation leds that were fully customisable.
Since I started down the Wookong route I have missed these and thought it was time to do something about it. I sat down the other day to try and figure it out.
The Arducopter led code is so embedded in the main code that it wasn't really of use to me so I decided to start from scratch but base it on their method.
Using an Arduino pro mini (perfect since it is so small and light) and a ULN2803 transistor to provide switching power, I wrote a simple piece of code to read the PPM signal coming from an assigned switch on the transmitter.
That ppm is then used to light an array of hobbyking high power leds. As I switch through the positions this allows me to change the lighting configuration. eg. Position one, all lights on, position 2 front arms off (if filming for example), position 3 only front arms on.
By doing a mix on two 3 position switches we can have a total of 9 different configurations.
I am not great at code so I received a lot of help when my code was acting erratically from the fellows over on the Arduino forums. Thanks Guys !
Again the code is very simple but I plan to rewrite it later this week to use interrupts and while loops instead of IF statments.
The posibillities are endless, allowing all sorts of flashing light arrays etc.
There is a video uploading to vimeo at the moment. As soon as it's up I'll link it here.
Anyway I hope this is useful to some.
Eoin
I thought I'd post this as it might be of some interest to users here.
When I built my Arducopter last year I loved the fact that the guys had integrated a system for adding navigation leds that were fully customisable.
Since I started down the Wookong route I have missed these and thought it was time to do something about it. I sat down the other day to try and figure it out.
The Arducopter led code is so embedded in the main code that it wasn't really of use to me so I decided to start from scratch but base it on their method.
Using an Arduino pro mini (perfect since it is so small and light) and a ULN2803 transistor to provide switching power, I wrote a simple piece of code to read the PPM signal coming from an assigned switch on the transmitter.
That ppm is then used to light an array of hobbyking high power leds. As I switch through the positions this allows me to change the lighting configuration. eg. Position one, all lights on, position 2 front arms off (if filming for example), position 3 only front arms on.
By doing a mix on two 3 position switches we can have a total of 9 different configurations.
I am not great at code so I received a lot of help when my code was acting erratically from the fellows over on the Arduino forums. Thanks Guys !
Again the code is very simple but I plan to rewrite it later this week to use interrupts and while loops instead of IF statments.
The posibillities are endless, allowing all sorts of flashing light arrays etc.
There is a video uploading to vimeo at the moment. As soon as it's up I'll link it here.
Anyway I hope this is useful to some.
Eoin
