Arduino Sketch with millis() instead of delay() 

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Using previousTime = currentTime; will introduce an accumulating error. The time to process the code within the if statement will add to the time and accumulate. For just blinking LEDs or some other none critical stuff, no big deal. But if you simply use: previousTime += interval; You've just gotten rid of the cumulative error.

I have always struggled with this, even with your videos from years ago. I have watched numerous videos and still struggled. This video is simply THE BEST! You have done so well as an experienced programmer to be able to explain to us newby's how this work is such an easy to understand way. I have been copying & pasting other peoples bits of code randomly getting results and as my projects get more complicated, that approach does not work. Well done, you are the best teacher on RU-vid for Arduino. No.1 Numero uno!

This is a great explanation. The visuals really help wrap your head around the concept. Thanks for the vid!

It becomes very easy to learn from you. You make everything looks so simple. Thanks

Thank you for a wholesome explanation! Great stuff!

love the simplicity you bring into the explanation..... i had been reading up on example codes to understand millis function and scratching my head over and over. I wish i had found this video earlier...

Very clear explanation - I like that. I have taught some stuff in my one past life...Good job!

what a Legend ! i wish i would of found your videos earlier! Absolutely the best explanation of things. Thank you Sir!

This is the best "millis()" tutorial I have ever seen. Thanks so much for explaining everything clearly.

You are my favourite teacher. Thanks a bunch 😀

Very clear and simple explanation . Thank you!!

Thanks a lot man! I watched numerous videos, but wasn't able understand the concept of space time along with black holes. But now I'm confident enough to derive E=mc².💪

I like that the if statement works even when the counter overflows so it'll keep going after 49 days and not miss a beat.

When you saved me I really love that tutorial it's actually the best thing I've ever watched in the history of our doing it Tori old and I'm not even being hilarious that's the truth thanks man keep up the good work !

I'm an 'old timer', and after a year of struggling with the theory and even the basic concept of 'millis', I've finally 'got it'! Thank you for the best Arduino 'millis' tutorial, and it's been my good fortune to find it..I look forward to watching more of your videos in future. John.. Bristol.. UK

You make everything look simple . Thanks

The way you show it will usually work nicely. However, the interval at which you trigger your event will be at least eventInterval, but often just a little bit longer. This is because the loop also takes a little time. Sometimes you may want to be more sure that you always trigger your timed event at an 'exact' multiple of 'eventInterval'. In such cases it's better to update your 'previousTime' with the 'eventInterval', like so: previousTime = previousTime + eventInterval;

Great. first time explained, first-time understood. thank you very much

Really a great video.great people behind this Job...The visuals make everything so simple.thanks millions

These lessons are so well done!!

Best explanation ever on millis. Thanks alot bro

enjoying this lessons. motivated to keep moving further. thanks a bunch.

Very Cool!! You come out with this video just in time for me to use millis() to toggle between volts and amps on an OLED display (without using delays, delays that long when added up would have made the loop way too long for this project). It took me a bit to figure out how to write the second section (like this:) (currentTime - previousTime >= interval + interval_1) I added the second interval time so I could set the volts code to display less time than the amps code since that's the one that needs to be read the most, but I got it. I'm sure I will eventually figure out an easier way but it's good for now and I'm proud of it! :-D The most valuable information in your video series is the fact that the timer continues to count up until the microcontroller is reset or turned off and on again. I now also realize that I can run more than one program from the same millis() function. It's kind of like calculating what needs to happen at different times of the day with a certain amount of time for each task. Yeah, I know, probably a screwed up analogy but there it is LOL :-) Until now I thought that the timer reset each time it was called for. Thanks!! Joe

Wow.. That was the greatest tutorial I have ever seen on youtube...Thank you...

😄 The millis code was smart. I love that logic

Excellent explanation and coding, with great visuals 👏

Thanks you make it so easy to learn

You are awesome, I can't wait for the next video! 👍👍

I found your video very helpful. Thank you!

This is a great explanation.

thankyou, I needed this

Great video. Thanks a lot for making this video.

The best explanation ever... the carrot example was just epic... every noob can understand..... thank you so much for the great tutorial.

this is legendary! massive Thanks

Oh you did great. This will help me on the annoying issue between RF transmitter not sending data because pulse sensor eats all the event

Very entertaining channel, love your videos, keep them coming

The best explanation I've ever seen about millis()

Thanks for this great explanation..it really helps a lot...

You really have easily way to explain each point,thanks

Great video! Going to implement it to my project ASAP

why cant every tutorial be like this. Love it best

Very nice and easy to understand video, thanks!

the best tutorial on millis() ever... thanks...

I think Micheal is THE BEST TRAINER out there to learn the basics of programming in Arduino!!! I've spent many hours watching all kinds of Arduino videos before I found Micheal's - Programming Electronics Academy. I signed up and watched ALL of his videos and it was well worth the money!!! I highly recommend it to anyone that is getting into Arduino programming. He is really, really good!!!

This is awesome! the best explanation ever about millis function. Thanks a lot... Poor millis can't catch the carrot XD

GOD BLESS YOU! You saved me from days of suffering! You are my Hero!!!

thankyou so much ,it was a really big help

Simply grand.

Thanks, very clear

Muchas gracias, At last someone took the time to explain this, I really needed it thank you kind GOD of code..

Wow, you're the best!!! thanks!

Tyyyy this was such a good video 😄

Great explanation sir thank you 😁❤

Nice info, well done, thanks for sharing it :)

the best explain tutorial lesson thanks a lot 👍

very informative...thanks a lot...

fantastic video!thank you!

The best lesson!

Thank you, That saved my life ❤

Smoooth animation bro. I love the homey type design, backdrop is really chill. Casually printing ice ice bb to the serial monitor lol. Explained it fantstic with the carrot comparison. Sending money but more importantly encouragment. Your great at this! keep going - seriously God Bless ;) - J. T

Very nice explaination. Thanks

It was very useful information thanks

I think this is good idea if you need to step multiple stepper motors at the same time. When using delay() for moving stepper motors you can only move one stepper motor at a time

Such a nice video 🙂

Great video, thank you. Question, will that code work correctly when millis() overflows and starts counting up from zero?

This is very informative

Sweet explanation :) Thank you

Thank you sir i really appreciate that....😎😎

Hi! I'd like to thank you very much for the excelent explanation! I was struggling a bit with millis() until watched you videos. It saved me a lot of time and helped me to understand why my project wasn't working (that's the best way to learn something, by fixing it's bugs)! Keep on doing this awesome job, man!

Great video

Wow mate thanks it amazing lessons

wow that's awesome and well explained ! The presentation is very nice and clean and understandable ! but... what is it again ? ah, needs to rewind this utube vlog again & again.

Thank you very much Sir... Great Video

First off, thank you for your very informative video. I know this video is a few years old but I just came across it so my apologies for such a late comment. From your video, and from others, I understand that millis() starts as soon as the Arduino starts running and it keeps running, and increasing, as long as the Arduino is up, at least until it reaches its maximum value and restarts. I'm not sure that you actually CAN reset millis() from within code but everyone seems to say you shouldn't. Apparently doing so can break some libraries that rely on it. In order to understand millis() better I made a little project using code similar to yours to blink the built-in LED on and off at a preset interval while displaying current_elapsed_time (read from millis()) and previous_time, something similar to what you did in your code, and everything ran as expected. However, I noticed that every time I closed the serial monitor and reopened it the current_elapsed_time, which should display the current millis() value, returned to its starting value. The LED continues to blink at the proper interval while the monitor is closed, so I know the code is still running properly. Thinking there was a bug in my code I created a new, stripped-down program which only makes a call to millis() and prints the retrieved value to the serial monitor (see code below) and ran my test again. Same behavior. The code calls for the millis() value to be sent to the serial monitor directly - no massaging or assigning to a variable - and every time I close and reopen the serial monitor it appears to reset millis(). Not sure what is happening. Here is the simplified code I used to test: void setup() { Serial.begin(115200); } void loop() { Serial.println(millis()); } The program runs as expected and, as you can see, there is nothing but the call to print the current value of millis() but millis() seems to be affected by the status of the serial monitor window. Is this normal? Am I missing something? 🤔 Appreciate your help on this. Thank you.

What a great video.

Thank you so much!

very interesting, a good teacher

so nicely explain thank you :)

love it

Amazing explanation, great thanks. Thus, there is something I don't manage to understand. If I want a start point not equal to the interval, I mean for example an event to start at 30 seconds, and to be repeated 60 seconds later on. Do I need one more variable to be created? Kind regards.

it was taking me forever to figure out why mine wasn't working, then i found out i had "==" instead of ">=" lol thanks for the very clear and concise explanation!

thank you

great video!!

wow its amazing...

Thank you so much 🤍 + extra points from ice ice baby

thank you very much

One thing that should be added to the code is a trap for when the value of the millis() function rolls over. Consider if your Arduino is being used on a long term basis exceeding the long int value maximum. The user would want a way to handle that condition and continue the event timer. One quick way would be to check if the new millis() time is less than the previous time then the event timer loop can be reset.

extremely helpfull!!!

Very helpfull! , but how it looks when you have a Button with some conditions? Thanks!

haha.. being mean with the carrot and millis() function. love it.

amazing explanationnnnnn

Thanks mate

That actually make sanse,Thanks for the vod.

This detail on the mills() function has been very helpful to me, explains why a program I wrote a few years ago doesn't quite work as expected.

This is great! However, how could i for example programme an event to take readings of from a temperature sensor for 1 minute? do i use debounceDelay?

fantastic

Great video, thanks! One comment though, I think we could also use a modulus operator to manage the event intervals. This would also cause it to run at millis() == 0, but we can use an additional clause to limit this. Perhaps something like: if( currentTime > 0 && currentTime % eventInterval == 0 ) { ...

very nice video

Is it possible to make delay function in separate tab and use millis single line command like delay? For make code more simpler