Great, detailed once again, Matt! this is all new to me so thanks for a beginner's guide to getting started with this if I ever go down this rabbit hole
Wow ... pretty neat Matt, I can see a ton of uses, all I need is time. First up would be controlling my dust collector .... on off and maybe even speed .. next, lights in my shop ... thanks for this ... Colin
The dust collector is on my short list too. Came up with an idea for automated blast gates to go with it. Guess I need to bump that project up the list :)
Matt, great video, I hope there will be more to follow. I like that you kept things simple for those of use that had never even heard of a Particle Photon before now. Looking forward to the next video. Paul / paulsmessyworkshop on RU-vid.
Matt..a little over my head, but I am interested and perhaps some practical applications to show examples of what sounds like an endless list of uses would help. More please! Happy Holidays! Looks like the Xmas tree is the first use for this device. Thankz
Hello Matt! I have a question about how you set up that PSU to provide power to the breadboard. Was that something you altered or can we get something like that. Can you configure the voltage or is that what the voltmeter is for? Great video and I may have to start carrying it on my webstore as we are trying to target the DIY and Maker niche. I don't have much at the moment but I am adding things as they become available. From what I could see on your desk, that was a Diablotek 250 W, but what were those holes in it and the test leads?
Hi Matt, can the WiFi be turned On or Off through some way as I am doing a battery powered application so, I would like the WiFi turned On only when I want to do OTA firmware update.
Yes. There is a WiFi.off() method in the device API. It specifically mentions that you may want to do this, as WiFi consumes the bulk of the power used by a Photon.
Nice video and introduction instruction. I just wish it got the flash program off my LAN rather than a cloud which gets into and through my LAN using my wifi info.
It is possible to setup a private local version of the cloud, but it's both ridiculously complicated and kind of defeats the point of this particular device. Probably best to stick with a standard Arduino if you don't need or want the connectivity. FWIW, your WiFi configuration info isn't sent to the cloud. It's sent directly from the app to the Photon. This is why you have to change WiFi networks on your phone in the middle of the setup. Once the Photon is connected to the network, it makes the connection to the Particle cloud using a key pair.
Hello, Matt good video :) but the concern of MRrwmac is understandable, being obliged to have an active internet connection in order to use your Photon is not convenient at all, Offline code injection should be achieved
As I stated above, it can be. However, the whole point of the Photon is its connectivity. It saves a lot of time and headaches not having to install and maintain the dev environment, manage firmware versions on the MCU, and deal with manually incorporating all the needed libraries from Github. Also, you'll see in some future vids that there is a lot of utility in that connection once the thing is up and running, not just for the development phase. If you really want/prefer/need a totally offline experience then you should choose one of the 100's of other Arduino variants that is programmed using the stock Arduino IDE. I did a video building a pedal board for use with my Mac that demos this. I used an Arduino variant called a "Teensy", and did all the code in the Arduino IDE. No Internet required - at least once you've downloaded all the tools.
I own (5+) and have tried to use Photons, it's frustrating. Their "Baked In Wifi" is not stable and reliable. Ask anyone who know a few things about Photons how many special codes and commands the folks at IO have to fix the bevy of things that go wrong with their WiFi firmware to give you an idea.
I've had UDP issues, but otherwise they've been rock solid for me. Have several that have been running for a couple years now without a disconnect that wasn't cause by a power loss at the router.
Arduino is the 'Klenex' or 'Xerox' of the programmable controller world. It was the brand name of the 1st one that's programmed using this language, but now there are compatible devices made by 100's of companies - all of which still get called an Arduino even though technically they aren't. It's a super easy device to get going with if you ever want to automate something around the house. If you can figure out the wiring diagram for a Corvette - these things will be a piece of cake :)
This is awesome, thanks for posting. I'm a virgin to the Photon/Arduino/Raspberry programming, so forgive me if I ask some dumb questions. I received a Photon from Amazon yesterday, & have to send it back as I cannot get it to connect to any wi-fi network, the Particle app cannot find it. I also purchased some Neopixel LEDs in a string, 50 to a string I think. I have always been intrigued with being able to control these lighting effects like you did with the wreath. So my questions..... 1. You power the LED string & Photon with the same power supply, but the LED power isn't through the Photon? Meaning Power & grnd goes to the Photon & also goes to the LED string, but the "trigger" signal wire goes from the Photon to the LED string? 2. Is the first Pixel always 0, or how are the numbers assigned? Can I "T" into the string of LEDs or do they all have to be in series? Can I light 2 different strings where each string as LEDs assigned 0-50, so when LED(5) is lit, it lights 2 LEDS, one on each string? 3. In a string of 50 LEDs, can I generate a random number in my for loop to illuminate random LEDs in the string, kindof like a strobe effect, or do they need to be triggered in sequence? 4. Can all even numbered LEDs be color changed at the exact moment or is there a delay from the time 0 changes until 50 changes? 5. Is there a function to fade an LED up/down, or does that require a loop to change the brightness & decrease it a bit each time to loop cycles? Thanks.
Getting a Photon connected for the 1st time can be a bit of a bugger. Stick with it. Once you make that 1st connection it sails right along from there. As to your questions: 1. Correct 2. The 1st one in the string is always 0, but the numbers don't reset if you add strings together, so if you have two strings the 1st LED in string number 2 is [50], not a second instance of [0]. 3. You can, but remember that you also need to turn them off so you need to keep track of the numbers for a while as you go along. 4. There is a delay, but it is small. The messages are passed down the line from LED to LED, so the delay is longest to the last LED in the chain, and gets longer as you add more LEDs. 5. It requires a loop. If you look in the FastLED library you'll see functions and examples that are pretty much custom tailored to this task.
Doing it manually (Not installing software on laptop), I get to the point of naming it & it tells me: There was a problem (Photon couldn't be claimed. Possible causes: It did not connect to your Wi-Fi network / The device is part of a product)
Ahah, I got it connected & have been messing with some code to turn on/off leds. I was trying to use a loop to turn on a bunch of LEDs without having to use a line for each LED, but rather the value of the loop in a single line to turn on led 1, then led 2, led 3....., but cant seem to make it work, is that not possible? Instead of a bunch of lines to turn them on: digitalWrite(led1, HIGHT); digitalWrite(led2, HIGH); digitalWrite(led3, HIGH); digitalWrite(led4, HIGH); digitalWrite(led5, HIGH); but rather a loop incrementing a variable, A int a=0; a=a+1; digitalWrite(led(a), HIGH) Doesn't like the above line. Thanks
Looks great,except having to go to a cloud for everything. It may sound strange but I really like my privacy so this will not work for me. But thanks for the video.
HI Matt I m from india pls can you do it on arduino i dont want to waste money since christmas comes once a year after that it is just lying idel everybody is working for 8 hrs and to sit near the comp and do ratt ta tatt tatt ta on a comp find spouse screaming and shouting (it is best way to keep it simple take the code which is freely available and use it And i really give all those guys who sit on comp and take trouble and simple say thank you and god the father son and spirit bless u & Fly; And once again thank u;
