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1.1.1 Blinking LED¶

Introduction¶

In this project, we will learn how to make a blinking LED by programming. Through your settings, your LED can produce a series of interesting phenomena. Now, go for it.

Required Components¶

In this project, we need the following components.

../_images/blinking_led_list.png

It’s definitely convenient to buy a whole kit, here’s the link:

Name

ITEMS IN THIS KIT

LINK

Raphael Kit

337

Raphael Kit

You can also buy them separately from the links below.

COMPONENT INTRODUCTION

PURCHASE LINK

GPIO Extension Board

BUY

Breadboard

BUY

Jumper Wires

BUY

Resistor

BUY

LED

BUY

Schematic Diagram¶

In this experiment, connect a 220Ω resistor to the anode (the long pin of the LED), then the resistor to 3.3 V, and connect the cathode (the short pin) of the LED to GPIO17 of Raspberry Pi. Therefore, to turn on an LED, we need to make GPIO17 low (0V) level. We can get this phenomenon by programming.

Note

Pin11 refers to the 11th pin of the Raspberry Pi from left to right, and its corresponding wiringPi and BCM pin numbers are shown in the following table.

In the C language related content, we make GPIO0 equivalent to 0 in the wiringPi. Among the Python language related content, BCM 17 is 17 in the BCM column of the following table. At the same time, they are the same as the 11th pin on the Raspberry Pi, Pin 11.

T-Board Name

physical

wiringPi

BCM

GPIO17

Pin 11

0

17
../_images/image48.png

Experimental Procedures¶

Step 1: Build the circuit.

../_images/image49.png

Step 2: Go to the folder of the code.

  1. If you use a screen, you’re recommended to take the following steps.

Go to ~/ and find the folder raphael-kit.

Find C in the folder, right-click on it and select Open in Terminal.

../_images/image50.png

Then a window will pop up as shown below. So now you’ve entered the path of the code 1.1.1_BlinkingLed.c .

../_images/image51.png

In the following projects, we will use command to enter the code file instead of right-clicking. But you can choose the method you prefer.

  1. If you log into the Raspberry Pi remotely, use cd to change directory:

cd ~/raphael-kit/c/1.1.1/

Note

Change directory to the path of the code in this experiment via cd.

In either way, now you are in the folder C. The subsequent procedures based on these two methods are the same. Let’s move on.

Step 3: Compile the code

gcc 1.1.1_BlinkingLed.c -o BlinkingLed -lwiringPi

Note

gcc is GNU Compiler Collection. Here, it functions like compiling the C language file 1.1.1_BlinkingLed.c and outputting an executable file.

In the command, -o means outputting (the character immediately following -o is the filename output after compilation, and an executable named BlinkingLed will generate here) and -lwiringPi is to load the library wiringPi ( l is the abbreviation of library).

Step 4: Run the executable file output in the previous step.

sudo ./BlinkingLed

Note

If it does not work after running, or there is an error prompt: "wiringPi.h: No such file or directory", please refer to Install and Check the WiringPi.

To control the GPIO, you need to run the program, by the command, sudo (superuser do). The command ./ indicates the current directory. The whole command is to run the BlinkingLed in the current directory.

After the code runs, you will see the LED flashing.

If you want to edit the code file 1.1.1_BlinkingLed.c, stop the code and then type the following command to open it:

nano 1.1.1_BlinkingLed.c

Press Ctrl+X to exit. If you have modified the code, there will be a prompt asking whether to save the changes or not. Type in Y (save) or N (don’t save). Then press Enter to exit. Repeat Step 3 and Step 4 to see the effect after modifying.

../_images/image53.png

Code

The program code is shown as follows:

#include <wiringPi.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#define LedPin      0
int main(void)
{
   // When initialize wiring failed, print message to screen
   if(wiringPiSetup() == -1){
      printf("setup wiringPi failed !");
      return 1;
   }
   pinMode(LedPin, OUTPUT);// Set LedPin as output to write value to it.
   while(1){
      // LED on
      digitalWrite(LedPin, LOW);
      printf("...LED on\n");
      delay(500);
      // LED off
      digitalWrite(LedPin, HIGH);
      printf("LED off...\n");
      delay(500);
   }
   return 0;
}

Code Explanation

#include <wiringPi.h>

The hardware drive library is designed for the C language of Raspberry Pi. Adding this library is conducive to the initialization of hardware, and the output of I/O ports, PWM, etc.

#include <stdio.h>

Standard I/O library. The pintf function used for printing the data displayed on the screen is realized by this library. There are many other performance functions for you to explore.

#define LedPin 0

Pin GPIO17 of the T_Extension Board is corresponding to the GPIO0 in wiringPi. Assign GPIO0 to LedPin, LedPin represents GPIO0 in the code later.

if(wiringPiSetup() == -1){
   printf("setup wiringPi failed !");
   return 1;

This initialises wiringPi and assumes that the calling program is going to be using the wiringPi pin numbering scheme.

This function needs to be called with root privileges. When initialize wiring failed, print message to screen. The function return is used to jump out of the current function. Using return in main() function will end the program.

pinMode(LedPin, OUTPUT);

Set LedPin as output to write value to it.

digitalWrite(LedPin, LOW);

Set GPIO0 as 0V (low level). Since the cathode of LED is connected to GPIO0, thus the LED will light up if GPIO0 is set low. On the contrary, set GPIO0 as high level, LED will go out.

printf("...LED off\n");

The printf function is a standard library function and its function prototype is in the header file stdio.h.

The general form of the call is: printf(" format control string ", output table columns). The format control string is used to specify the output format, which is divided into format string and non-format string. The format string starts with % followed by format characters, such as %d for decimal integer output. Unformatted strings are printed as prototypes. What is used here is a non-format string, followed by \n that is a newline character, representing automatic line wrapping after printing a string.

delay(500);

Keeps the current HIGH or LOW state for 500ms.

This is a function that suspends the program for a period of time. And the speed of the program is determined by our hardware. Here we turn on or off the LED. If there is no delay function, the program will run the whole program very fast and continuously loop. So we need the delay function to help us write and debug the program.

return 0;

Usually, it is placed behind the main function, indicating that the function returns 0 on successful execution.

Phenomenon Picture¶

../_images/image54.jpeg