Previous Posts:
TI and Würth Elektronik LED RoadTest+ application and un-boxing - Blog 1 - Nov 10
Introduction
It is the highest time to write about my experiences with the LED Road Test +. Its not that I didn't do much, but there were not much results yet. I discussed about possible hardware options for the LEDs, I looked into the Würth website for LEDs, and connecter, I thought about how to get a proper PCB and I installed and tested software tools.
TI BLE Multitool App
To start with the first tool I tested, the TI BLE Multitool App was already on my iPad, used in a previous project. Although the BLE Light Development Kit is not part of my proposed project I would rather give it a try, because it is such a nice toy. Unfortunately I didn't realize this, but the Multitool App stopped working after my iOS 9 update. Luckily I had the LightBlue app installed, no fancy color wheel, but I can send HEX values to the RGBW channels.
Energia
For the serious work of my project I need to program the Launchpad kit. Quite some compilers/IDEs are available. I decided to use Energia, which is an open-source electronics prototyping platform started by Robert Wessels in January of 2012 with the goal to bring the Wiring and Arduino framework to the Texas Instruments MSP430 based LaunchPad. Since I already have quite some experience with Arduino, this looks like a perfect environment for me, especially since the Energia IDE is cross platform and supports on Mac OS, which is my preferred platform. After downloading and installing Energia I detected that it wouldn't start, which was caused by an incompatible Java version. This can possibly be fixed easily, but first I decided to test another great IDE, which is the CCS Cloud (Launch CCS Cloud).
CCS Cloud
The CCS Cloud is an online IDE which supports Wiring API via Energia, TI-RTOS and C/C++ development. After logging in, I had to define my LaunchPad version, install a Safari plugin, and helper software to connect the IDE to the LaunchPad. Everything went fluently and within 15 minutes the red and green led on the LaunchPad flashed alternately, using this code:
/*
Blink
The basic Energia example.
Turns on an LED on for one second, then off for one second, repeatedly.
Change the LED define to blink other LEDs.
Hardware Required:
* LaunchPad with an LED
This example code is in the public domain.
*/
// most launchpads have a red LED
#define LED RED_LED
//see pins_energia.h for more LED definitions
#define LED GREEN_LED
// the setup routine runs once when you press reset:
void setup() {
// initialize the digital pin as an output.
pinMode(LED, OUTPUT);
pinMode(RED_LED, OUTPUT);
}
// the loop routine runs over and over again forever:
void loop() {
digitalWrite(LED, HIGH); // turn the LED on (HIGH is the voltage level)
digitalWrite(RED_LED, LOW); // turn the LED on (HIGH is the voltage level)
delay(1000); // wait for a second
digitalWrite(RED_LED, HIGH); // turn the LED on (HIGH is the voltage level)
digitalWrite(LED, LOW); // turn the LED off by making the voltage LOW
delay(1000); // wait for a second
}
Thats it for now, hopefully next time I can tell more about the hardware setup.
Gerrit.
