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'BlinkDigits' by Richard Langner, Nov 2024

Bink out numbers on a single LED.

Display any number from 0 to 99999. For example 390 is blinked as

  • 3 brief flashes,
  • 9 brief flashes,
  • 0 (one long flash).

    After each digit there is a brief pause before the next digit is flashed.
    When all digits in your number have been flashed, there is a longer pause, and then it all repeats if you want it to.

How can BlinkDigits improve my project?

  • Use as a heartbeat LED to indicate the status of the program.
  • Indicate an analog reading
  • Indicate a digital counter
  • When connected to wifi, blink out the last 3 digits of the IP address, so you know where to find your device on the network.

How to use BlinkDigits

Example :
flasher1.blink ( D4, LOW, 1883 )

  • D4 is the pin number of the LED (e.g. LED_BUILTIN)
  • LOW (or HIGH) is set to define the level required to turn on the LED
  • 1883 is the number you want to blink (in the range of 0-99999)

    The BlinkDigits funtion returns 'true' when all the digits have been flashed. See examples for why this is useful.

Example code

Here is a simple example which uses one line of code in loop( ) to blink out 23 repeatedly

#include "BlinkDigits.h"
BlinkDigits flasher1;
int ledPin = D4;

void setup() {
	pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);
}

void loop() {
    flasher1.blink(ledPin, LOW, 23);
}

The examples folder has some useful code.

Leading zeros

If you want to blink out leading zeros, for example 023, simply state the number of places you want - using the optional 'width' parameter - in this case 3.

flasher1.blink(ledPin, LOW, myNumber,3);

Customisation

Blinking too fast for you to read?
Here we slow things right down.
flasher1.config(400,1500,800, 5000); // slower timings in milliseconds.

  •  400 : the on/off digit 'flash' times,
  • 1500 : the zero digit's longer 'on' time
  •  800 : the delay between digits
  • 5000 : the delay before repeating the whole number.
  • Defaults are 200, 1000, 500, 3000.

Trouble shooting

  • Eratic timing of blinks : ensure you haven't used blocking code elsewhere in your project, such as delay(200). BlinkDigits relies on fast non-blocking code in loop().

  • LED not blinking : Ensure you have the correct pin for the LED, and it is defined as output.

  • Still not blinking : Ensure the number is between 0 and 99999, and not negative.

  • Wrong number of blinks : do not add your own leading zero in code, as this denotes octal numbers i.e. do not use 023 (19 in octal), simply use 23 instead.