Intel Edison: Knight Rider

Super easy and awesome Knight Rider lamp!

This is how to make 10 led knight Rider 'KITT' lights.

Now that we are having the nostalgia from my previous project (If not go see my Intel Edison: Custom Doorbell immediately!).

Let's build the light's that was a inspiration to whole world.

Mobile users can find the video here!

Components

You will need a lot of led's. I used 10 and a same amount of resistors 180ohm to 220 ohm should be fine when working with 5 volts.

Then you will need cables, few connector's, a proto breadboard and an Intel Edison (or any Arduino basically).

Cutting the Board

Cut the board to right size, everyting that amuses you the best.

I used a knife to cut the board and snapped the rest of it by hand. The knife helps the board to crack from the right spot.

Test the led's and resistor to the board.

Look the last picture of the connections.

The led's share common anode, witch means that when the output is LOW the led will light up.

By using this method we can ensure that no voltage spices can hit your board since the LED are in reverse direction and won't allow anything through it. Just like a diode would do.

Soldering

Start soldering the board.

And solder.

Aaand when the led's and resistors are done, continue to solder the wires and contacts.

Follow to the next step to see more soldering. ;)

Soldering Wires and Contacts

Solder the wires that will be making the 1/0 data move. Make sure that there is no short circuits on your board.

On the next page you will see the order for the connector.

Almost Done.

Make sure that you have absolutely none short circuits on the board and connect it to the Edison and load a program that will blink the led's. To make that just modify the " blink" example that can be found in Arduino software.

Start Coding.

The code is one of the easiest there is. And there is many variations how to make it. Some like to make long codes. I like the code short...

So make variables for the program.

Note that this code will only work right if you have a common anode setting on your board. If not, the led's will flash just the opposite way. Where one led is not burning and others are. Change int timer = (X) to change the speed of the led's.

int pinArray[] = {2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11};
int count = 0;int timer = 10;

Then for the setup.

Here is the counter for the flashing.

void setup(){
// we make all the declarations at once for (count=0;count<10;count++) { pinMode(pinArray[count], OUTPUT); }}

And looping this back to the 80's

void loop() {
for (count=0;count<10;count++) { digitalWrite(pinArray[count], LOW); delay(timer); digitalWrite(pinArray[count], HIGH); delay(timer); } for (count=9;count>=0;count--) { digitalWrite(pinArray[count], LOW); delay(timer); digitalWrite(pinArray[count], HIGH); delay(timer); }}

Downloads

KnightRider.ino

Done.

I added some zip ties to hold the wires neatly.

Start playing with the settings to make more light shows and basically anything. Choice is yours.

Thanks for reading!

Be sure to follow me if you want more builds.

Happy building's ;)