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  AndyMac • 11/12/2015 at 05:23 • 0 comments

  I wanted to get this entire build done in a few hours. After wasting time trying to lay it out on paper first, I decided to just start throwing things on the table. Luckily a SparkFun box happens to fit an Arduino Uno and battery pack quite nicely. Did I need that much firepower for a few LEDs and a 7 segment display? Probably not, but again, the theme of the build is down-and-dirty. Plus I wanted to try and randomize the display with a random 'universe' of 1 letter and 3 numbers (i.e. C-137).

  Once I had the rough locations laid out the rest of the project followed suit. For cleanliness the wiring looked something like this:

  As with all of my builds I still like to see it working on the breadboard first in case I need to rewire something before installing it. When the button is held down it should cycle through a random series of universes, and the lights will pulse.

  Once it was all assembled, minus the green 'crystal' on top and white color, it looked like this:

  The 'crystal' on top was built of two travel-size liquid containers filled with water and green food coloring. In hindsight I would have liked to do this differently, as it was difficult to seal and looked a bit ugly after I threw every glue in my desk at it. This was installed over an array of 6 LEDs. I would have preferred to fill it with green EL wire, but did not have any handy. The final coating was white duct tape, but should have been spray paint.

  The code is probably not as smooth as it could be.

  /* This is a one afternoon, quick-and-dirty, build of a Rick & Morty portal gun.  Features include:
  -PWM flashing lights on top
  -PWM flashing lights on front
  -Randomly generated universe code of 1 letter, 3 numbers
  
  I kept the front and top lights as separate variables in case I want to do different things with each.
  
  For 7 segment display:
  1 = top
  2 = upper R
  4 = lower R
  8 = bottom
  16 = lower L
  32 = upper L
  64 = middle
  128 = decimal
  
  pick the segments you want and add up the numbers in hex. for instance
  A = 1 + 2 + 4 +16 + 32 + 64 = 119 = 0x77
  P = 1 + 2 + 16 + 32 + 64 =114 = 0x73
  */
  
  // Libraries
  #include "Adafruit_LEDBackpack.h"
  #include "Adafruit_GFX.h"
  #include <Wire.h>
  
  // Pin declarations
  int buttonPin = 2;     //pin for the switch
  // 7 segment Clock = A5
  // 7 segment Data = A4
  int frontLight = 9;    //pin for lights on the front
  int topLight = 10;      //pin for lights on the top
  int letterCount = 20;  //in case you want to add characters
  
  // Variables
  Adafruit_7segment matrix = Adafruit_7segment();
  
  //Character array
  int segmentChar[] = {
    //letters A-J, L, N-U, Y
    0x77, 0x7C, 0x39, 0x5E, 0x79, 0x71, 0x6F, 0x76, 0x30, 0x1E, 0x38, 0x54, 0x3F, 0x73, 0x67, 0x50, 0x6D, 0x78, 0x3E, 0x6E
  };
  
  //Number array
  int numberArray[] = {
    0x3F, 0x06, 0x5B, 0x4F, 0x66, 0x6D, 0x7D, 0x07, 0x7F, 0x67
  };
  
  void setup() {
    matrix.begin(0x70);
    
    //Set all pins  
    pinMode(buttonPin, INPUT);
    pinMode(frontLight, OUTPUT);
    pinMode(topLight, OUTPUT);
    
    //initialize everything to off
    digitalWrite(frontLight, LOW);
    digitalWrite(topLight, LOW);
  }
  
  void loop() {
    int reading = digitalRead(buttonPin);
    float in;    // used to pulse LEDs
    float out;   //used to pulse LEDs
      
    if (reading == HIGH){
        matrix.writeDigitRaw(0, segmentChar[random(letterCount-1)]);
        matrix.writeDigitRaw(1, numberArray[random(9)]);
        matrix.writeDigitRaw(3, numberArray[random(9)]);
        matrix.writeDigitRaw(4, numberArray[random(9)]);
        matrix.writeDisplay();
      for (in = 0; in < 6.283; in = in + 0.001) {
        out = sin(in) * 127.5 + 127.5;
        analogWrite(frontLight, out);
        analogWrite(topLight, out);
      }
    }  
      //wait 1/2 a second, then turn everything off
      delay(500);
      digitalWrite(frontLight, LOW);
      digitalWrite(topLight, LOW);
      matrix.writeDigitRaw(0, 0x0);  // I know this looks stupid, but it is the only way I can figure out
      matrix.writeDigitRaw(1, 0x0);  // how to turn all digits off
      matrix.writeDigitRaw(3, 0x0);
      matrix.writeDigitRaw(4, 0x0);
      matrix.writeDisplay();
  } 

  
  

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