Light up your Space - Workshop guide

About AllThingsTalk

AllThingsTalk is building an Internet of Things cloud platform, used by makers and businesses who are getting into IoT all around the world.

Goal of the workshop

Your goal is to use AllThingsTalk Maker web application to control the LED strips connected to a WiFi device.

Hardware and Software setup

Hardware for the workshop includes:

• NodeMCU (ESP8266) board
• 1 meter of LED strip (60 WS2812B LEDs)
• A regulated power supply
• Micro USB cable

NodeMCU board

For this workshop we’ll be using NodeMCU running on Arduino platform, as it can be easily programmed using the on-board USB port. It has an ESP8266 — an inexpensive WiFi micro-controller which you can use to quickly connect to wireless networks, send and receive data over various protocols, and read and write data from its IO pins.

LED Strip

We’ll be using a strip of 60 WS2812B LEDs. These LEDs are individually-addressable, meaning you can set each to any color you want, and they support Full RGB color spectrum.

Since these are basically the same as Adafruit NeoPixel, we’ll be using NeoPixel library to control the LEDs so we don’t have to worry about protocol details.

Step 1: Connect NodeMCU board and LED strip

• You’ll notice that the NodeMCU is mounted to a breadboard, which enables easier I/O connecting

• Following the diagram, connect the input pins of the prepared LED strip to the corresponding holes in the breadboard:

• Connect the power supply jack to the LED strip jack:

• Connect the power supply to the AC

Step 2**:** Install Arduino IDE and connect your board

• Download and install Arduino IDE to your computer
• Download and install USB to UART bridge drivers

Board configuration needs to be added into Arduino IDE so we can choose the correct one from Tools menu:

• Connect the board with your computer using a micro USB cable
• Open Arduino IDE, go to Preferences and type http://arduino.esp8266.com/stable/package_esp8266com_index.json into the field for Additional Boards Manager URL.

• Select Tools > Board > Boards Manage``r…

• Search for ESP8266, choose version 2.3.0 and install

• Select Tools > Boards > NodeMCU 1.0 (ESP-12E Module)

• In Tools > Port select the port to which the board is connected, you can find this in Device Manager > Ports

Step 3**:** Add AllThingsTalk Arduino SDK and libraries

• Download Arduino SDK and follow the instructions for installation in the readme**.md** file.

• Download and install Adafruit NeoPixel library, for controlling LED strips:

  • In Arduino IDE, go to Sketch > Include library > Manage libraries

  • Search for Adafruit NeoPixel by Adafruit and install the latest version

• Download and install ArduinoJson by Benoit Blanchon, following the previous steps

Step 4**: Create** a device in AllThingsTalk Maker

Create a device in Maker to represent your NodeMCU board:

• Open Maker in your browser

• Sign up to create an account

• Go to Playground

• Create new device via Device tab > +C``ONNECT A DEVICE > WIFI/Lan devices > Your own

• Name your device however you like, and click Connect

• Go to Settings > Authentication to find your Device ID and Device Token; you’ll need to include these in your sketch later, so the cloud can route the traffic to / from your board

• Create a c****olor asset, which you’ll use to control the color of LED strips

  • +NEW ASSET

  • Select Actuator

  • Name the asset color (watch out, name is case sensitive)

  • For setting the Profile, select Advanced tab

  • Paste the Profile type code: { "type": "object", "properties": { "r": { "type": "integer", "minimum": 0, "maximum": 255 }, "g": { "type": "integer", "minimum": 0, "maximum": 255 }, "b": { "type": "integer", "minimum": 0, "maximum": 255 } } }

  • Click Create asset

• To control the LED strip using a graphical interface, you can pin the color control to the pinboard

  • Choose +Create pinboard icon from the top right of the Device page

  • Now you can see the color asset in your pinboard

  • Click on the context menu of the color control (three dots)

  • Select Edit control

  • Select Color picker control and hit OK

  • Select Save icon in the top right part of the Pinboard to save the changes

Run the example sketch

Now that you’re all set, you should try out the example sketch and see those LEDs actually glowing!

• Download the example sketch from GitHub
• Edit the credentials.h file with your Device ID and Device Token which you previously got from the Device Settings in Maker application, and WiFi SSID and Password

• SSID = “startit”

• PASW = “StartitCentar”

• Upload the sketch to the board

• From the Pinboard page in Maker use the color control to test your sketch

  • Click on the color picker

  • Select a color you like

  • Watch the LED strip change the color 🌈

What do I do now?

That’s up to you and your imagination! You can check out NeoPixel Examples for some inspiration, though.