
Ask HN: Controlling LEDs through Arduino? - tixocloud
I am building a hardware prototype of a product where I need to control the timing of LED lights. Is the Arduino the easiest way or should I use a regular circuit board? I would eventually like to have it wirelessly pass data to my phone as well.<p>Thanks in advance!
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azeirah
If you have no experience with hardware, Arduino's are fine. I assume you have
some programming experience?

I believe there is an arduino with wi-fi built in. You can also go for a cheap
raspberry pi, they come with linux built-in.

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tixocloud
Yes I do have some programming experience but haven't soldered anything in
years!

Just wonder what the path to production might look like and if an Arduino
would be too expensive just to do basic circuitry work.

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sbierwagen
I have heard tales of woe from people attempting to commercialize products
built from Arduino stacks, (Arduino+third party shields) but you shouldn't run
into too much trouble if you're just using a single board.

~~~
tixocloud
Can I use just a single board to control each of the LED lights to light up
independantly?

It also looks like I'll need a breadboard but in production, I'd like the long
wires to be connected to the LEDs so wondering if I can simulate it without a
breadboard?

~~~
azeirah
> Can I use just a single board to control each of the LED lights to light up
> independantly?

Arduinos typically have a few GPIO ports (ON OFF) that you can control using a
c-like language.

If you need more LEDs than the board supplies, you can extend your board with
for example a shift register or something.

