LED Control

Overview

In this lesson, we are going to go back to controlling an LED without a microcontroller. The point is gain a better understanding of both microcontrollers and LEDs, specifically the idea that a microcontroller is simply setting its pins to 0V and 5V when controlling an LED, and that an LED can be turned on by either 0V or 5V.

Exercise:

  1. Start with the circuit from the previous lesson. That is you should at least have a Metro Mini on your board connected to three LEDs.

  2. Now disconnect end of each of the long jump wires where they connect to the Metro Mini. The other end of the jump wire should remain connected to their respective LEDs.

  3. Now you are going to power the LEDs directly from the power bus. Connect the long jump wire from the LED to power. The LED should light. Note that you can turn the LED on and off by moving this wire from power to ground and back.

  4. Note that in the above circuit connecting the jumpwire to power turns on the LED and connecting the jumpwire to ground turns off the LED. It is possible to rewire your LED circuit so that the LED turns on when the jumpwire is connected to ground and turns off when the jumpwire is connected to ground. Reconfigure your circuit to make it turn on when the jumpwire is connected to ground.

    TEACHER CHECK ___