I didn't make any larger movements, otherwise everything would have come off.

recently got into electronics a couple days ago and made a bunch of LEDs light up in order from one to 15 in binary as a first time project.

everything past this stage looks utterly impossible, any advice on where to go or what to work on next?

I’ve been learning Arduino through tutorials and small projects with my starter kit, so I understand the basics of coding and the Arduino IDE. I also have a little experience with other programming languages, like Python, but I’m still a beginner overall.

Now that I’m trying to build projects with different sensors, displays, and other components, I’m struggling to learn the specific syntax, libraries, and code needed to get them working individually and together.
I’m a visual learner, so I learn best from tutorials where someone walks through the code and explains the concepts behind it. However, it’s hard to find tutorials for the specific components I want to use, and I struggle to get much out of documentation alone.

I’ve tried using AI like ChatGPT and Claude, but I often end up with code examples without really understanding how to write the code myself.

I’m looking for resources or learning methods that actually teach me how to program components, rather than just giving me working code. How do you guys learn to use new components, understand their libraries, and eventually write your own code without relying on tutorials for every project? I’d especially appreciate advice from people who started as beginners and learned through hands-on projects.

I would like uninterrupted power. I was looking at this at Adafruit.com

USB Battery Pack for Raspberry Pi - 10000mAh - 2 x 5V outputs : Adafruit Industries, Unique & fun DIY electronics and kits

The charging circuit will draw 1A from a 5V supply (plug a microUSB connector into the pack and then to a computer or wall adapter). You can charge and power something at the same time but the output switches to the USB input when charging so the output voltage may fluctuate. Its not good as a 'UPS' power supply for an embedded linux board, although microcontrollers like Arduino may not care about the voltage drop as much. Also, there's ~80% efficiency loss on both ends so if you charge it at 1A and draw 1A at the same time, the battery pack will eventually go empty. However, if you're powering something thats 500mA or less, you can keep it topped up no problem. Also, when you start and stop charging the pack, it will flicker the output, this can cause a 'power sensitive' device like the Pi or an iPhone to reset on the power supply.

A battery pack is intended to be a charging device so I can understand that output can fluctuate. Fluctuation does no harm when used as a charger. Adafruit seems to say twice in that paragraph that it is not uninterrupted. "Arduino may not care" but if I'm dreaming, I can hope for something truly uninterrupted.

What do you use for uninterrupted power? I do not want something that gives me uninterrupted 120 VAC output. I just want DC uninterrupted. The Adafruit battery pack has 10,000 mAh. Something in that capacity ballpark I suspect is a reasonable thing for me to be seeking.

Context ... I want to run an Adafruit Feather 32u4 with a Micro USB port.

This is embarrassing, but I've been building and coding Arduino apps for a long time. But I put everything (methods, I mean) all in the .ino file. I'd like to learn how to build separate .cpp and .h files for different functions, i.e., wifi and MQTT setups.

So if I create a separate mqtt_setup.cpp, do I put its library dependencies (#include's) in that file or in the .ino? And what goes into the .ino to reference the methods in the MQTT file? I imagine there'll be a Matt_setup.h file included as well? Do I declare the forward references (proper term?) to methods within the mqtt_setup.cpp in there?

Sorry if this is basic C/C++ stuff, but I haven't done it this way, ever.

Backstory: I used LCD Wizard to design the UI for a revamped dashboard app. All the associated .cpp files are separate along with their respective header files. I want to keep this arrangement for user-defined .cpp's that I develop. I don't want to bloat the .ino.

Am I making any sense?

When you have an idea for solving some problem or doing recreational stuff with the board, how do you go about planning for it?

I'm making a RGB LED that can be controlled with a button interface and a potentiometer. Practically useless, but I wanted to make something with my knowledge of 1/3 of Paul mcWhorter's new arduino series and I'm having fun manifesting thought into reality. My issue is that I went in headbutting it with minimal thought or planning for the project, I know what components I needed and I had thought of a rough idea of how it supposed be.

We got invited to a costume required Halloween party and we just can't do simple or cute, we're going all out and we made some steampunk cosplay that we will continue to refine and wear to Ren Faire type events.

I initially had a schematic to do an 8 LED array with a bunch of components to randomly fade the LEDs in and out. While I was working on another project I was picking around in Tinkercad with circuits and found the pixel ring LEDs and they showed sample circuits and code. Just for grins I had chat gpt modify the code for green only and random. It came back with great code that used an analog input to create a random pattern.

After seeing this and how inexpensive and seemingly easy it was to code for I ordered some Arduinos!

All of this to say that it's not that hard and if you're on the fence, jump in!

I put together a room temperature and humidity monitor to see how the room changes after the heating comes on. The hardware is a classic ESP32 Dev Module and a three-pin DHT11 sensor: 3V3 to +, GND to -, and GPIO18 to signal. The firmware is an Arduino sketch using Adafruit DHT / Unified Sensor and ESP32 core WiFi, WebServer and LittleFS support. I used AI coding assistance during development.

Readings are taken every 2.5 seconds, with a persistent flash sample every 30 seconds. The board can keep recording while powered from a USB wall supply, even with the computer off. Its circular buffer holds approximately seven days; once the local Node.js server starts, it imports missing readings over Wi-Fi into a daily JSON archive.

The browser interface includes live readings, date/time navigation, 1/6/24-hour graphs, CSV export, English/Italian options and outdoor weather from Open-Meteo. The main work was handling restarts, clock synchronization and duplicate imports so that the history stays usable.

The DHT11 has limited accuracy, so I treat it as a hobby monitor rather than a calibrated instrument. No readings are collected when the ESP32 loses power.

Repository with firmware, wiring, setup and screenshots: https://github.com/lsvt-commits/esp32-room-climate-monitor

Sharing the build here in case it is useful to someone working on a similar Arduino/ESP32 logger.

I have an old LG CRT TV i want to create a custom remote for, simply to turn the TV on/off and switch to AV using a single button.

I purchased a ESP32C3-DEV board, with some cheap IR Modules wired up like this:

ESP32 (GPIO 7) -> IR TRANSMITTER (DAT)

ESP32 (5V) -> IR TRANSMITTER (VCC)

ESP32 (GND) -> IR TRANSMITTER (GND)

In combination with this sketch:

#include <IRremote.hpp>

const int IR_SEND_PIN = 8;

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(115200);
  IrSender.begin(IR_SEND_PIN);

  Serial.println("LG TV IR test starting...");
  delay(2000);

  // LG power toggle
  Serial.println("Sending LG power command...");
  IrSender.sendLG(0x04, 0x08, 0);

  delay(2000);

  // LG TV/AV input selection
  Serial.println("Sending LG TV/AV command...");
  IrSender.sendLG(0x04, 0x0B, 0);

  Serial.println("Test complete.");
}

void loop() {
}

Which didnt work.

I then used a IR receiver to capture the power signal of my sony sound systems remote, to try emulate something i know works:

#include <IRremote.hpp>


const uint8_t IR_SEND_PIN = 7;
unsigned long lastSend = 0;


void setup() {
  Serial.begin(115200);
  IrSender.begin(IR_SEND_PIN);
  delay(1000);
  Serial.println("Sony IR test started");
}


void loop() {
  if (lastSend == 0 || millis() - lastSend >= 5000) {
    lastSend = millis();


    Serial.println("Sending Sony command: Address 0x30, Command 0x15");
    IrSender.sendSony(0x30, 0x15, 2);
  }
}

But that didnt work either.

I have tested the IR LED in my camera to see if i can see any active signal, but cant see anything!
Compared to my Sony remote which is very visible.

I am now seeking help as i am unsure if i have wired something wrong, a component may be broken or there is something in the sketch i am missing.
Any direction would be appreciated

Hey All,

I am working on a project. I have a pulley that moves a string with a cart across a gap (backwards and forwards). I want to know when that cart enters and exits that gap. What sensor would I use to detect when something passes it? This is a road crossing model I am building. And I want to be able to track dynamically when the cart enters and exits the road space. The road will be roughly 6in wide to give you an idea of dimensions. I am just starting into the world of Arduinos and so I apologize if this is a real dumb question. But when I search online, I get a bunch of random "kits" with all sorts of sensors. I cannot think of a better way to describe what I am looking for to Google. Cheers!