Week 1 - Circuit 1 - Blinking LED

This week’s project was a very basic circuit and code to run that circuit. The purpose of the circuit and code was to create a blinking LED that would turn on for 1 second, then turn off for 1 second and repeat until it was turned off.
The code for this Arduino circuit was as simple as the circuit itself. That is to say, about as simple as it can get. The screenshot below is my version of that code. It is almost identical to the sample code, because there was really no need to make any changes other than cleaning up a few extra spaces.

Here is a picture of the circuit, including the Arduino and Breadboard. As you can see from the image, the circuit was very simple. But, as you might also notice, I made it slightly more complex than necessary for the sake of standardization. I could have eliminated the second white (-) wire by simply connecting the resistor directly from the circuit to the negative power strip on the breadboard. However, I know that other circuits will be too complex to allow for such direct connections, so I chose to get into the habit of connecting this way, instead.

This is the schematic of the circuit. Again, it’s very simple and straightforward.

This is my video of the cirucuit and some of my steps in creating it, as well as the extensions I did. I hope to have better lighting for future videos. This one was somewhat spur of the moment as I had some difficulties, at first, getting the Arduino and my laptop to talk to each other. I’ll explain that more, below.

Struggles with this week’s challenge: The first and biggest challenge I had was getting my Arduino and laptop to play nicely with each other. I had typed out my code, verified it, and saved it. Then, once I had my circuit built on the breadboard, I hooked up my Arduino to my laptop and attempted to upload my code to the Arduino. The IDE said that the Arduino was connected and recognized. However, at the very end of attempting to upload the code, I was presented with an error saying that the computer could not open the device. I tried multiple troubleshooting steps, including re-installing the drivers for the Arduino, with no success. I was beginning to think something had happened to my Arduino since the last time I used it, even though it seems impossible since it is stored in a hard case out of reach of children and animals. Finally, I found something online that suggested checking to see if the ports were correctly identified. When I checked them, they all looked to be correct, but I went ahead and reset them, anyway. Voila! It worked.


One of the biggest things I learned through this challenge is to step back, take a breath and approach from a new angle. Even when things appear to be perfect, and it’s something you’ve done a million times, there can still be something you’re not seeing just because you are too close to the subject.