This page is part of my Model Remodel series of articles.

Since I am replacing most of the lighting inside my Enterprise D partwork model, I thought it would be fun to add the ability to turn the various lights on and off separately and even remotely. I thought about doing this with a few manual switches at first, but the design quickly grew into needing some kind of small programmable microprocessor as a controller (brain). I considered using a Raspberry Pi, but it requires a lot of work to get it going. This led to my decision to use an Arduino.

There is a lot to learn when starting out with Arduino, so I will do my best to break down these ‘lessons’ into their own pages. While I focused on sharing the skills I needed to design the programming for my own Enterprise build, they do not cover everything possible with Arduino.

INTRODUCTION The Arduino Uno Powering an Arduino Uno Input/Output Pins Pulse Width Modulation (PWM)
OUR FIRST SKETCH The Arduino IDE Writing our First Sketch Using Comments The setup() Function The loop() Function Verifying the Sketch Uploading the Sketch
OUR FIRST CIRCUIT Breadboards Jumper Wires The LED & Resistor Wiring It Up
VARIABLES Variable Types Unsigned Variables Constant Variables
IF/ELSE STATEMENTS Comparison Operators
TIMING Using the delay Command Avoiding the delay Command Timing Multiple Events
REMOTE CONTROL The IR Remote Control The IR Receiver Capturing IR Remote Codes Adding IR Remote Control to our sketch Debouncing the IR Signal Using switch/case Statements
CUSTOM FUNCTIONS Why use a Custom Function? Creating a Function Calling a Function Returning a Value with a Function
BOOLEAN STATES Booleans as States Using Booleans to Trigger Events
DIMMING LEDs Resistance Analog Pins PWM
HIGH CURRENT SWITCHING Relays Transistors MOSFETs
PLAYING AUDIO Audio Files Player Hardware AdaFruit DFRobot Speakers Connecting the Player Voltage Dividers Controlling the Player Timing Sounds to Events Pull-Down Resistors
BLUETOOTH CONTROL Classis Bluetooth Bluetooth Low Energy	Coming soon!

Next Arduino Page

INTRODUCTION  – What is an Arduino and how we turn it on?