Arduino Library Installation

1. Open the Arduino IDE.
2. Select Tools > Manage Libraries.
3. Search for “CheerLights” and click “install”.

CheerLights Arduino Methods

• begin(const char* ssid, const char* password): Initialize the library with your WiFi credentials to let the library handle the WiFi connection.
• begin(): Initialize the library without WiFi credentials (use this to manually connect to the WiFi network and manage the WiFi connection outside the library).
• reconnect(): Reconnect to the WiFi network.
• isConnected(): Returns a boolean indicating whether the library is connected to the WiFi network.
• getCurrentColor(): Get the current CheerLights color from ThingSpeak channel 1417. Returns a pointer to a constant char array.
• currentColorName(): The current CheerLights color name (e.g., “red”). Returns a pointer to a constant char array.
• currentColorHex(): The current CheerLights color as a hex value (e.g., 0xFF0000). Returns a uint32_t.
• currentRed(), currentGreen(), currentBlue(): The RGB values for the current CheerLights color (e.g., 255, 0, 0). Returns a uint8_t.
• currentHue(), currentSaturation(), currentValue(): The HSV values for the current CheerLights color (e.g. 0, 255, 255). Returns a uint16_t for hue and uint8_t for saturation and value.
• hasColorChanged(): Returns a boolean indicating whether the current CheerLights color has changed since the last call to this method.

CheerLights Projects

Now, that you know about the Arduino library for CheerLights, you might be thinking about what you can do with it. CheerLights is a global network of synchronized lights. The lights are all set to the same color. Anyone can change the color by changing it on the CheerLights Discord Server and other social networks like Mastodon and BlueSky.

Get inspired by taking a look at the build gallery at the CheerLights website.

Twitter/X

According to my own History of the CheerLights Project, I created this project around the idea that anyone on Twitter, ahem, X, could change everyone’s lights. Twitter made the most sense. It was open and had a global reach. And the bonus was that followers of people who joined the project would see the tweets, which caused some of them to join the project. It was a nice, virtuous circle that fueled the growth of CheerLights year over year. 2022 was the biggest year for the project, just hitting its peak at the same time Twitter started to crack. The API access that we have had for over 12 years was cut off, users moved to decentralized platforms, and X’s relevance has been in constant question. Don’t get me wrong. I will always have a special place in my heart for Twitter. I can’t unwind Twitter’s on my professional growth over the last 15 years.

Discord

The CheerLights community got together last year and created a Discord server bot and even released the bot’s source code on GitHub. We did this to increase the number of ways to control the CheerLights network, but as it turned out, this is now the primary way to control CheerLights. Hundreds of our users moved over to the Discord server from Twitter/X. In some ways, Discord is way better. I love being able to chat in real-time with other people who are building CheerLights. A lot of people use Discord. And Discord is constantly evolving and keeping up with the trends by adding admin and community features. In other ways, it is not ideal for CheerLights. Discord servers are not easily discoverable. You have to be in the know. It is hard to attract new users since new users don’t see public mentions of the project. But I am not aiming for perfection. I am aiming for a path forward to keep the project growing. Discord is where we are now. Join us.

How can you help?

Since our Discord server is hidden from public view, we could use your help by making CheerLights discoverable. If you share your project on your blog or social channels, include a link to the Discord server invitation. H

CheerLights Discord Server Invitation Link: https://cheerlights.com/discord

Thank you to everyone who has helped build and grow this project over the last 12 years. This is always my favorite time of year getting to see the creative ways CheerLights gets used and how it enables learning of core IoT concepts.

CheerLights is a fun way to get started with IoT, microcontrollers, and LED lights. If you know how to make CheerLights work, you can build some other awesome IoT projects. CheerLights is a great project to get people interested in IoT. It’s often used as an “Hello, World” project for the Internet of Things, and what you learn can be applied to other project ideas.

To make a Halloween-inspired project, you can take the CheerLights color and illuminate a pumpkin or even a… skull from Pimoroni.

Check out other Halloween CheerLights projects over at the CheerLights blog. Have fun with the idea, build something spooky, and help spread the… fear.

CheerLights

CheerLights is an “Internet of Things” project I created in 2011 to help teach people IoT concepts. I consider it a “Hello, World” project to learn IoT protocols, microcontroller programming, and LED light control. CheerLights is a global network of synchronized colored lights. Everyone subscribes to the latest CheerLights color, which sets their lights to the same color. The color is set on the CheerLights Discord Server by anyone.

Apps

SkyStream: Track Bluesky Hashtags

IoT Debugger: Explore IoT Data

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Head over to chat.openai.com, sign in, and select Code Interpreter.

ThingSpeak enables millions of IoT devices to log data to the MathWorks Cloud. The data can be easily exported using MATLAB and ThingSpeak data feed API. ChatGPT Code Interpreter can work with CSV files and ThingSpeak also generates CSV files of data.

Use ChatGPT Code Interpreter to Analyze Traffic Data

One of the most popular IoT projects that we published is the ability to analyze traffic data using a webcam and a Raspberry Pi. We generated an algorithm using Simulink to detect cars and their direction. Simulink exported the car detection model and runs directly on the Raspberry Pi.

The car counter data is being stored in real-time using ThingSpeak Channel #38629. The channel is public so anyone can use the data to learn IoT data analytics. Download the most recent data by clicking “Export recent data” and selecting CSV. This will download a CSV file that we can upload to ChatGPT Code Interpreter.

Now, let’s upload the data to ChatGPT.

Tell ChatGPT that “Field 1 Data is the Density of Westbound Cars and Field 2 Data is the Density of Eastbound Cars”.

Now, you can ask ChatGPT any questions or requests that you have about the IoT using natural language. You can ask it for ideas on how to interpret the data or provide suggestions on visualizations and plots. I asked ChatGPT to provide some interesting visualizations for the east and west traffic. I got back some suggestions.

1. Histograms: These can help to understand the distribution of the traffic densities. We can create separate histograms for eastbound and westbound traffic densities.
2. Box Plots: These can provide statistical insights into the traffic densities. A box plot can show the median, quartiles, and potential outliers in the data.
3. Hourly averages: By grouping the data by hour of the day, we can identify patterns that occur on an hourly basis. For instance, we might find that traffic is consistently higher during certain hours of the day.
4. Day of the week patterns: Similarly, by grouping the data by day of the week, we can identify patterns that occur on specific days. For instance, traffic might be higher on weekdays compared to weekends.

I then asked ChatGPT to compare east and west traffic for the past three hours.

I wasn’t too happy with the plot. So, I asked it to smooth data and use distinctive colors for the lines.

This plot turned out well and I was able to understand the results. Traffic is normally bad in Metro West Boston in the morning then settles down a bit and then spikes around lunch time. You can see the spike if you follow the Westbound Traffic blue line past 11:30. Neat.

Observations

• I have been using ChatGPT Code Interpreter since the alpha version. Right now, you are limited to 25 queries with the GPT-4 model over a three-hour period. It runs out pretty quickly and then you wait for a while to try again.
• Traffic has been extremely high to ChatGPT Code Interpreter so many requests need to be resent.
• Exploring new analytics and visualizations using natural language is a game changer. It is a fun way to learn other ways to explore the data without having to write up bunch of scratch code. It’s nice to try before you commit to writing the code.
• Since this is Generative AI through the ChatGPT interface, the model temperature is set to 1. This is good for creative solutions but not great for reproducibility. I never get the same results following the same process. You must learn to be a little flexible, loosen up your expectations, and learn how to guide ChatGPT Code Interpreter towards the results that your seeking.

Are you exploring ChatGPT Code Interpreter? Share what you have learned on our Discord Server.

ThingSpeak is an Internet of Things (IoT) platform that allows you to collect, analyze, and act on data from sensors and other IoT devices. The platform provides a web-based interface for users to create and manage channels, which are virtual locations where data from sensors and other devices can be collected and analyzed using the built-in MATLAB analytics app.

With ThingSpeak, you can visualize your data in real-time, generate alerts and notifications based on pre-defined thresholds, and even automate actions based on specific conditions. The platform also includes built-in integrations with popular IoT hardware platforms, such as Arduino and Raspberry Pi, making it easy to connect your devices to the internet and start collecting data.

Top 10 IoT Project Ideas for ThingSpeak

1. Weather Station: Build a weather station using a microcontroller such as Arduino or Raspberry Pi that collects data on temperature, humidity, and air pressure, and sends it to ThingSpeak for real-time monitoring and analysis.
2. Home Automation: Use ThingSpeak to automate your home by controlling lights, fans, and other appliances based on sensor data, such as motion, temperature, or light levels.
3. Smart Agriculture: Monitor soil moisture, temperature, and other environmental variables to optimize crop growth and water usage, using ThingSpeak to collect and analyze the data.
4. Water Quality Monitoring: Monitor water quality in lakes, rivers, and other bodies of water using sensors to collect data on pH, temperature, and other parameters, and then use ThingSpeak to analyze the data and generate alerts for unsafe conditions.
5. Smart Parking: Use ThingSpeak to monitor parking spots and guide drivers to available spots using sensors and real-time data analysis.
6. Industrial Automation: Monitor machine data in a factory or other industrial setting to detect anomalies and predict equipment failures, using ThingSpeak to collect and analyze the data.
7. Healthcare Monitoring: Use ThingSpeak to monitor patients’ health data, such as heart rate, blood pressure, and oxygen levels, in real-time and alert healthcare professionals of any critical changes.
8. Air Quality Monitoring: Use ThingSpeak to collect data on air quality, including particulate matter and pollutants, and generate alerts and visualizations for high-risk areas.
9. Smart Energy: Monitor energy usage in homes or businesses and automatically adjust consumption based on sensor data, such as occupancy or sunlight levels.
10. Smart City: Use ThingSpeak to monitor and optimize traffic flow, waste management, and other city services based on sensor data from a network of IoT devices.

Subscribe to the About Things blog for more IoT news, tips, and projects. If you need help or want to share ideas, connect with me and the community on our Quandary Discord Server.

The Lovebox is an internet-connected device that displays messages that you write using their mobile app (for iOS and Android). Here’s what it looked like on my app. I got a flood of hearts on my screen when Becky acknowledged the receipt of my message.

The Lovebox rotates the heart on the front to tell the recipient that there is a message waiting. They open the lid to see the message. The device is sitting comfortably in my wife’s office. I love the idea of being able to send a notification to her without it being a text message.

The idea of the Lovebox is simple, but it is perfectly executed. I was quite impressed with the mobile app, the setup experience, and its utility. Love is all over every aspect of this device and system. Check it out on the Lovebox website.  C’est si bon.

The Idea

I want a light that turns on when my webcam turns on. I want the light to turn off when my camera turns off. The idea is that my camera is on when I am in an online meeting. The light is a good indicator to everyone, including myself, that I am in a meeting.

The System

In order to turn a light on and off, I need a script that monitors my webcam for activity. This script will then send the status of my webcam to ThingSpeak, a cloud IoT platform that allows you to save and retrieve sensor data. Then, the on-air light controller will read the data from ThingSpeak and turn the light on if my camera is on.

The Parts

I was able to find everything you need on Amazon to build this project.

• On Air sign
• ESP32 board
• ESP32 screw terminal board
• LED light strip

Here are some notes about these parts.

• You can use any sign that you want to light up. I chose this one since it was $15 US and looks great. It also includes a Micro USB cable that you can use for the ESP32 device.
• Screw terminals make this project a solder-free project. Some people who wrote me said that soldering was a barrier to getting started. I want this to be accessible to as many makers as possible. Screw terminals offer a quick way to break out the pins of the ESP32 board and easily connect wires.
• Only certain styles of the ESP32 board work with the screw terminals. The terminals are for the 38-pin version of the HiLetgo ESP-WROOM-32 ESP32 dev board. The two parts that I linked to on Amazon will fit together perfectly. Other ESP32 boards might not work with the screw terminal expansion board.

ThingSpeak Setup

ThingSpeak is an IoT service hosted by MathWorks. It is focused on being easy to collect data and then retrieve that data. We are going to leverage that core functionality for this project. ThingSpeak stores data in a channel and each channel has eight fields.

Visit ThingSpeak.com and Sign Up for an account. This will just take a minute and user accounts are free. Once you have a user account, you need to create a channel. ThingSpeak channels are where data gets stored. Create a new channel by selecting Channels, My Channels, and then New Channel. Name the channel, “On Air Light” and name Field 1, “Webcam State”. Click “Save Channel” at the bottom to finish the process.

Click API Keys and note your write API key and read API key. The write API key will be used by the code to track your webcam state. The read API key will be used to turn on or off the light based on the webcam state.

Track Webcam State

I wrote a Python script that uses OpenCV to detect if the camera is in use or not. It sends a “1” to field1 of the ThingSpeak Channel if the camera is in use. It sends a 0 if the camera is not in use. Just run this code on a periodic basis to track the state of your webcam.

The code to track my webcam state and upload the state to ThingSpeak is available on GitHub. Update the code with your ThingSpeak Channel’s write API key.

Most of the magic is here:

def returnWebcamStatus(webcamIndex):

    webcam = cv2.VideoCapture(webcamIndex, cv2.CAP_DSHOW)

    if webcam.isOpened():
        webcam.release()
        return True #Webcam not in use
    else:
        return False #Webcam in use

Assembly

Get your parts together and get ready to put everything together. Take your time and step through. There is no soldering, just some connections to be made on a set of screw terminals. You will need cutters, a small screwdriver, and some tape to complete the assembly.

Connect the ESP32 board to the SCrew Terminal Board

Make sure to get the right orientation of the boards together. The 5V pins should line up and the USB part should be pointing down.

Cut Off the Out Connector from the LED Strip

We can use the connector on the out side of the LED strip. Cut this off and strip back some of the insulation. We will use this connector for the screw terminals.

Connect the Connector to the Screw Terminal Board

Connect the red wire to the 5v terminal. Connect the green wire to P13. Connect the white wire to GND.

Connect the LED Strip to the Connector

Program the ESP32

Using the Micro USB cable that comes with the On Air Light, connect the ESP32 to your computer.

The code that the Arduino IDE uses is called a “sketch” – this is just a short program that the device runs over and over. In this project, we are going to have the code that checks the ThingSpeak channel for the webcam status and sets the LED strip to either on or off. Copy the example code to your Arduino IDE and change some of the defaults to match your Wi-Fi network and ThingSpeak settings.

Once everything is set, click Sketch and then Upload. This will take the code and program the ESP32 with it. It takes a minute, so be patient. If anything goes wrong, make sure that you have the right board settings and that your “Port” matches what your laptop thinks the port is.

Open the On Air Light

The housing of the On Air light is held together by several tabs. Take your screwdriver and gently twist in each opening. It will come apart without damage. Just take your time and open each tab.

Remove the Existing LED Board

Remove the existing board on the inside of the light. Trim the wires off close to the circuit board so you have some length to work with.

Connect the USB Wires to the Board

Connect the red wire to the 5v screw terminal. Connect the black wire to the GND screw terminal. You will have two wires in each. I used some tape to make sure that the screw terminal board doesn’t move around.

Snap It All Back Together

Carefully snap the two halves back together.

Profit.

Enjoy your On Air light. Maybe this will remind you or someone in your family that you actually work when you are home.

My goal was to show you the steps as clearly as possible and share the code. I hope that you can reproduce this as easily as possible. If you need help leave a comment or join me on my new Discord server.

The SIM800L module is a GSM/GPRS module that can be used to connect to the internet via a cellular network. It has a built-in SIM card slot and can be used to send and receive data over a cellular network connection instead of WI-Fi. ThingSpeak is an IoT platform that allows you to send and receive data from devices over the internet.

In this tutorial, we will use the SIM800L module and ThingSpeak’s API to send data from an Arduino board to be stored in the cloud.

Hardware

To complete this tutorial, you will need the following hardware:

• Arduino board
• SIM800L module

Setting up the SIM800L module

First, let’s set up the SIM800L module. To use the SIM800L module with your Arduino board, you’ll need to connect it to the appropriate pins on the Arduino. The SIM800L module has a number of different pins, including power pins, serial communication pins, and control pins. You’ll need to consult the documentation for your particular module to determine which pins to use.

Once you have the SIM800L module connected to your Arduino board, you’ll need to use AT commands to communicate with it. AT commands are simple text-based commands that are used to control the module and send and receive data. Some common AT commands include AT+CPIN, which is used to enter the SIM card PIN number, and AT+CREG, which is used to check the registration status of the module.

To connect to the internet using the SIM800L module, you’ll need to attach it to the GPRS service and get an IP address. You can do this using the following AT commands:

sendATCommand("AT+CFUN=1", 2000, DEBUG); // Enable full functionality
sendATCommand("AT+CIPMUX=0", 1000, DEBUG); // Set single connection mode
sendATCommand("AT+CGATT=1", 1000, DEBUG); // Attach to GPRS service
sendATCommand("AT+SAPBR=3,1,\"CONTYPE\",\"GPRS\"", 1000, DEBUG); // Set connection type to GPRS
sendATCommand("AT+SAPBR=3,1,\"APN\",\"YOUR_APN\"", 1000, DEBUG); // Set APN
sendATCommand("AT+SAPBR=1,1", 1000, DEBUG); // Enable GPRS
sendATCommand("AT+SAPBR=2,1", 1000, DEBUG); // Get IP address

Setting up ThingSpeak

Now that we have the SIM800L module set up, let’s set up ThingSpeak. To use ThingSpeak’s API with your SIM800L module, you’ll need to create a new “channel” on the ThingSpeak website. A channel is a way to represent a device or a group of devices on the ThingSpeak platform. Once you’ve created a channel, you’ll be given an API key that you can use to access and update the channel from your Arduino sketch.

Sending data to ThingSpeak

To send data to ThingSpeak using the SIM800L module, you’ll need to use the AT+HTTPPARA command to set the necessary parameters for the HTTP request, and then use the AT+HTTPACTION command to send the request.

Receiving a response from ThingSpeak

After sending the request, you can use the AT+HTTPREAD command to read the response from the server. The response will be a string of text, which you can parse to check for any errors or confirm that the data was successfully sent.

Putting it all together

Here is an example of how you can use the SIM800L module and ThingSpeak’s API to send data from your Arduino board to the internet:

#include <SoftwareSerial.h>

SoftwareSerial sim800l(10, 11); // RX, TX

void setup() {
  sim800l.begin(9600);
  sendATCommand("AT+CFUN=1", 2000, DEBUG); // Enable full functionality
  sendATCommand("AT+CIPMUX=0", 1000, DEBUG); // Set single connection mode
  sendATCommand("AT+CGATT=1", 1000, DEBUG); // Attach to GPRS service
  sendATCommand("AT+SAPBR=3,1,\"CONTYPE\",\"GPRS\"", 1000, DEBUG); // Set connection type to GPRS
  sendATCommand("AT+SAPBR=3,1,\"APN\",\"YOUR_APN\"", 1000, DEBUG); // Set APN
  sendATCommand("AT+SAPBR=1,1", 1000, DEBUG); // Enable GPRS
  sendATCommand("AT+SAPBR=2,1", 1000, DEBUG); // Get IP address
}

void loop() {
  sendDataToThingSpeak();
  delay(20000); // delay 20 seconds
}

void sendDataToThingSpeak() {
  String cmd = "AT+HTTPPARA=\"URL\",\"http://api.thingspeak.com/update?api_key=YOUR_API_KEY&field1=42\"";
  sendATCommand(cmd, 1000, DEBUG); // Set URL
  cmd = "AT+HTTPACTION=0";
  sendATCommand(cmd, 3000, DEBUG); // Send request
  delay(1000);
  String response = sendATCommand("AT+HTTPREAD", 1000, DEBUG); // Read response
  Serial.println(response);
}

String sendATCommand(String cmd, const int timeout, boolean debug) {
  String response = "";
  sim800l.println(cmd);
  long int time = millis();
  while((time+timeout) > millis()) {
    while(sim800l.available()) {
      char c = sim800l.read();
      response += c;
    }
  }
  if (debug) {
    Serial.println(response);
  }
  return response;
}

In this example code, the sendATCommand function sends AT commands to the SIM800L module and reads the response. The sendDataToThingSpeak function is used to set the URL for the HTTP request using the AT+HTTPPARA command, send the request using the AT+HTTPACTION command, and read the response using the AT+HTTPREAD command. The loop function calls the sendDataToThingSpeak function every 20 seconds to send data (the number 42 in this case) to ThingSpeak. You can customize the code to send any data that you want to the fields of your ThingSpeak channel.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we have learned how to use the SIM800L module and ThingSpeak’s API to send data from an Arduino board to the internet. We have set up the SIM800L module and used AT commands to connect to the internet and send HTTP requests. We have also set up a ThingSpeak channel and used the API to send data to the internet.

With these tools and techniques, you can build your own IoT projects and start collecting and analyzing data from your devices. You can use ThingSpeak to visualize the data and create charts and graphs, or you can use the data in your own applications or MATLAB analyses.

If you found this tutorial helpful and would like to stay updated with more IoT and Arduino tips and tricks, consider subscribing to my blog. I post about once per week.