Control RGB LED Using Amarino Nano 1.0

What is Amarino Nano 1.0

This is my new DIY kit for Android-Arduino communication via Bluetooth.

Amarino Nano particularly uses Arduino Nano, so, I used the title as 'Nano' . It is a very simple kit for testing most of the features of Amarino toolkit.

With this kit, you can experiment with several inbuilt sensors of your phone. For example, make the 5mm LED blink when you get a phone call, turn on the RGB LED when you receive an SMS or change colors of RGB LED in response to the orientation sensor of the phone and turn off the LEDs in response to the light sensor of your phone. Yes, this Amarino Nano kit is suitable for all the features offered by Amarino Toolkit Android app for Android-Arduino communication via Bluetooth.

If you have never heard about Amarino toolkit...it is a quick prototyping application based on Android that facilitates communication between Android and Arduino via Bluetooth. You can visit the official page of Amarino to know about the Amarino Android application that communicates with Arduino.

Despite its name 'Amarino Nano', you don't essentially need the Amarino toolkit app to experiment with its sensors. Any other Android apps made for Android-Arduino communication(via Bluetooth) will also work with the kit.

So, this kit is suitable for most of the applications available for Android-Arduino communication.

Amarino Nano is based on:

1. Arduino Nano– For this particular kit, you will need an Arduino Nano for Amarino experiments. When you buy the kit, it will be included in the kit package.

2. Amarino toolkit application: Amarino toolkit is an Android application.

3. Bluetooth communication medium: You will need a Bluetooth adapter module to make communication between Arduino Nano and Amarino toolkit. The Bluetooth module is included in the kit package.

Features:

Control RGB LED: You can control an RGB LED from your Amarino application. In this experiment, you transmit control signals from Android to Arduino. Watch this video. See all the steps.

Display photoresistor sensor data on Sensor Graph: You can see light sensor data and a simple graph on your Amarino app interface. The sensor data is transmitted from Amarino Nano 1.0 kit to the phone. In this experiment, you transmit sensor signals from Arduino to your phone and vice versa. Watch this video.

Display temperature sensor data on phone: You can see temperature sensor data (from LM35DZ) on your Amarino application interface. In this experiment too, you transmit temperature sensor signals to your Arduino and vice versa. Watch this video.

Control 5mm LED : You can control a 5mm white LED present on the kit with the Amarino App. You can simultaneously control the LED and see sensor data. In this experiment, you transmit and receive signals from Android to Arduino and vice versa simultaneously.

Use as Arduino Nano Shield: You can use this kit to experiment with Arduino Nano. You don’t need any Android app for that .

Test any Android app for Arduino: You can test any other Android App made for Android-Arduino communication via Bluetooth. You can find several apps on Google Play.

For more information, you can visit my website.

In this tutorial, I am going to explain the RGB LED control experiment using Amarino Nano. Before we begin, stack the Arduino Nano and Bluetooth module on the correct female headers as shown on the images.

This is the first step. You need to download the Amarino toolkit MAIN application and install on your Android phone.

Download the app from here.

Download the Amarino toolkit library and move it to the Libraries folder. It is called MeetAndroid. You can download the library from this link.

At this step, connect the Amarino Nano kit to your computer and see if the red LED on the Bluetooth module is blinking.

If the red LED on the Bluetooth module is blinking, switch on the Bluetooth function of your phone, open the Amarino Toolkit main application and connect it to the Bluetooth module using the pairing code 1234. You can see the MAC ID of the Bluetooth adapter on the Amarino application interface. On the image, you can see that there are two Bluetooth adapters with two different names and IDs registered on the application. Pressing the “Connect” button connects the application to the chosen adapter. You can connect only one adapter at one time.

Once the adapter is paired up with your phone, you don’t need to pair it again.

Download the RGB LED control application and install it on your phone. You can use the QR-code image to download the application, it is much easier.

Download the Arduino sketch and upload it to your Arduino Nano.

NOTE: You need to switch off the 1P DIP switch while uploading the sketch. After uploading switch it on again.

Set Bluetooth MAC ID. It is different for all Bluetooth modules. My Bluetooth module has MAC ID: 98:D3:31:70:3A:98, so, I used that. You will have a different MAC ID for your Bluetooth module. You need to enter the ID manually.

NOTE: RGB LED is connected to digital pins 3(RED), 5(GREEN) and 6(BLUE).

Open the application and control your RGB LED. As you move the slider, the color on the RGB LED changes. Remember to turn on the 1P DIP switch, otherwise, it won’t work. You need to turn off the switch while uploading the sketch.

All the steps written on this tutorial have been described on this video.

You can test other features of the Amarino Nano kit. Please check the following videos to know how the kit works for Sensor graph and temperature sensor features:

- Sensor graph

- LM35DZ temperature sensor response

Important Links:

• Full description of Amarino Nano- Here you will get full description and schematic of Amarino Nano.
• Assembly tutorial- This assembly tutorial is for DIY version of the kit.
• All experiments- Check out all the experiments of Amarino Nano.

You can buy the kit at BuildCircuit's Store.