Note the LED has two different sized 'legs.' Ensure the LED is wired in the correct orientation. Connect the potentiometer, LED, resistor, and colored jumper wires as shown below. Take out the little blue potentiometer, an LED (any color), a 330 Ohm resistor, five jumper wires (2x red, 2x black, 1x yellow, 1x orange), the Arduino, and the white breadboard. Wire the potentiometer and an LED to the Arduino If you are working on a company or school computer that won't allow you to install software, choose the Windows ZIP file for non-admin install option. Therefore, the next step is to dowload and install the Arduino IDE ( Intgrated Development Environment)Īs shown in a previous post, download and install the Arduino IDE found at the link below. We need to upload code to our Arduino in order to communicate with our Arduino using Python.

Open the Anaconda Prompt and use the command below to create the virtual environment. In a previous post, we reviewed how to create a new virtual environment called (arduino). I have the Anaconda distribution of Python installed on my Windows 10 machine (see this post on how to install Anaconda on Windows).

To complete this Python project, it is best practice to use a virtual environment. SparkFun RedBoard - Programmed with ArduinoĬreate a virtual environment and install PySerial Below is the list of hardware needed to complete the project: Component In this project, we are going to use a couple of pieces of hardware.

Write a Python script to record the potentiometer readings and plot the readings over time.

Write a Python script to print out the potentiometer readings.

Use the Python REPL to read the potentiometer.

View the potentiometer reading in the Arduino Serial Plotter.

View the potentiometer reading in the Arduino Serial Monitor.

Twist the little blue potentiometer to turn the LED connected to the Arduino on and off.

Upload the potentiometer.ino sketch to the Arduino.

'Blink' the Arduino to confirm it is working.Connect the Arduino to the computer and check the COM port.

Wire the potentiometer and an LED to the Arduino.

Create a virtual environment and install PySerial.

Python serial vs pyserial