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Blinking LED

Introduction

The blinking LED is a classic example used to demonstrate the basic functionality of microcontrollers. It involves toggling an LED on and off repeatedly, which can be achieved using simple programming logic.

Components

  • Raspberry Pi Pico W
  • Breadboard
  • Jumper wires
  • Red LED
  • 220 ohm resistor
  • USB Cable

Components

Onboard LED

The Raspberry Pi Pico W has an onboard LED connected to GPIO 25. This LED can be used for basic testing and debugging purposes.

  1. Connect the Pico W to your computer using a USB cable.
  2. Open VS Code and start a new Pico Project
  3. In the main.py file, add the code
from machine import Pin
import time

led = Pin('LED', Pin.OUT)
try:
while True:
    led.value(1)
    time.sleep(0.5)
    led.value(0)
    time.sleep(0.5)
except:
    pass
  1. Run the code on your Pico W by clicking the "Run" button in VS Code at the bottom of the IDE.

  2. Upload the code to your Pico W and observe the onboard LED blinking.

  3. Try making the LED blink faster or slower by changing the sleep duration.

External LED

External LED

from machine import Pin
import time

led = Pin(15, Pin.OUT)
try:
while True:
    led.value(1)
    time.sleep(0.5)
    led.value(0)
    time.sleep(0.5)
except:
    pass
  • Try connecting more and or different coloured LEDs
  • See of you can create a chaser sequence with multiple LEDs.
    • A chaser is when one LED turns on, then the next, then the next until all are lit up in sequence before starting again.