Volume Indicator Neopixel Ws2812 LED Ring & Arduino

License: GNU Lesser General Public License LED Strips Microcontrollers Arduino ESP32

We will learn how to make a Volume Indicator using a NeoPixel WS2812 LED Ring and Arduino.

Watch the Video!

Note: At the bottom, you can find how to reverse the direction of the LED ring.

Learn more about Visuino: What is Visuino

What You Will Need

What You Will Need photo 2

What You Will Need photo 3

What You Will Need photo 4

What You Will Need photo 5

The Circuit

Connect Arduino board pin 5V to LedRing pin VCC
Connect Arduino board pin GND to LedRing pin GND
Connect Arduino board Digital pin 2 to LedRing pin DI
Connect potentiometer pin OTB to Arduino Analog Pin A0
Connect potentiometer pin VCC to Arduino Analog Pin 5V
Connect potentiometer pin GND to Arduino Pin GND

The Circuit

Start Visuino, and Select the Arduino UNO Board Type

The Visuino: https://www.visuino.eu also needs to be installed. Download the free version or register for a Free Trial.

Start Visuino as shown in the first picture. Click on the "Tools" button on the Arduino component (Picture 1) in Visuino. When the dialog appears, select "Arduino UNO" as shown in Picture 2

Start Visuino, and Select the Arduino UNO Board Type

Start Visuino, and Select the Arduino UNO Board Type photo 2

In Visuino Add Components

Add "Map Range Analog" component
Add "Ramp To Analog Value" component
Add "Analog To Unsigned" component
Add 2X "Compare Analog Value" component
Add 2X "Color Value" component
Add "RGBW Color Multi-Source Merger" component
Add "NeoPixels" component

In Visuino Add Components

In Visuino Add Components photo 2

In Visuino Add Components photo 3

In Visuino Add Components photo 4

In Visuino Add Components photo 5

In Visuino Add Components photo 6

In Visuino Add Components photo 7

In Visuino Set Components

Select "MapRange1" and in the properties set Input Range> Max to 1, and Input Range> Min to 0
Select "MapRange1" and in the properties set Output Range> Max to 12, and Output Range> Min to 0

Note: Output Range> Max to 12 is the number of LED on the LEDRing

Select "RampToValue1" and in the properties window set Slope (S) to 1000
Select "CompareValue1" and in the properties window set Compare Type to ctBigger and Value to 10
also select Value field and click on the Pin Icon and select "Float Sink Pin"
Select "CompareValue2" and in the properties window set Compare Type to ctSmaller
also select Value field and click on the Pin Icon and select "Float Sink Pin"
Select "ColorValue2" and in the properties window set Value to clNavy
Double click on the "NeoPixels1" and in the PixelGroups window drag ColorPixel to the left side, and in the properties window then set Count Pixels to 12

Note: Count Pixels 12 is the number of the LED on the LEDRing

In Visuino Set Components

In Visuino Set Components photo 2

In Visuino Set Components photo 3

In Visuino Set Components photo 4

In Visuino Set Components photo 5

In Visuino Set Components photo 6

In Visuino Connect Components

Connect Arduino Analog pin [0] Out to MapRange1 pin In
Connect "MapRange1" pin Out to RampToValue1 pin In, and CompareValue1 pin Value and CompareValue2 pin Value
Connect "RampToValue1" pin Out to CompareValue1 pin In and CompareValue2 pin In and AnalogToUnsigned1 pin In
Connect AnalogToUnsigned1 pin Out to NeoPixels1 pin Index
Connect CompareValue1 pin Out to ColorValue1 pin Clock
Connect CompareValue2 pin Out to ColorValue2 pin Clock
Connect ColorValue1 pin Out to RGBWColorMultiMerger1 pin [0]
Connect ColorValue2 pin Out to RGBWColorMultiMerger1 pin [1]
Connect RGBWColorMultiMerger1 pin Out to NeoPixels1 pin Color
Connect NeoPixels1 pin Out to Arduino Digital Pin 2

In Visuino Connect Components

In Visuino Connect Components photo 2

Generate, Compile, and Upload the Arduino Code

In Visuino, at the bottom, click on the "Build" Tab, make sure the correct port is selected, then click on the "Compile/Build and Upload" button.

Generate, Compile, and Upload the Arduino Code

Play

If you power the Arduino UNO module and slide a potentiometer, the LED Ring will indicate the Potentiometer position.
You can use this approach in Audio Applications where you need to indicate the Volume position, or any other project where some kind of visual indicator is needed.

Congratulations! You have completed your project with Visuino. Also attached is the Visuino project that I created for this; you can download it and open it in Visuino: https://www.visuino.eu

Set the Reversed Direction

Add "Subtract Integer From Value" component, and in the properties window set "Value" to 12 (The number of LEDs on your LED Ring)
Put the component between the "AnalogToUnsigned1" and "NeoPixels1"
Connect "AnalogToUnsigned1" pin [Out] to "SubtractFromValue1" and Connect "SubtractFromValue1" pin [Out] to "NeoPixels1" > "Color Pixel1" pin [Index]

Also attached is the Visuino project for the reversed LED ring. Make sure to change the number of LED pixels if you have a different LED ring

Set the Reversed Direction

Set the Reversed Direction photo 2

Set the Reversed Direction photo 3

Set the Reversed Direction photo 4

Reversed Volume Indicator Video

Reversed Volume Indicator project made by Visuino user JP

Reversed Volume Indicator Video

Optional Improvements

To overcome the LED blinking on the LED Ring, you can add "Analog Change Only" component and, in the properties, set the "Threshold" to 0.05 (or any other value that suits you).