Use

Reprogramming

To change the messages stored on your Blinky kit, use the Blinky Programmer website. At that website, you can enter in multiple messages. After entering all the details of your messages, put your kit into bootloader mode by holding the button down while turning the power on. The first light should blink. When you release your finger, it should blink faster. It’s now waiting to calibrate against your screen. Hold the Blinky kit near your screen. Be careful, you don’t want to press against LCD screens. Line up the clock light sensor, indicated with a C on the board, with the clock square. Line up the data light sensor, indicated with a D on the board, with the data square. Press and release the button to start the bootloading process on the device. Press the go button on the Blinky Programmer to start the process on the computer. The second light on the device should blink as data is successfully transmitted. You may not be able to see this depending on how you assembled the device. When the transmission is complete, if it was received correctly, the Blinky kit should advance into the first message.

If, instead of seeing your message, you see two of the lights blinking back and forth, it means the message was not successfully transmitted. We have several suggestions for how to help the transmission on our Blinky FAQ page.

Usage

Every message on a Blinky kit has a few parameters.

Each message can either be text or pixel based. Text based messages can contain the characters 0-9, A-Z, .&?! and a space. Pixel based messages can be anything, but take up more space in the EEPROM.

Each message has an end type. This determines what happens when the message has finished playing. There is a “repeat” end type, which repeats the message until the button is pressed, which starts the next message. There is an “advance to next message” end type, which starts the next message as soon as the message is complete, and there is a “stop” end type, which stops playback. At any time, pressing the button advances to the next message.

Each message has a playback type. Both text- and pixel-based messages can be played back as a marquee or “frame-by-frame.” The marquee playback type scrolls the message in from the right and out the left, and the frame-by-frame method replaces the entire frame at once.

Each message also has a delay. This provides 16 possible speeds.

BlinkyPOV also has an easter egg. It is a Larson Scanner with high and low brightness modes, as well as 16 speeds.