RGB LED Button Bricklet¶

Features¶

• High quality 15mm x 15mm button
• Adjustable RGB LED backlight
• Replaceable/user-printable cap inlay

Description¶

The RGB LED Bricklet is equipped with an adjustable RGB backlit button. It can extend Bricks.

You can read the current state of the button (pressed/released) and adjust the color of the LED. The red, green and blue part of the LED can be controlled with 8 bit resolution each.

A white inlay is attached below the cap. This paper inlay can be replaced by a custom printed inlay (for example a power sign or an arrow or similar).

It is also possible to use events. This allows to react to button presses without polling.

Technical Specifications¶

Resources¶

• Schematic (Download)
• Outline and drilling plan (Download)
• Source code and design files (Download)
• 3D model (View online | Download: STEP, FreeCAD)

Button Inlay¶

The RGB LED Button Bricklet consists of four parts:

• Bricklet with button and RGB LED,
• White cap,
• Inlay (optional, 14x14mm) and
• Transparent cap.

You can easily print your own inlays (size for perfect fit is 14x14mm). Put them between the white and the transparent cap.

For best results you can print the inlay on a transparent foil. A simple piece of white paper works too, but the LED brightness decreases a little bit.

Below you can find an example of three RGB LED Button Bricklets with different inlays with and without ambient light. The symbol inlays were printed by a laser printer on transparent foil.

Test your RGB LED Button Bricklet¶

To test a RGB LED Button Bricklet you need to have Brick Daemon and Brick Viewer installed. Brick Daemon acts as a proxy between the USB interface of the Bricks and the API bindings. Brick Viewer connects to Brick Daemon. It helps to figure out basic information about the connected Bricks and Bricklets and allows to test them.

Connect the RGB LED Button Bricklet to a Brick with a Bricklet Cable.

If you connect the Brick to the PC over USB, you should see a new tab named "RGB LED Button Bricklet" in the Brick Viewer after a moment. Select this tab. You can now see button presses in the GUI and control the backlight RGB LED.

After this test you can go on with writing your own application. See the Programming Interface section for the API of the RGB LED Button Bricklet and examples in different programming languages.

Case¶

A laser-cut case for the RGB LED Button Bricklet is available.

The assembly is easiest if you follow the following steps:

• Screw 2x10mm spacers to bottom of Bricklet (use two diagonal wholes),
• screw bottom plate to spacers,
• screw 2x9mm and 1x10mm spacers to bottom plate,
• build up side plates,
• plug side plates into bottom plate and
• screw top plate to top spacers.

Below you can see an exploded assembly drawing of the RGB LED Button Bricklet case:

Hint: There is a protective film on both sides of the plates, you have to remove it before assembly.

Programming Interface¶

See Programming Interface for a detailed description.