Light

Detecting Colors with the SparkFun Tristimulus Color Sensor

August 22, 2024

Detect and classify colors based on their CIE XYZ color space values.

Qwiic LED Stick - APA102C Hookup Guide

July 15, 2021

Add some I2C RGB to your project with the SparkFun Qwiic LED Stick - APA102C

Garmin LIDAR-Lite v4 (Qwiic) Hookup Guide

April 15, 2021

Connecting the Garmin LIDAR-Lite v4 to a microcontroller just got easier! Check out our hookup guide to get started.

Industrial Fiber Optics Hookup Guide

January 20, 2021

Learn how to get started with our fiber optics breakout boards

SparkFun Photodetector (MAX30101) Hookup Guide

June 25, 2020

The SparkFun Photodetector - MAX30101 (Qwiic) is the successor to the MAX30105 particle sensor, a highly sensitive optical sensor. This tutorial will get you started on retrieving the raw data from the MAX30101 sensor.

SparkFun Top pHAT Hookup Guide

April 16, 2020

The pHAT to sit above your other HATs. Does that make it the "king" of the pHATs? This guide will help you get started using the Top pHAT with the Raspberry Pi.

Non-Addressable RGB LED Strip Hookup Guide

February 19, 2020

Add color to your projects with non-addressable LED strips! These are perfect if you want to control and power the entire strip with one color for your props, car, fish tank, room, wall, or perhaps under cabinet lighting in your home.

Basic LED Animations for Beginners (Arduino)

December 3, 2019

Let's have some fun with LEDs! We'll explore LEDs once again with the SparkFun RedBoard Qwiic, making cool effects, and putting those effects to work using a sensor.

Magnetic Levitation

November 20, 2019

This tutorial will show you how to build a magnetic levitation circuit using common parts.

SparkFun Qwiic Micro (SAMD21E) Hookup Guide

October 24, 2019

An introduction to the Qwiic Micro SAMD21E. Level up your Arduino-skills with the powerful SAMD21 ARM Cortex M0+ processor!

APA102 Addressable LED Hookup Guide

October 8, 2019

Connect, power, and control your APA102 addressable LED strip!

SparkFun Pulse Oximeter and Heart Rate Monitor Hookup Guide

September 12, 2019

Find out your oxygen saturation level or check out your heart rate using the MAX30101 biometric sensor and MAX32664 Biometric Hub via I2C!

SparkFun gator:UV Hookup Guide

September 5, 2019

The gator:UV is an I2C based UV sensor. This tutorial will get you started using the gator:UV with the micro:bit platform.

SparkFun Inventor's Kit Experiment Guide - v4.1

August 8, 2019

The SparkFun Inventor's Kit (SIK) Experiment Guide contains all of the information needed to build all five projects, encompassing 16 circuits, in the latest version of the kit, v4.1.2 and v4.1.

Qwiic Ambient Light Sensor (VEML6030) Hookup Guide

July 18, 2019

The VEML6030 is a high accuracy ambient light sensor with 16-bit resolution. This I2C sensor can detect light similar to the human eye response. Start detecting light levels in your environment!

LilyPad RGB LED Hookup Guide

July 18, 2019

Learn how to hook up the LilyPad RGB LED and use a common cathode RGB LED in e-textile projects.

EL Wire Pants

July 18, 2019

In this tutorial, we will sew standard electroluminescent (EL) wire to a pair of pants.

SparkFun gator:particle Hookup Guide

June 13, 2019

The gator:particle is an I2C heart-rate monitor and pulse oximeter that can be used as a particle sensor. This tutorial will get you started using the gator:particle with the micro:bit platform.

Wireless Glove Controller

April 24, 2019

Build a wireless glove controller with Arduinos to trigger an LED using XBees!

SparkFun ESP32 DMX to LED Shield

March 28, 2019

Learn how to utilize your DMX to LED Shield in a variety of different ways.

Qwiic Proximity Sensor (VCNL4040) Hookup Guide

February 28, 2019

The SparkFun Qwiic Proximity Sensor is a great, qualitative proximity (up to 20 cm) and light sensor. This hookup guide covers a few examples to retrieve basic sensor readings.

SparkFun gator:bit v2 Hookup Guide

January 31, 2019

The gator:bit v2 is a breakout board for the BBC micro:bit. The gator:bit exposes almost every pin on the micro:bit to clippable pad with circuit protection. It also has as built-in addressable LEDs and a built-in buzzer.

Motion Controlled Wearable LED Dance Harness

January 30, 2019

Control LEDs based on your movement using an accelerometer! Make your LEDs breathe by fading in and out when laying on the floor, turn off the LEDs when moving to your side, or make the LEDs blink in a headstand!
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Old Tutorials

Looking for the old, archived tutorials? Head on over to the archived tutorials on the main SparkFun site.
Please be aware that the tutorials you find there are no longer actively maintained.