Light

Experiment Guide for the Johnny-Five Inventor's Kit

June 28, 2016

Use the Tessel 2 and the Johnny Five Inventors kit to explore the world of JavaScript enabled hardware through 14 awesome experiments!

GPS Differential Vector Pointer

May 31, 2016

Use GPS to have two objects, a base and a target, point towards one another. This can be used to aim a directional antenna (or in the case of this project, a laser) from one object to the other object at a distance that is only limited by your ability to provide the base station with the target's GPS location.

Photocell Hookup Guide

May 5, 2016

Hook a light-sensing photocell up to an Arduino to create an ambient light monitor.

Sensor Kit Resource Hub

May 5, 2016

An overview of each component in the SparkFun Sensor Kit, plus links to tutorials and other resources you'll need to hook them up.

QRD1114 Optical Detector Hookup Guide

May 5, 2016

Use this IR LED/phototransistor fusion to sense objects in close proximity or even the color of a surface!

PIR Motion Sensor Hookup Guide

May 5, 2016

An overview of passive infrared (PIR) motion detecting sensors, and how to hook them up to an Arduino.

Boss Alarm

March 30, 2016

Build a Boss Alarm that alerts you of anyone walking into your office and automatically changes your computer screen.

Blynk Board Project Guide

March 25, 2016

A series of Blynk projects you can set up on the Blynk Board without ever re-programming it.

LED Cloud-Connected Cloud

February 22, 2016

Make an RGB colored cloud light! You can also control it from your phone, or hook up to the weather!

BadgerHack: Gaming Add-On Kit

February 16, 2016

Make a Breakout clone with the BadgerHack Gaming Add-On Kit.

LilyPad Light Sensor Hookup Guide

November 19, 2015

How to hook up the LilyPad Light Sensor as well as some project ideas and example code.

Touch Potentiometer Hookup Guide

October 22, 2015

Learn how to use the SparkFun Touch Potentiometer to control lighting, volume or other inputs in your daily life.

SX1509 I/O Expander Breakout Hookup Guide

September 24, 2015

Learn how you can use the SX1509 to control 16 LEDs or up to 64 buttons with just two pins.

LilyPad Pixel Board Hookup Guide

September 16, 2015

Add changing colors to your wearable projects using LilyPad Pixel Boards.

LED Butterfly Pop Up Card

August 19, 2015

Craft an illuminated butterfly pop up card with copper tape, two LEDs, and a battery.

LED Robot Pop Up Card

August 19, 2015

Craft a paper circuit pop up card with a cycling RGB LED, battery, and copper tape.

Large Digit Driver Hookup Guide

June 25, 2015

Getting started guide for the Large Digit display driver board. This tutorial explains how to solder the module (backpack) onto the back of the large 7-segment LED display and run example code from an Arduino.

Origami Paper Circuits

May 26, 2015

A quick tutorial to get you started in the world of light up origami flowers.

The Great Big Guide to Paper Circuits

May 22, 2015

Let's take a look at different materials we can use to combine paper crafting and electronics.

Hackers in Residence: The Sound Visualizer Pt. 2

May 7, 2015

An addition to a previous project, this time using a PC and a custom Java app to create your own music visualizer using a RGB LED matrix.

Light Up Silk Flower Corsage

April 20, 2015

Combine a silk flower with a built-in RGB LED and some LilyPad Switches to create a customizable accessory.

FLIR Lepton Hookup Guide

March 26, 2015

See the invisible world of infrared radiation using the FLIR Dev Kit and Raspberry Pi.

Hackers in Residence: The Sound Visualizer

March 23, 2015

A fun project that uses a Raspberry Pi and a custom Java app to create your own sound visualizer using a RGB LED matrix.

VL6180 Hookup Guide

February 12, 2015

Get started with your VL6180 based sensor or the VL6180 breakout board.
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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.