Code examples for the RGB Xmas Tree

Start by downloading the xmas tree file. Open a terminal and type:

wget https://bit.ly/2Lr9CT3 -O tree.py

Install the colorzero package

sudo apt update
sudo apt install python-colorzero python3-colorzero

When you write your own Python code, make sure you keep this file in the same folder.

Open a Python shell or IDE (like Mu, Thonny or IDLE) and import RGBXmasTree:

from tree import RGBXmasTree

Initialise your tree:

from tree import RGBXmasTree

tree = RGBXmasTree()

You can change the brightness from 0 to 1 - the default is 0.5:

from tree import RGBXmasTree

tree = RGBXmasTree(brightness=0.1)

You'll find that 1 is extremely bright and even 0.1 is plenty bright enough if the tree is on your desk :)

You can set the colour of all the LEDs together using RGB values (all 0-1):

from tree import RGBXmasTree

tree = RGBXmasTree()

tree.color = (1, 0, 0)

Alternatively you can use the colorzero library:

from tree import RGBXmasTree
from colorzero import Color

tree = RGBXmasTree()

tree.color = Color('red')

You can write a loop to repeatedly cycle through red, green and blue:

from tree import RGBXmasTree
from time import sleep

tree = RGBXmasTree()

colors = [(1, 0, 0), (0, 1, 0), (0, 0, 1)]

for color in colors:
    tree.color = color
    sleep(1)

You can also control each LED individually, for example turn each one red, one at a time:

from tree import RGBXmasTree
from time import sleep

tree = RGBXmasTree()

for pixel in tree:
    pixel.color = (1, 0, 0)
    sleep(1)

To control a specific pixel, you can access it by its index number (0-24):

tree[0].color = (0, 1, 0)

Cycle through red, green and blue, changing all pixels together

• rgb.py

Cycle through red, green and blue, changing pixel-by-pixel

• onebyone.py

Cycle through hues forever

• huecycle.py

Randomly sparkle all the pixels

• randomsparkles.py

Subscribes to the colour changes from Cheerlights. CheerLights is an “Internet of Things” project created by Hans Scharler that allows people's lights all across the world to synchronize to one color set by Twitter. To change the colour, from your Twitter account send a message to @Cheerlights using on of the valid colours described on this page https://cheerlights.com/cheerlights-api/

To run this

python3 cheerlights-http.py

• cheerlights-http.py

Similar to Cheerlights (via HTTP) but lights a new led / bauble each time a new colour comes through

To run this

python3 cheerlights-history-http.py

• cheerlights-history-http.py

Similar to Cheerlights (via HTTP) but subscribes to the MQTT feed so you never miss a colour update. MQTT queues them so you get an update every 30 seconds rather than rapidly as they happen.

To run this

pip3 install paho-mqtt
python3 cheerlights-mqtt.py

To autostart this on boot of the Raspberry Pi

sudo pip3 install paho-mqtt
python3 /path/to/files/cheerlights.py &

• cheerlights-mqtt.py

Similar to Cheerlights (via MQTT) but lights a new led / bauble each time a new colour comes through

To run this

python3 cheerlights-history-mqtt.py

• cheerlights-history-mqtt.py