A light sensor is a
small component with a particular characteristic: it is basically a
resistor and its resistance decreases if the light is more intense. To
use it with micro:bit we need to use one of the analogic ports. To
build this circuit you will need a breadboard, 3 jumper wires, a
10k resistance and possibly a Kitronik breadboard
kit.
The project
I wanted to realise a simple project where, depending on the light
intensity captured by the light sensor, the micro:bit shows an image
of the Sun if the light is intense and an image of the Moon if
the light is less intense.
BBC micro:bit has a few IO
pins
that can be used to interact with external devices. The problem with the
board is that it's not easy to connect the classic jumper wires (those
that we normally connect to a breadboard) to the micro:bit, unless
using a crocodile clip
and being limited to just 3 pins.
Kitronik breadboard
kit
solves this problem, offering an interface where the micro:bit can be
plugged and all the pins are easily connectable to the breadboard using
normal male/female jumper wires.
To build the circuit you also need 4 male/female jumper wires and
two buttons. All this circuit does is to connect the buttons to the
micro:bit pins that relate to those buttons. Basically pressing
those buttons is the same as pressing button A or button B on
the micro:bit board. Here you can see the schema in detail: