Software Timers
- Software timers are another way to have code repeat at a specific time
- They can be useful when the
loop code is slow, but a separate small task needs to run quickly
- The drawback is that the action of the software timer will not be synchronized with the rest of the
loop actions
millis() vs Software Timers
| millis() |
Software Timers |
| no limit on timed actions |
limited to 10 timers |
| repeat time can be less than 1ms |
1 ms is smallest repeat |
need to execute action in loop() |
timer runs on its own |
| all actions are synchonous |
timers may execute out of order (this can be both good and bad) |
Software Timer Syntax
//Step 1: Declare global timer
Timer timer(<<FUNCTION>>, <<delayInMS>>);
//Step 2: Create your own function to repeat
void <<FUNCTION>>() {}
void setup() {
timer.start(); //Step 3: Start timer (repeats on its own)
}