Software Timers

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)
}