Check the section on Further Reading section for a video which demonstrates why the resistor keeping pin 2 at ground is essential. Floating pins on the Arduino are fine for the most part – unless you are trying to record an input from them – then they are bad, and can give you spurious information. If pin 2 is not connected to ground, then when the button is not being pressed it becomes what is called a floating pin – it’s not connected to anything. This is because when we read values at pin 2, we want to get either a HIGH or a LOW reported.

We also have pin 2 connected to ground at all times through a resistor. To turn on an LED by pressing the button, we simply make an if statement whose condition says something like “…if the voltage at pin 2 is HIGH, turn on the LED at pin 13…” It is really that easy. During the times the button is not being pressed, pin 2 reports LOW. When you press the button it completes an electrical connection, pin 2 will “see” the 5 volts and if we digitalRead() at pin 2, it will report HIGH. In this example we simply hook up 5 volts to one side of a button and to the other side of the button we connect pin 2. Using a button is as easy as you might think, but at the same time can be a source of frustration. Knowing how to employ them in your projects is very beneficial. They are everywhere and there is a certain pleasure in pressing them.

Arduino Course for Absolute Beginners Using a Button with ArduinoĪnything cool has buttons.

Getting input from wire arduino