Arduino help -RGB LED

[Sh1ine]

I am a coach for Shaker Robotics. I am in no way, shape, or form associated with our programming department. However, I have been trying to make a sign for a friend as a Christmas present. I have been running into problems with the programming, I have been poking around the Arduino forum without much luck and it just hit me that I should post on CD...I don't know why I did not think about this before!

I could really use some help from someone who knows something about programming.

The Task: Mr friend is a member of the local Derby team. I want to make her a sign that uses 1 meter of RGB Flexable LEDs to make a fun and flashy sign. I want to use a push button to turn it on, select one of four programs (Fade through the rainbow, Fade between Orange and Pink, Strobe, and dim white) and then turn it off.

The Hardware: I am starting with this for the hardware....Thanks Adafruit

I am using the MOSFETs and it is wired up as show in the diagram. I have a pull-down push button switch connected to Digital IO 2.


What I have done: So I though that this would be relatively straight forward (famous last words!). I used the Change State Detection, and button examples from Arduino. I got the system to work great with a few very simple 1 LED programs (different rates of blink, constant on, etc.) In a completely different sketch I got all of the fades to work. I combined them together and PRESTO...nothing, the program get stuck in a loop at the Rainbow Fade and the Push Button won't work anymore. So I post about it and one guy mentions that I need to use a State Variable code. I have researched it, and I have realized I am not anywhere near the level that I need to be to make this thing work.

This is my thread in the Arduino Forums. The "code" that I have written is posted there.

So the long and short of it, if you are looking for a challenge and would like to help a guy who is much more comfortable teaching Inventor and Machining I would appreciate it! It would make my present a lot cooler.