This code will run on the Circuit Playground Express all by itself. You can plug it in with a USB cable for power, or use a battery. This is a great AAA battery pack that already has an on/off switch and plugs right into the Circuit Playground's JST connector.

Front angled shot of 3 x AAA battery holder with on-off switch and 2-pin JST PH connector.
This battery holder connects 3 AAA batteries together in series for powering all kinds of projects. We spec'd these out because the box is slim, and 3 AAA's add up to about...
$1.95
In Stock

Or, Adafruit has a whole host of other 5v batteries that will work too.

If you want to add a NeoPixel strip, connect your three alligator clips as shown: 

  • Red --> VOUT
  • White --> A1
  • Black --> G

The red and black clips always need to be power and ground. You could clip the black wire to any pin marked GND and it would work fine.

The white clip could connect to any of the digital I/O pins, so, any pins marked A1-A7. You could also connect to A0 and the lights would still work, but A0 is also the audio pin so adding lights to that pin would interfere with the board's audio. It's usually best to stick with A1. But, if you want to connect any more light strips, those other pins are free to use.

Capacitive Touch Pads

This code uses the capacitive touch pads A2 and A5. You can activate these just by touching them with your fingers. Magic! Just hook the alligator clips to whichever pads you decide to use in the code.

It's even more fun to hook up alligator clips to the capacitive touch pads, and connect the other end to an object that conducts electricity. We like using fruit, but anything conductive will work. This is also a fun game: what objects can you find that will trigger the timer?

This guide was first published on Mar 25, 2020. It was last updated on Mar 08, 2024.

This page (Assembly) was last updated on Mar 08, 2024.

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