The "GettingStartedProject"

👩🏽‍💻💕 Set-up the Hardware and Software, and see your heartbeat & pulse !

 

 

We've also put together this handy guide. 

PulseSensor Starter Project Code Features

• Blink Pin 13 LED with your heartbeat!
• Live visualization of Pulse Signal on Arduino Serial Plotter
• Newbie-friendly code

 

Once you've installed our Playground, go to:   File > Examples > PulseSensor Playground > Getting Started

Upload to your Arduino UNO [or other hardware platform], and place the PulseSensor on your fingertip.  You should see Arduino's built-in LED (near Pin 13) blink with you heartbeat !

 

This basic sketch is designed to work with the Arduino Serial Plotter, a handy dandy tool that Arduino put into their IDE for visualizing the kind of analog signals that Pulse Sensor puts out. While the sketch is running and your Arduino board is connected to your computer USB, click on:    Tools > Serial Plotter

The signal may take a moment to settle, but you should see something like the image above. A nice strong pulse peak! Experiment with different body placements and pressures. Have Fun!

  

 

Arduino will read in the analog signal from the PulseSensor, and when the signal goes higher than a threshold value, Pin13 LED will light up. 

If you're having trouble seeing a heartbeat, make sure that you are using 'Goldilocks' pressure on the Pulse Sensor: Not too hard, not too soft. Squeezing the Pulse Sensor too hard against your skin will make the heartbeat go away, and not enough pressure will cause too much noise to creep in!

If this code is reading too many Beats Per Minute, or you are getting lots of noise, try adjusting the Threshold setting. The Threshold variable tells Arduino when to find a pulse that is legit. Adjust the Threshold value (noted above with arrows).  The Threshold can be any number between 0-1024, but try adjusting by steps of 5 or 10.  Decreasing the Threshold increases the sensitivity.  Increasing the Threshold decreases the sensitivity.  

See if you can find a better threshold for your finger than our default value.

Next Steps:

Now that you can see your "raw pulse", try Calculating the BPM.