Delay a part of the void loop

Question

I have two different programs written for my Arduino. One checks the room temperature every 5 seconds. The other one looks for IR remote signals.

I would love to combine those 2 programs, yet the problem is the delay from the room temperature sketch.

If I would combine them. it means my IR script won't be working for a full 5 seconds (because of the delay of the room temperature script) then it will be able to receive a fraction of a second and then the temperature sketch goes again.

#include <IRremote.h>
int RECV_PIN = 11;
IRrecv irrecv(RECV_PIN);
decode_results results;
int led = 12;
const int inPin = 0;
void setup() {
 pinMode(led, OUTPUT);
 digitalWrite(led, LOW);
 Serial.begin(9600);
 irrecv.enableIRIn();
}
void loop() {
 int value = analogRead(inPin);
 float millivolts = (value / 1024.0 ) * 5000;
 float celsius = millivolts / 10;
 Serial.println(celsius, 1);
 delay(5000);
 if(irrecv.decode(&results)) {
 //this checks to see if a code has been received
 if(results.value == 0xFF6897) {
 //if the button press equals the hex value 0xC284
 digitalWrite(led, HIGH);
 // turn the LED on (HIGH is the voltage level)
 delay(1000); // wait for a second
 digitalWrite(led, LOW);
 // turn the LED off by making the voltage LOW
 delay(1000); // wait for a second//do something useful here
 }
 irrecv.resume(); //receive the next value
 }
}

Does anyone know how to keep the IR part active and the temperature measure every 5 seconds, and do this simultaneously?

Or do I need another Arduino?

• Majenko: Take a look at the BlinkWithoutDelay example bundled with the IDE. It shows you exactly what you need to know.
• Anton van der Wel: that was kinda what I was looking it is not working flawless yet, but I think it will work Thank you!

Answer 1

EDIT: Modify the code according @Edgar's comment.

Check this alternative. The idea is executing code every 5 and 1 seconds. The blink is true when you need the LED blinking. I don't know how long will you need to keep it blinking, but this keeps it as long as results.value keep being equals to 0xFF6897.

#include <IRremote.h>
int RECV_PIN = 11;
IRrecv irrecv(RECV_PIN);
decode_results results;
int led = 12;
const int inPin = 0;
void setup() {
 pinMode(led, OUTPUT);
 digitalWrite(led, LOW);
 Serial.begin(9600);
 irrecv.enableIRIn();
}
void loop() {
 static boolean blink = false;
 static unsigned long startTemp = 0;
 static unsigned long startBlink = 0;
 unsigned long msTime = millis();
 // Check for room temp every 5 seconds.
 if (msTime - startTemp >= 5000) {
 startTemp = msTime;
 int value = analogRead(inPin);
 float millivolts = (value / 1024.0 ) * 5000;
 float celsius = millivolts / 10;
 Serial.println(celsius, 1);
 }
 // Blink every 1 second
 if (msTime - startBlink >= 1000 && blink) {
 startBlink = msTime;
 int state = digitalRead(led);
 digitalWrite(led, !state);
 // Change blink to stop blinking after one pass (HIGH/LOW).
 // Modify if you need to keep blinking for longer time.
 blink = (state == LOW); 
 }
 if(irrecv.decode(&results)) {
 blink = (results.value == 0xFF6897); 
 irrecv.resume(); //receive the next value
 }
}

• Anton van der Wel: this one looks very promising I will give this a try
• user31481: @Anton. I didn't test the sketch and probably you have to adjust the blink variable to suit your needs.
• Edgar Bonet: Testing for millis() % 1000 == 0 is not a good idea. The millis() counter is updated every 1024 µs: most of the time it is incremented by 1, but once every 42 increments (roughly) it is incremented by 2. Thus you are going to miss some blinks.
• Anton van der Wel: so 1000 or 999 should fix it?
• user31481: @Anton. Check the new edited version that follows Edgar's comment.

Answer 2

does anyone know how to keep ...

think about ways to conditionalize execution on time elapsed. I showed a short while ago ways to construct a software timer and you may want to look into that.