Light sensor acting up when used with other code

Question

I have a light sensor that works fine and outputs the correct data to the serial monitor when I only upload the following code to the nano:

const int lightSensorPin = A0;
int lightSensorValue = 0;

void setup() {
  // put your setup code here, to run once:
  Serial.begin(9600);

}

void loop() {
  // put your main code here, to run repeatedly: 
  lightSensorValue = analogRead(lightSensorPin);
  delay(100);
  Serial.println(lightSensorValue);
}

Now when I upload it with all of my other code, which includes lighting up about 6 LED's at one time and getting readings from two rangefinder sensors, the light sensors no longer output expected data, instead spewing out a bunch of random numbers, 0 to over 3000.

Could sharing the ground with all the LED's and rangefinders be causing interference for the light sensor? Or could it be a code optimization issue? Here's my entire code if it helps at all:

int trigPin1 = 5;
int echoPin1 = 6;
int blue1 =  7;
int green1 = 8;

int trigPin2 = A3;
int echoPin2 = A4;
int blue2 =  A2;
int green2 = A1;

int redLED = 10;
int greenLED = 3;
int yellowLED = 9;
int blueLED = 4;

const int lightSensorPin = A0;
int lightSensorValue = 0;

int securityLength1 = 28;
int securityLength2 = 28;

int frontEyes(11);
int backEyes(12);

const char* front = "front";
const char* back = "back";

void setup()  
{
  Serial.begin(9600);

  pinMode(trigPin1, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(echoPin1, INPUT);
  pinMode(trigPin2, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(echoPin2, INPUT);

  pinMode(blue1, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(green1, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(blue2, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(green2, OUTPUT); 

  pinMode(frontEyes, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(backEyes, OUTPUT);

  pinMode(redLED, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(greenLED, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(yellowLED, OUTPUT);

}//end setup


void loop(){

  digitalWrite(redLED, HIGH);
  digitalWrite(greenLED, HIGH);
  digitalWrite(yellowLED, HIGH);
  digitalWrite(blueLED, HIGH);

eyeballs(trigPin1, echoPin1, securityLength1, green1, blue1, front);
eyeballs(trigPin2, echoPin2, securityLength2, green2, blue2, back);  

  lightSensorValue = analogRead(lightSensorPin);
  delay(100);
  Serial.println(lightSensorValue);

}//end loop


void eyeballs(int trigPin, int echoPin, int securityLength, int green, int blue, const char* frontOrBack){   
  digitalWrite(trigPin, LOW);  
  delayMicroseconds(2); 
  digitalWrite(trigPin, HIGH);
  delayMicroseconds(10);
  digitalWrite(trigPin, LOW);
  long duration = pulseIn(echoPin, HIGH);
  long distance = (duration/2) / 29.1;

  Serial.println(distance);

 if (distance >= securityLength || distance <= 0) {  
  digitalWrite(green,HIGH);
  digitalWrite(blue,LOW);
  if (frontOrBack == "front") {
    digitalWrite(frontEyes, LOW);
  }//end if
  else if (frontOrBack == "back") {
    digitalWrite(backEyes, LOW);
  }//end else
  }//end if

  else if(distance < securityLength) {
  digitalWrite(blue,HIGH);
  digitalWrite(green,LOW);

  if (frontOrBack == "front") {
    digitalWrite(frontEyes, HIGH);
  }//end if
  else if (frontOrBack == "back") {
    digitalWrite(backEyes, HIGH);
  }//end else

 }//end else if

}//end function

Answer 1

I'd prefer to delete this question because I'm so embarrassed by the answer. I didn't notice I had Serial.println(distance); in my function. The odd numbers were coming from my rangefinders and being printed in between my light readings.

Answer 2

There's no pinMode(lightSensorPin, INPUT); in either of your codes. In the original code this probably doesn't matter because you set no other pins to In or Out.

As a side note, instead of declaring all your pin number as int then defining them, make use of preprocessor directives:

#define trigPin1  5;
#define echoPin1  6;
#define blue1     7;
#define green1    8;

When you hit Verify or Upload the preprocessor sweeps through your code and replaces all instances of a defined term with whatever comes immediately after it in the definition. You can't use it for variables of course, but it's perfect for designating pins.

This will cut down on unnecessary memory usage. Not a huge saving in your case, but I don't see why people don't do it more often.