Arduino LED controller

[prototype3a]

I'm working on designing/building an Arduino LED controller. Right now it is a breadboard and Arduino Uno setup using a TI TLC5940 as a PWM channel expander driving n-channel mosfets.

For the "production version", I plan to use an Arduino Nano and a custom power board to actually drive the LEDs.

Here's a video of some code testing from a few days ago...

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2c1aOr33Ro[/ame]

[Dan E]

Awesome! Looks like a fun project. I'm quite interested to see what you can do with it, keep posting updates. I'll put mine up when its put together, I'm using an atmega 32u4 to drive an rgb strip.

[prototype3a]

That looks like an interesting chip. I wish the Arduino had more sram. I plan on driving an rgb strip or two from some of the channels on my controller as well but I need to find a source for the strip.

Have you seen this stuff?

http://www.adafruit.com/products/306

[prototype3a]

Okay, that chip looks awesome...

http://pjrc.com/teensy/index.html

I think I may use it in my "final" version.

[Dan E]

Yep, I wasn't going to post it up just yet but I'm using that one. With their atmega 32u4 breakout board. The Teensy in your link is about 1/3rd the size, its small enough to fit on the rotor head. I'm looking at getting one for that purpose later down the line.

I've got a few solder joints left and gotta stick the lights down but then I'll post a few pics up and a video of what it can do. Hopefully be done with the wiring this weekend.

[u8mydog]

Originally Posted by prototype3a

That looks like an interesting chip. I wish the Arduino had more sram. I plan on driving an rgb strip or two from some of the channels on my controller as well but I need to find a source for the strip.

Have you seen this stuff?

http://www.adafruit.com/products/306

I've been looking for an addressable strip. I saw some about a year ago where a guy made a hat out of it but the source was sketchy.

Why to you state 'I need to find a source for the strip'? It looks like adafruit caries it and they are located in the U.S.

[Dan E]

The rgb striP on the hat uses a different chip to these ones, these are easier to work with. Adafruit sells them in 5 meter rolls as well which is almost enough to cover a trex 600.

[prototype3a]

Originally Posted by u8mydog

Why to you state 'I need to find a source for the strip'? It looks like adafruit caries it and they are located in the U.S.

Because $25 per meter is madness for waterproof 60/m RGB LED strip.

http://www.amazon.com/RGB-5050-Tape-...7408762&sr=8-7


I need to decide if I want the Teensy or Teensy++. The ++ would be nice but it would also force my board to be larger.

[Dan E]

They're two different strips, one is individually addressable the other you can only change the whole strip. That's where the extra money is going. I'll post more about it later when I have more to show

[prototype3a]

not individually addressable and $25/m

http://www.adafruit.com/products/346

I can understand the individually addressable strip being silly expensive but regular waterproof at $25/m is just stupid.

[Dan E]

Ah yeah that is a bit steep. I thought you linked to these http://www.adafruit.com/products/306 which are addressable

[Dan E]

Check ebay for the rgb smd 5050 strips, they can be had for 35 bucks for 5 meters.
But don't use the waterproof ones, they're too heavy. The addressable ones from adafruit come in a sleeve which can be cut off, the other ones are coated in some kind of silicon which can't come off easily.

[prototype3a]

Here's a screen shot of my board in Eagle.

[ryanhl]

It is the individually addressable strip with lpd8806IC. (which You can pick some up at adafruit ( http://www.adafruit.com/products/306 ), $35.00 per meter, and I found the same ones from http://www.ledlightinghut.com/lpd880...led-strip.html for 117 bucks a spool ). You can set the color of each LED's red, green and blue component with 7-bit PWM precision (so 21-bit color per pixel). The LEDs are controlled by shift-registers that are chained up down the strip so you can shorten or lengthen the strip. Only 2 digital output pins are required to send data down.

[kavic5150]

Thanks for the links Ryanhl. Complements for that cool avatar btw.

[Andrea MaGill]

I ordered 15 meters of the same 5V RGB LED strip that you can find on Adafruit.com and got them for something like $13.15 per meter. These are the exact same strips found on Adafruit for less than 1/2 of the cost. I was a little concerned about the process since I'd never ordered from China before, but it all went smoothly. Just tested them a minute ago and they work perfectly. This is not an add. Just wanted to say thanks and give others a little confidence in buying from the same place. Yay! Thanks.
Here's where they have them listed: http://gree-leds.com/productshow.asp...eID=TS7X2X7VTP

[prototype3a]

Made some progress on my led controller lately...

[prototype3a]

Soldered the components to the board today!

[dvdouden]

Cool project! And really nice PCB, very clean design. Where did you have that PCB manufactured?

I'm also working on an Arduino based LED controller but on a much smaller scale; just 4 channels.

[prototype3a]

I got these from http://oshpark.com/. The only downside to their super low price is that they only come in purple.