I've been super-busy at work lately, and haven't had much time for personal projects. But I have managed to spend a tiny bit of time here and there working with that AVR development board. I've got it controlling 8 super-bright LEDs (4 green, 4 red). The code I've written uses PWM (pulse width modulation) to control the intensity of the LEDs. I'm going to use this method to try some interesting projects using color-blending from red, green, and blue LEDs. I'm pretty much stuck right now though - I am waiting for an order from Mouser to get here. By the way, for you other folks using AVRs - where are you getting them from, and which AVR are you using? I'm having trouble finding anywhere that I can still get the 2313 that is on this development board. Do they make them anymore?
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Joel, just because I’m at work right now and don’t want to get too deep into researching this… do you have to determine which red LEDs will produce “#FF0000” or is the thought “red is red” good enough for now? Obviously it doesn’t matter all that much for one color, but to get a good “white” I would think that the red, green, and blue have to be calibrated or specially ordered. Oh, I’ll think about it more, perhaps the answer is more apparent than I realize.
Will you be making an enclosure, like four “walls” so that the light coming out the top would make it sort of a “megapixel” ?
Currently, I’m not too worried about being able to get a perfect white by mixing ‘full’ red, blue, and green. I can see what you mean though, about having to match the LEDs to get a good white. I’m more interested in getting the “cooler” colors, like purples, blue-to-red fades, etc. If I wanted white, I could always buy a regular light bulb, I suppose. 🙂 And you’re right, it will be in an enclosure. But it will look more like a tube with an open end – sort of like a spot light or “up-lighting” fixture. I’m hoping to make several of them, and connect them all together with an RS-485 network so I can control them all from a PC. If I can do that, I should be able to do lots of cool effects. I placed an order with All Electronics yesterday for some more supplies (including a better soldering iron than my $10 Radio Shack special). Hopefully my stuff will get here quickly so I can move forward with this project. I’ve been kind of stalled lately, because my soldering iron is a piece of doo-doo.