AVR Project – LEDs and PWM
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?
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.