RGB LED Shield kit now available

I'm sensing bad vibes. Time for some chocolate !

Couldn't you upgrade the boards to use TLC5947 ? They have an internal PWM clock. I don't think phase drifts between the individual R,G,B PWM signals matter much for just RGB LEDs.

The advantage of the TLC5940 over the TLC5947 for a kit like this is

  1. the 5940 is available in a DIP package, making it easier to solder. The original workshop this was based on was building the circuit on a breadboard, so the surface mount part just didn't work

  2. the 5940 seems to be much more available. I only found one source for the 5947 on Octopart.

Basically, the original purpose of the board was to have a way for people who took the original HTINK workshop to make a more permanent version of their breadboard circuit.

Finally found some time and got it working! (I had managed to rip out a couple of tracks with my terrible soldering skills)

I'm now having fun playing with colours and patterns...

I'll post some video as soon as I find some more time.

Easty.

Are you going to be making new versions of this device?

I may make a new revision in November that does a multiplexed output and uses only one TLC5490, although my personal need for that is less now that the Rainbowduino exists and works very well.

Hi, look nice, could you post a video of it doing something :wink:
Thanks

See LED RGB Shield Nightlight - YouTube and RGB LED Shield 1.1 running Color Box Pattern - YouTube for some samples.

WOW thanks, as i am with DMX this look nice
Thanks

Good Product :stuck_out_tongue:

Hmphh. After finally getting round to looking at doing a laser cut cover for this (thanks easty) I realised there are no mounting holes! Arghh.

Please will everyone stick mounting holes on boards. Preferably so they line up with the ones on the arduino but for some things this is not possible/necessary.

I will be cutting a kinda bezel for it but mounting holes in any future versions would be nice :slight_smile:

Mowcius

I never thought about mounting holes. Sorry! I'm probably not going to do a revision to this one, and my next kit is designed to directly plugin to a USB port. I'll see if holes make sense there.

Sorry! I'm probably not going to do a revision to this one, and my next kit is designed to directly plugin to a USB port. I'll see if holes make sense there.

Ok :wink:

Mowcius

I've an order placed now for 4 weeks for some TLC5940's - seems they are hard to come by in the UK :frowning:

I think they're hard to find anywhere... TI doesn't seem to be making a lot of the DIP-packaged version. For my next kit, I'm going to use a single TLC5947 in surface mount format to drive just 8 LEDs, but it will be directly powered and controlled from a USB port and setup to stick out the back of a desktop, laptop, or Chumby to do dynamic ambient lighting.

Yeah I looked for the TLC5940's also, seeedstudio has 13 in stock $7.90 a each. If you don't need 120mA sink, you could go with the TLC5941. Only big difference is it can only sink 80mA. They are just over $4 at Mouser.

Seeedstudio Link:
http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/tlc5940-16channel-led-driver-weeprom-dot-correct-grayscale-p-215.html

Only problem with the 5941 is that it's not available in DIP form, so it's harder for breadboard with.

The TLC5941NT is a DIP version.

That's great news... when I checked TI's site I didn't see the NT one listed.

Yeah I was pretty pumped when I found them. The lead times on the 40's were like 8 weeks from a lot of places. All i need them for is to control the gates on some MOSFET's so I don't need a lot of current, but I wanted the high number of channels and a dip package.

Great work!