Greetings all,
I am working on what (I hope at least) I think will be a pretty basic setup. But, since I am pretty new to Arduinos (about a month) I wanted to ask a question about this specific project. Basically I want to be able to PWM a large number of LEDs and I'm not sure how it interacts with the Arduino chip.
My ultimate project goal is to program an ATtiny85 to read a Pot and then set the LED level accordingly. I am predicting the project could use up to 100 LEDs which draw about 33mA each at 5v (resistors are alrady embedded in these LED Lamps). So, since it is possible to have all the lights on at the same time, doesn't that mean that I'd need way more Amperage (100x33mA = 3300mA = 3.3Amps) than the Arduino can handle?
I eventually want to move the ATTiny85 onto its own PCB and then use a PoT for the "dimming" (via PWM). So what I'm asking here is what kind of technology do I need to research to allow more amperage into my project? I bough a cheap 5v 4a wall wart style PSU from ebay that I was planning on using to power the project. So do I need to use something like a transistor to allow the higher amperage to draw off the 5v on the PCB (from the wall wart) and avoid the ATtiny85?
I guess I'm asking what will I need to prepare for to turn what is one of the most basic beginner-level tutorials (PWM LED dimming with a PoT) to work at a much higher draw from the LEDs.
My completely inexperienced thought process was that I would need some kind of 5v voltage regulator capable of handling like 4Amps (since I imagine the $4 wall-wart PSu from ebay is not regulated), some caps to smooth that, a PoT, the ATtiny85, the LEDs and something (transistor? relay? MOSFET?) that can handle controlling these LEDs other than the ATTiny85?
Am I on the right track here?
Thanks!