Control 2 LED cubes with a Mega?

Hello,

I'm fairly new to Arduino and REALLY wish they were around when I was younger! Like many other people, I've been tinkering with the 8x8x8 LED cubes. My first couple were the cheap ebay kits. Then I built one like this. I like the ease of programming even if it is a little more unattractive circuit design (3 boards rather than 1).

I would like to know if it would be possible to use a Mega to control two cubes. I would like to put two of the cubes side by side.

Thanks in advance.

It should be possible to write code to do this although it might not be simple. Also the refresh rate could be reduced for both cubes as the Arduino is having to do twice the work.

So it is not just a matter of having the code twice. If you understand the software you are running fine, give it a go, but if you don’t then it will be difficult.

You have no need to buy a second cube to test if it works just make the connections on a plug in strip so you can change over which of the pins either cube control is being driven. Note only change the connections when the Arduino is powered down.

Mike,

Thank you for your comments. I already have a second cube, will finish the assembly and play with the code.

I'm fairly comfortable modifying the code to accept the second cube. I'll keep you posted as the project progresses.

DavidMichael,

Please let me know what you would like explained more completely.

@RunningFool don't waste any time on DavidMichael. They are just a scumbag spammer making meaningless generic comments all over the forum only to get their website link posted.

I'm rethinking this a little, If I redesigned the circuit using 16 shift registers, Could I still use an Uno rather than a Mega?

If I redesigned the circuit using 16 shift registers, Could I still use an Uno rather than a Mega?

It depends on your software and how efficient it is in storing the data to be multiplexed out, but in principle yes.