Power LED Shield V2

Hey all,

Just firing up a new thread since the old forum is read-only now...

Power LED Shield V2 is just around the corner. Here are a few specs to wet your appetite:

  • 4 channels at up to 39 Watts each (158 Watts total output power!)
  • Driver modules available in 350, 500, 700, 1000 and 1200 mA capacities
  • Up to 10 LEDs in series per channel (more if you run them in parallel)
  • Dimming selectable between PWM, Analog or BOTH, plus manual analog dimming adjustment on each channel
  • Driven from the Arduino PWM pins - each channel jumper selectable
  • Compatible with Duemilanove and Uno, possibly the MEGA boards too (I don't have a MEGA to test on)
  • Input: 6-36 VDC @ up to 5A

If you're not familiar with the Power LED Shield, take a look at the thread for V1:
http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1258412419

And my favorite application of V1 came from the reef aquarium community:
http://www.ultimatereef.net/forums/showthread.php?p=3522441#post3522441

In my usual MO, I've completely redone the board several times in trying to get it just right. So it's been a long time coming. But I should have it sent out for manufacturing this month and will have some in March. Let me know if you're interested.

Cheers!

Cool - I'd be interested in seeing pictures to see what it looks like. Noob question: What do you mean by "analog" dimming? I understand the PWM dimming.

Thanks!

I have pics of the V1 shield at my website:
http://www.chestersgarage.com

But the V2 shield isn't built yet and I haven't' figured out how people get those 3D renderings of their boards.

Analog dimming adjusts the brightness by changing the current flowing through the LED, as compared to PWM that switches the LED off and on very quickly. With analog dimming, you get light that does not flicker. So for projects such as a bicycle headlight where you are moving, you don't get the strobe light effect. (Think of the tail lights on a recent model luxury car) Analog dimming also provides the highest efficacy (aka efficiency) because LEDs give more light per watt at lower current levels. The trade-off is the LEDs will color-shift more with analog dimming than with PWM.

The additional manual analog dimming feature allows you to adjust the current through the LEDs, for example to balance color levels (RGB), set the maximum brightness for your needs, or prevent burning out the LEDs if the driver is rated higher than the LEDs.

Cool that is very helpful information, thank you. Im going to look into this, and may have more questions.

I just realized I posted this in the wrong place. Please no more replies. I'm going to start a new thread in the Products and Servieces forum.