Circuit Design from UNO board to ATMega328 without board

The LED leads are pretty stiff once cut short - cut them to the length needed, and solder the wires on to the pins.
Can also put shrink wrap over each pin.
Slide a length down each wire, solder the pins, slide shrinkwrap up & heat it up.

------------------------------------------- LED1 R
------------------------------------------- LED1 B
------------------------------------------- LED1 G
------------------------------------------- LED1 CA
---------------------------- LED2 R
---------------------------- LED2 B
---------------------------- LED2 G
---------------------------- LED CA
---------- LED3 R
---------- LED3 B
next wire
---------- LED3 G
---------- LED3 CA
----- LED4 R
----- LED4 B
----- LED4 G
----- LED4 CA

  • LED5 R
  • LED5 B
  • LED5 B
  • LED5 CA

next wire, etc.

Thanks! Just picked up shrinkwire, actually... only because I saw it in the store, have a heat gun, and thought to myself I can't believe I didn't figure that out already. Thanks again for all of your help!

No problem. Post a pic when you get it working.

Your "off/on dip", assuming that is a switch, is wired incorrectly. You need to add a 10K resistor between pin 4 and GND so the input is not left "floating". http://arduino.cc/it/Tutorial/Button

Enabling the internal pullup means the input will be HIGH unless the switch is pressed to make it LOW.
No external resistor needed.

I am so slow at this. It's a pain in the butt to solder the ribbon cable to the RGBs and then heat-shrink properly. I think I need more tools :slight_smile: And a magnifying glass now that I'm semi-old (42). Now I wish I would have been 'on top of' this project when I started it. I would have had a real PCB created and some connectors to make this much easier!

Live & learn. Plan better next project.

Good advice :slight_smile:

Question: I have soldered and wrapped all the RGB's. It is possible while soldering that i burn out RGB's? None are working, I'll have to go through the circuit again to make sure I have it wired - but wanted to check. I assume, yes.

It could also be the ribbon cable as I elected to go with the plug: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10965. It doesn't clamp down well, so possible that a wire isn't properly exposed to the pins. Gotta check that too.

Possible, yes, you'd have to keep the iron on the pins for more than a few seconds to do that.

Have small vise? Use that, with a spacer on the pin side, to squeeze it together well.
Buzz the connections from pins to LED leg, make sure you have good connections.
Also possible your breadboard connections are just on the opposite side of the clamp-on connector.

ok, got everything working :slight_smile: I've attached the circuit image again and was hoping I could have some help determining powering options. I need to power this circuit via battery.

I have 7 RGB LED's (Diffused RGB 5mm LED (25 pack) : ID 302 : $12.50 : Adafruit Industries, Unique & fun DIY electronics and kits)
I have 3 74HC595 (74HC595 Shift Register - 3 pack : ID 450 : $2.95 : Adafruit Industries, Unique & fun DIY electronics and kits)
I have 1 DFRobot switch (http://www.dfrobot.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=36&product_id=114#.UD0Pq9ZlQbi)

I was trying to compute max current, so came up with this:

7 RGB * 120mA (peak) = 840mA
3 74HC595 * 160uA = 480 uA
1 DFRobot Switch = 100mA
Arduino UNO Board = ?

Is this how I would sum it up? And then once I got the sum, how do I determine the right power for continuous load?

thanks again!

forgot to attach :slight_smile:

Okay you need current limiting resistors between the LEDs and the 74HC595.

The 74HC595 is only good for 70mA total, so if you were to turn on all 8 LEDs at once connected to a HC595, you'd want to limit the current to each to <8.75mA.

24 * 8.75mA = 210mA total for LEDs max.
Arduino, 20-30mA
IR switch,100mA if you say so link is not opening for me.

So a 1A wallwart would fit your needs easily.

http://www.dipmicro.com/store/DCA-0510

or a 2A, looks like its less:
http://www.dipmicro.com/store/DCA-0520

ok, that makes sense.

However - I need to calculate the max load and determine how long a battery pack (and what battery pack I need) would last :slight_smile:

Ok, so 350mA.
How long do you want it to run for?
3 AAs, 4.5V, will run 6-7 hrs.
Get 3 C cells in a battery holder, will run for a long time.

ok, I'll try that. I was thinking to try Lithium, but wasn't sure of the calculation - so didn't know if it would help :slight_smile:

I will be out from Thursday - Sunday running this thing without AC outlets, so batteries the whole time. It won't be constant peak, but wanted to base the calculation on peak to be 100% sure I have enough batteries with me to power all (extended) weekend.

ok, based upon the 350 mA peak (adding resistors), Thursday - Sunday would be 4 days and using 33,600 mA. this would be 5 C batteries (4.2) or 3 D batteries (2.8). Sound correct? I would assume that there will be a lot less than peak unless I am running the RGB's full-time.

Since it will be turned off during the day - I would realistically expect:

2 Days maximum requirements: 2 C Batteries should work powering the RGB's full-time.

Wikipedia says
"Alkaline C batteries can hold up to 8,000 mAh,"
So 3 C-cells, 4.5V and 8000mAh, could last ~ 22 hours.
(8000/350)

Alkaline D batteries 12000-18000 mAh
So 3 D-cells, 4.5V and 18000mAh, could last ~51 hours.

With 3 C-Cells, wouldn't you have 8000mAh * 3 = 24000mAh? That's what I was basing my calculations from.

cincy:
With 3 C-Cells, wouldn't you have 8000mAh * 3 = 24000mAh? That's what I was basing my calculations from.

Only if you put them in parallel. You get three times as many watt-hours no matter how you connect them but when they are in series the voltage is three times as high. This gives you the higher voltage but the same mAh as a single cell.