Hello all, I watched this video some time ago and recently ordered all the parts and I tried it out using my 5v 2 meter long RGB LED strip. (which is very bright when controlled from the dinky IR remote)
I use an external power supply.
I got code working from another post on here which works great. I connected everything perfectly as the video said but the brightness is really lacking.
The TIP31C is a BASE, COLLECTOR, EMITTER and when testing various voltages from 5v to 8v the brightness stays the same.
I used 1k, 220 ohm resistors (also no resistor) and the results did not change.
When I ground the collector and emitter the brightness goes way up, which makes sense.
I have been doing a lot of reading online and I just ordered the IRLB8721 and will give that a try but just curious if someone could lead me in a direction that can help me understand what is going wrong.
Thanks so much.
// ARDUINO CONSTANT & VARIABLE DEFINITIONS
// -------------------------------------
// Arduino output pin receiving brightness levels for a specific color
#define RED_PIN 9
#define GREEN_PIN 10
#define BLUE_PIN 11
// # of milliseconds to pause between each pass of the main Arduino loop
#define Loop_Delay 30
//brightness level of each color (0..255)
int Brightness_R;
int Brightness_G;
int Brightness_B;
//fade step counter for LED cycle through off (510 steps), fade on (255 steps),
// on (510 steps), fade off (255 steps) 1530 total steps
int FadeStep_R;
int FadeStep_G;
int FadeStep_B;
//number of times LED has completed a full fade cycle
// int CycleCountB;
// int CycleCountR;
// int CycleCountG;
//used to establish what values to send to LED strip
// int ColorValue;
// =====================================
// ARDUINO SETUP ROUTINE
// -------------------------------------
void setup() {
//Serial.begin(9600);
pinMode(RED_PIN, OUTPUT);
pinMode(GREEN_PIN, OUTPUT);
pinMode(BLUE_PIN, OUTPUT);
//set initial strip color. 0(off) to 255(on). can be anything or nothing.
//This value is constrained to 0 - 255. any number higher than 255 will be rounded down to 255.
// any number lower than 0 will be rounded up to 0.
Brightness_R = 0;
Brightness_G = 0;
Brightness_B = 0;
//Set starting fade step position. -764 to -255 = on (brightness level is 255)
// -254 to 0 = fading on (this number *-1 = brightness level)
// 0 to 510 = off (brightness level is 0)
// 511 to 765 = fading off (this number - 510 = brightness level
//must each be 510 steps apart for smooth color pauses.
//if pauses removed by commenting out or removing ColorValue if statements and rplacing
//with setLEDS (Brightness_R, Brightness_G, Brightness_B); ,which I've already done, these number
//can be any value from -764 to 765 in any combantion, likely making many unplesant fade patterns,
//but also with many possibilities for interesting patterns. If all values are 510 steps apart
//the results will ROY G BIV either forward or backward and starting at different positions
//depending on the values given. the farther off the 510 steps of seperationg the further from
//ROY G BIV the pattern will move.
FadeStep_R = 0; //0 These setting for normal ROY G BIV
FadeStep_G = 325; //510
FadeStep_B = 650; //-510
//Set each LED's fade cycle counter to 0
// CycleCountB = 0;
// CycleCountR = 0;
// CycleCountG = 0;
}
// =====================================
// ARDUINO MAIN LOOP ROUTINE
// -------------------------------------
void loop() {
//decrement each LED's fade step counter by one at the start of each loop
FadeStep_R = FadeStep_R - 1;
FadeStep_G = FadeStep_G - 1;
FadeStep_B = FadeStep_B - 1;
//fade red LED according to it's fade step counter.
if (FadeStep_R == -764) {FadeStep_R = 765;}
if (FadeStep_R < 0) {Brightness_R = FadeStep_R * -1;}
if (FadeStep_R >= 510) {Brightness_R = FadeStep_R - 510;}
// if (FadeStep_R == -510) {CycleCountR = CycleCountR + 1;} //count + 1 for each full fade cycle
//fade green LED according to it's fade step counter.
if (FadeStep_G == -764) {FadeStep_G = 765;}
if (FadeStep_G < 0) {Brightness_G = FadeStep_G * -1;}
if (FadeStep_G >= 510) {Brightness_G = FadeStep_G - 510;}
// if (FadeStep_G == -510) {CycleCountG = CycleCountG + 1;} //count + 1 for each full fade cycle
//fade blue LED according to it's fade step counter.
if (FadeStep_B == -764) {FadeStep_B = 765;}
if (FadeStep_B < 0) {Brightness_B = FadeStep_B * -1;}
if (FadeStep_B >= 510) {Brightness_B = FadeStep_B - 510;}
// if (FadeStep_B == -510) {CycleCountB = CycleCountB + 1;} // count + 1 for each full fade cycle
// if step counters are intialized 510 steps appart, -510 is the step in each LED's fade cycle
// that it will be on full brightness while the other 2 LED's are off.
Brightness_B = constrain(Brightness_B, 0, 255);
Brightness_G = constrain(Brightness_G, 0, 255);
Brightness_R = constrain(Brightness_R, 0, 255);
// if (CycleCountB == 8) {CycleCountB = 0;}
// if (CycleCountR == 8) {CycleCountR = 0;}
// if (CycleCountG == 8) {CycleCountG = 0;}
// if (CycleCountR == 2) {ColorValue = 1 ;} //set point for pattern to pause on red
// if (CycleCountR > 2) {ColorValue = 0;}
// if (CycleCountG == 4) {ColorValue = 2;} //set point for pattern to pause on green
// if (CycleCountG > 4) {ColorValue = 0;}
// if (CycleCountB == 6) {ColorValue = 3;} //set point for pattern to pause on blue
// if (CycleCountB > 6) {ColorValue = 0;}
//Send brightness levels to LED strip
setLEDS (Brightness_R, Brightness_G, Brightness_B);
// if (ColorValue == 0) {setLEDS (Brightness_R, Brightness_G, Brightness_B);} // default to fade pattern
// if (ColorValue == 1) {setLEDS (255, 0, 0);} //LED strip red
// if (ColorValue == 2) {setLEDS (0, 255, 0);} //LED strip green
// if (ColorValue == 3) {setLEDS (0, 0, 255);} //LED strip blue
// slow the loop down a bit
delay (Loop_Delay);
}
// send the LED levels to the Arduino pins
void setLEDS (int ipR, int ipG, int ipB) {
analogWrite (RED_PIN, ipR); // send the red brightness level to the red LED's pin
analogWrite (GREEN_PIN, ipG);
analogWrite (BLUE_PIN, ipB);
}
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