Connecting 12v Parallel LED Series to Arduino

Projects General Guidance
1

I want to connect my 12v LED circuit powered by an external 12v adapter to my Arduino so I could control the LEDs

First, I'm a beginner in Arduino and have little knowledge on electronics. I know that Arduino Uno can only support 5v and 400mA. I could have easily connected my circuit to it but I'm using 80 LED with a total of 1600mA. As a resort, I found this design (for 50x 2.2v LED just a part of the 80 LED circuit).

Is there a way for me to hook up the 12v circuit to Arduino so that I can control the LED circuit? Any ideas? Suggestion? I have no problem with the LED circuit, I can change it anytime but I want to know how will I be able to connect the circuit to Arduino?

2

Google is a great asset for so many things!

http://bildr.org/2012/03/rfp30n06le-arduino/
http://www.jerome-bernard.com/blog/2...by-an-arduino/

Best of Luck

3

Perhaps we could start by defining you mean by "control". Just switch all LEDs on/off together? Switch individual LEDs on/off? Control the brightness of all LEDs together or of individual LEDs.

Then perhaps we can decide how to proceed.

Steve

4

@slipstick I'm planning on controlling the brightness of the LED all together.

5

Then you will want to use PWM (analogWrite()) via a digital pin through a MOSFET switch. Google "Arduino MOSFET switch" and you'll find plenty of information. You can connect the LEDs as you have shown and they will be the "load".

Steve