control 6 rgb leds.

Other Hardware LEDs and Multiplexing
1

Hey all,

Really new to this, whats the easiest way to control multiple RGB LED's separately? I can code up one RGB, but a bit unsure of the best way to code up and power 5 or 6 at once. I have a uno board and need to control about 6 rgb LEDS.

Cheerio,
Rup

2

Hey fellow Aussie Rupert,

have a look at this;

http://www.elcojacobs.com/using-shiftpwm-to-control-rgb-leds-with-arduino/

Pedro.

3

Rupert:
Really new to this, whats the easiest way to control multiple RGB LED's separately? I can code up one RGB, but a bit unsure of the best way to code up and power 5 or 6 at once. I have a uno board and need to control about 6 rgb LEDS.

What do you mean by 'control'? Do you want color fading? How accurate? Do they all have to be independent or do they all show the same color?

A TLC5940 chip is commonly used but you can only do 5 RGB LEDs per chip. You'd need two of them for six LEDs.

4

I would definitely use the TLC5940. I'm currently using 8 of them to control 42 RGB LEDs in a project I'm working on.

5

WS2803 has 18 ports so ideal for controlling 6x RGB LED's

6

Riva:
WS2803 has 18 ports so ideal for controlling 6x RGB LED's

Cool. I didn't know about that one...

It looks easier to control than the TLC5940 as well. You only need two wires and no messing about with timers to drive the PWM clock.