first of all I would like to say that I dont have a lot of experience with the arduino systems in general, which is why I am here to ask this question.
I am currently working on a C# application and I allready informed myself on how to control LED's through the serialport class in C#. My problem is that I want to be able to controll a large amount of these, 33 to be exact. Is that even possible? Since the Arduino Uno has only 14 digital and 6 analog outputs. And if I were to control such a "large" amount of LED's, is there a good way to do so? I want to be able to turn the LED's off, on and change the color individually.
With serial/ shift register addressing you can address (but not dim) a virtually unlimited number of LEDs using 3 output pins. I have a project that uses Six MAX6968 chips to control 48 (single color) LEDs using the same concept.
Or, the WS2812 (AKA "NeoPixels") is an RGB LED integrated with a controller chip. These are available as LED strips or they are available individually. They are also serially controlled but they only require one output-data pin and they are dimmable. Or, there is a similar integrated part called "DotStars". These require a data line and a clock line, but the timing is simpler so the programming is simpler.
WS2812B can be had in thru hole form also, not just SMDs. https://www.sparkfun.com/search/results?term=rgb+led
See 12877, 12986, 12999, and 11020, string all wired up already.
15206 also, not WS2812B, but similar.
Large?? LOL. My Christmas display had 750 three-color LEDS and was controlled by a single GPIO on a Wemos D1 Mini processor board. (WS2812 LED strings).
SteveMann:
Large?? LOL. My Christmas display had 750 three-color LEDS and was controlled by a single GPIO on a Wemos D1 Mini processor board. (WS2812 LED strings).
