I just got an Arduino UNO and I'm new at this, so Im confused on hooking up a LED matrix to a breadboard and my Arduino. On the Data sheet it shows rows and columns but with the pins on the bottom of the LED matrix being on the left and right i'm confused on which ones are the columns. And do the pin #'S on the data sheet go to those same I\O #'S on the Arduino??
I've also found a pdf file online called, "Oreilly.Arduino.cookbook.2nd.addition, And wired it up but not all LEDS worked plus some were dim and some were extremely bright. I tried His program also with the same results.
Please excuse me if this is a silly question, but I appreciate any help thanks.
That is a pretty sketchy datasheet, no wonder you're confused. I would probe the pins using a 5V supply and a 1K series resistor. That should light the LEDs enough to see, but limit current enough to not damage anything if connected backwards. The 5V pin on your Uno will work if you don't have a separate 5V supply.
drfry7:
On the Data sheet it shows rows and columns but with the pins on the bottom of the LED matrix being on the left and right i'm confused on which ones are the columns.
The data sheet is only associating the rows and columns to the pin number. You don't know how the pins are numbered, that is the problem. This is not implying the pins are on the top and left of the matrix. On a matrix and most other chips you orient it so the pins are on the top and bottom of the matrix, as you look down on it. They are numbered starting from the bottom left to the bottom right and then from the top right to the top left. Most chips have a pin #1 marking, a dot. Matrices do not, but all the ones I have seen have their manufacturing information printed on the side that has a row of pins and that row of pins includes pin #1. So here is what your matrix should look like looking down on it with the pin functions associated with the pin numbers.
drfry7:
And do the pin #'S on the data sheet go to those same I\O #'S on the Arduino??
You can use any GPIO pins you want. Do you think this matrix was designed only to be used with the Arduino?
To make this work, assign the columns to 8 Arduino pins and when you want the column active, you have to take the pin for that column low. Assign the rows to 8 other Arduino pins and when you want that row active, you have to take the pin for that row high. You now have 4 pins free, good luck. You have to put current limiting resistors either on all the columns or all the rows. I would put them on the rows. 680 ohm or more might be a good first choice. A first test might be to turn the whole thing on. And then try selecting one entire row at a time, and then one entire column at a time. You will probably have to check back here about "multiplexing" at that point to make a complex image because you cannot actually draw the entire matrix at once if you want different rows or different columns, you have to draw 1/8th of the matrix (either one entire row or one entire column) and then move on to the next row or column. This is probably confusing, don't let it worry you, get the wiring and some experimentation done first.
Thanks JoeN with more cowbell, that helps out and I'll experiment
Around with. Thank again.