HIgh-current LED driver question

Hi all,

I've thought of a project where I would like to drive a matrix of high power LEDS, 8x8, one at a time continuously(but no more than one would ever be on at a time). I thought the Colorduino might be an easy solution for this, as the product page states:

  • 24 constant current channels of 100mA each
  • 8 super source driver channels of 500mA each

This would be perfect for my high-power LEDs as they're spec'ed for 100 mA operating current at 3.4V, 120 mA max at 3.6V. However, digging deeper into the full Colorduino specs:

http://itead-europe.com/pm/platform/mainboard/colorduino/DS_IM120410004_Colorduino.pdf

it says that the maximum drive current per dot is 58 mA. It's designed to drive an RGB LED matrix, so I assume that each dot refers to a single LED color at each position in the matrix. So what I'd like to know is, can the Colorduino actually put out 100 mA per channel, or is it limited to 58 mA? And if the limit is 58 mA, could I connect two constant current channels at 58 mA to a single LED connection to give me 116 mA? Any advice you can give me on this, or on any other way to drive a high-current 8x8 LED matrix one LED at a time, would be really appreciated. Thanks!

  • drjeopardy

Never mind - got an answer (maybe), but figured out a better approach.

See this - it's an 8*8 RGB mood lamp made using a colorduino
http://www.instructables.com/id/Lampduino-an-8x8-RGB-Floor-Lamp/allsteps