hey just started goofing around with this stuff. when i plug in my LED into the arduino it is not very bright. i have been using 9V and i know the arduino uses 5V. is there anyway to make the LED brighter? is there a certain type of LED that i need? the arduino seems to have endless applications but all will be in vain if the LED can't get any brighter.
You can get LED's with different "brightnesses".
Also the amount of light coming from a LED can be limited if you use a current limiting resistor that is too large (you MUST have one or the LED will fry).
Also some of the Arduino boards have a built in current limiting resistor on pin 13, if i remember correct. If you hook a LED with another resistor up to pin 13 you will haqve 2 current limiting resistors, which will reduce the brightness.
It's definitely worth getting a "high brightness" or "high efficiency" LED. Some of the blue ones are very bright, as are some types of white LED. You will need a different current-limiting resistor for those colours, though, compared to a red LED.
i ran the blinking light sketch with an LED in pin 13 without any resistor and the brightness was ok..the next sketch that i wanted to try was one that would fade an LED using PWM in pin 9. when i noticed the LED wasn't as bright i also made the LED blink with the same code as i used for pin 13 and the LED was still not as bright. is this something that just happends through pin 9? is there any way to make it brighter through pin 9 without getting brighter type of LED?
I assume you used analogWrite(9,xxx) where xxx is a value in the 0 -255 range ?
this should fade the LED, 0 = no (or very little) light, 255= full brigthness. BUT if you use a LED on any other pin than 13 you MUST use a current limiting resistor or the LED will burn out, either on the spot, or after a little while.
You could try using a brighter LED. some are brighter than others.