I'm curious how I could go about setting up LEDs on a breadboard so that more than one was on a row, but still controlled independently by a pin. Either that or 1 pin controlling multiple LEDs independently. Essentially I want to make a 2 digit LED screen (comprising of 2 3x3 grids of LEDs) that I would program to display numbers. I'm not sure if 1 pin can hand the 9 LEDs (3x3) with turning them independently on or not. If so, this is the preferred way, as it saves me from having to use so many pins.
There's a couple of ways to do this:
-
Use a shift register that you will essentially control with only a couple of output pins which can then control 8 LEDs (see shift out tutorial here: http://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/ShiftOut)
-
Use some clever wiring hackery to basically create a matrix that switches columns and rows of wires on and off (Arduino showing multiplexed LED matrix)
Then you could actually use LED multiplexer controllers like a ranbowduino to get better control and more functionality if you wanted to as well.
That should get you started though I reckon. I've used the first option a few times now and you can get a lot of control very quickly for only a (or a couple) of shift registers.
Cheers
ajfisher