News of Rainbowduino V1.0

Forum 2005-2010 (read only) General News
1

Rainbowduino is an Arduino compatible controller board with professional LED driving capacity.

Microprocessor - Atmega 8/168/328
Atmega 8/168/328 has enough resources to generate 4096 color for 64 dots while providing complete I2C and Uart communication. More importantly they are the most popular MCU among open source hardware community, making it compatible to Arduino IDE and the vast knowledge pool.

Datasheet: http://www.atmel.com/dyn/resources/prod_documents/doc2545.pdf

Super Source Driver - M54564P
M54564P is an 8 circuit output-sourcing Darlington transistor arrays, widely used with proven performance. The most critical feature meeting our requirement is its fast turn-off time of 4.3ms which guarantee a vivid rendering.

Datasheet: http://www.mitsubishichips.com/Global/content/product/power/transistorarray/tarray/tarray/m54564fp_e.pdf

Constant Current LED driver – MBI5168
MBI5168 is designed for LED display applications, with PrecisionDrive? technology to enhance its output characteristics. MBI5168 contains a serial buffer and data latches, which convert serial input data into parallel output format, eight regulated current ports are designed to provide uniform and constant current sinks for driving LEDs within a large range of Vf variations.

Datasheet: http://www.mblock.com.tw/en_download_file/datasheet/MBI5168%20Datasheet%20VA.02-English.pdf

Let's go shine!

2

We are running the last batch of revision, there are 5 beta boards out to collect feedback, will be manufactured soon. :wink:

3

sweet.
nice that they are stackable, or plugable. i smell infinite led matrix strips :slight_smile:

4

So how are these driven? Is there a code library for them?

5

We are working on the code and library.

6

Looks cool. What kind of price will these be going for?

7

Range from 20-30 USD, the retail price has not been fixed.

8

Ah they look fantastic. I suspect you could also drive servos if you increase the voltage on the data line

9

i friggan want one now

10

looks nice.

Will there also be a shield version (that holds the same driver ICs) for my Arduino (compatible) boards?

11

A couple of questions:

  1. What is the maximum frame rate I could achieve with these? i.e. could I use these in an application to convert video in real time to an rgb matrix?

  2. What is the limit of modules I can cascade? (i.e. 128 modules via TWI?)

  3. Will you be selling rgb led matrix that match the modules (i.e. backpack and led matrix combo like sparkfun has) that you could easily arrange into a big screen?

thanks!

12

The latest software can run 12ms per frame.
We are finding a way to display the video.
16 modules cascade max.
We are selling the rgb led matrix that match the module.

Thanks
Albert

13

looks nice.

Will there also be a shield version (that holds the same driver ICs) for my Arduino (compatible) boards?

Now I am writing some functions for Arduino to control the Rainbowduino via serial ports. Maybe I could finish a beta version in this week. It will be a simple library for who want to experience the Rainbow. :wink:

14

We are going to release few pcs of Rainbowduino in these days. Here's some simple demo photos.

15

The first batch of Rainbowduino was sold out... Faster than i thought. The second batch will be available in about a week, and we are working on the document, It will come out with the new boards.

16

Is that one unit controlled all 7 of those RGB LED Matrices? Or do they have a unit each?

17

Hi Mike,each LED matrix is controlled by a Rainbowduino. :smiley:

18

Hmm... that kinda makes a big difference. From 'interesting project idea' to 'my god, that would be expensive. '

By my calculations, that would make the 7 matrices project shown in your picture ( assuming they are 60mm rgb) cost around $300 !?! ($20+$23)*7

Ouch!

19

Yeah I must admit the picture is a tad misleading.

20

Would it be easy to make a 2x2 setup of these? I see that there are pins on the side (but not the top) to connect them, but what if you want 2 rows of 2?Maybe for the next version you could have pins on each side to make that a little easier to do.

Thanks,
John