I have seen alot of posts about powering LED matrices through multiplexing and what not but I am struggling to find a solution for my project.
I will have several 2x8 or 2x10 LED Modules chained together. I was using shift registers to accomplish individually addressable LEDS. however I quickly realized that having several of these modules connected meant I was going to over power those the 595 shift register ICs. Each register would power 16-20 LEDs.
Ive seen a few things here or there about using LED drivers, but theres such a vast array of choices and Im confused as to what will best fit my project as well as an easy transition from the shift registers to a more high powered option with out having to start completely over.
I'm using TPIC6B595 in what appears to be similar scenario to yours.
I have little boards with two 595s and connectors for each output. Boards also have connectors so that they can be connected one into another, as many as I need. I believe the most I chained was around 10 or 12 boards (20-24 registers). I have no problems.
There is no multiplexing, though.
Shpaget:
I'm using TPIC6B595 in what appears to be similar scenario to yours.
I have little boards with two 595s and connectors for each output. Boards also have connectors so that they can be connected one into another, as many as I need. I believe the most I chained was around 10 or 12 boards (20-24 registers). I have no problems.
There is no multiplexing, though.
I dont want to multiplex, I just meant thats all i had seen out there. So you just take a normal 74hc595 shift register and wire it to the tpic6b595 or does the tpic take the place of the normal 595?
TPIC is a shift register, so no, you don't need 74HC. You drive it the same way as 74HC. The main difference is that TPIC can handle significantly higher currents.
Shpaget:
TPIC is a shift register, so no, you don't need 74HC. You drive it the same way as 74HC. The main difference is that TPIC can handle significantly higher currents.
Got it Thanks! got a couple of them ordered to test out!
Just in case you're wondering, these are two of my modules connected.
The driving board connects on the left (not pictured), more can be chained on the right.
Power conducting pins are doubled. In my case, I'm using 12V (but can be anything up to 50V), so two pins are 12V, two are GND, one is 5V for logic and three are for data, clock and stuff.
Two 10 pin connectors are outputs - 8 drains per chip, one pin is 12V; one of the pins (top right in the picture) is blocked so the connector can't be inserted the wrong way.
Three big circles are mounting holes. There are brass tubes on the other side to lift the boards from the surface.
The big empty rectangular place in the middle top is for voltage regulator (78xx) so that each board can have different output voltage, however I later realized that this is not needed so input and output are bricker with a jumper.
A colleague of mine took care of PCB design itself and arranging the manufacturing. He piggybacked it on his larger project, so I'm not sure which company he used, but they were made locally (Croatia).
