I am playing with the make arduino starter kit I got in the last week like crazy. I got so antsy to want to control more than one RGB LED, that I went to radio shack and saw they had a "full color" led. I thought, yay, this looks exactly like the common cathode RGB LED that came in my kit, I'll take 3...
Long story short, the wiring for the 2 do not seem to work the same, and all of the info I am finding points to using PWM pins for common anode rgb LED's. I am planning on maxing out my arduino and using both digital and PWM pins. I already have the DIGITAL only pins working with the common cathode RGB LED.
So what is the difference? Do I need to apply voltage to the "ground" pin on the common anode RGB LED? Again I am using the DIGITAL only pins specifically 7, 4, and 2, or 13, 12 and 8.
Be nice, I'm a noob, and far from an electrical engineer, but I've gotten this to work up to this point. May need to take these RGB LED's back if they are too much of a hassle... bummer! :\
With a common anode you connect the anode to the +5v and each individual LED to a resistor each. Connect that resistor to an output pin. Then a write LOW to that pin will turn the LED on and a HIGH will turn it off. This is called current sinking.
With a common cathode you connect the cathode to ground and connect each LED's anode through a resistor to the output pin.
Then a HIGH turns it on.
This is called current sourcing.
This is called current sinking. What you have been doing so far is current sourcing.
Is there an advantage to use one or the other in respect to the way Arduino ports works and not considering it a problem whether one uses HIGH or LOW to turn things on?
I've always wondered about that one and never got a good explanation.
Is there an advantage to use one or the other in respect to the way Arduino ports works
For the arduino with it's symmetrical ability to source and sink exactly the same amount of current then there is no preferred way.
Traditionally logic chips have been able to sink more than they can source so that is the way people think is "natural", to a beginner however it is confusing. This applies to outputs not inputs.
On a slight tangent there is is an overall current limit of 200mA on the power pins of an arduino. Now by mixing sourcing and sinking you can drive more load directly because sourcing only contributes to the +ve connection's current, where as sinking only contributes to the ground's connection's current.
Thanks grumpy mike, I got it to work. I did notice that on setup I needed to "current sink" all three pins for it to go off, before I wanted to turn the led's on at my programmed times.
Just curious combining digital, pwm, and another common cathode rgb led, will I be nearing the current limit, since I'll technically be powering 9 LED's in this manner, and 3 in the other method. I'll be maxing out my arduino output pins, so is that 200ma per led?
I have a 12v power supply, but I was hoping to be able to use a 9v on this project. I also have a car jump start battery that has 12v and 5v so that might be what I use too.
Thanks again, so far your advice on all topics I have posted on has been very helpful!
I recently purchased one of the CA RGB LEDs from Adafruit, and was trying to see if anyone has example code I could look at. I'm thinking about diving in and just trying it out, but if anyone has some helpful tips I'd appreciate it.
Well that didn't take long. Here is a simple blink sketch I made... for reference.
/*
Blink
Turns on an LED on for one second, then off for one second, repeatedly.
This example code is in the public domain.
*/
void setup() {
// initialize the digital pin as an output.
// Pin 13 has an LED connected on most Arduino boards:
pinMode(10, OUTPUT); // green
pinMode(9, OUTPUT); // Blue
pinMode(8, OUTPUT); // red
}
void loop() {
digitalWrite(10, HIGH);
digitalWrite(9, HIGH);
digitalWrite(8, HIGH);
digitalWrite(10, LOW); // green
delay(200);
digitalWrite(10, HIGH);
digitalWrite(9, LOW); // blue
delay(200);
digitalWrite(9, HIGH);
digitalWrite(8, LOW); // red
delay(200);
digitalWrite(10, LOW); // yellow
delay(200);
digitalWrite(8, HIGH);
digitalWrite(9, LOW); // Cyan (Light Blue)
delay(200);
digitalWrite(10, HIGH);
digitalWrite(8, LOW); // Magenta (purple)
delay(200);
digitalWrite(10, LOW); // White
delay(200);
}
Update: I figured out how to mix colors, however I still have a question. How does one change the intensity of color in order to create a better mixture?
How does one change the intensity of color in order to create a better mixture?
With hardware. You need to change the resistor(s) in series with each LED to achieve a really smooth mix of colors. It can not be done entirely in software.
Thanks guys. Now would it be easier to create a mixture of colors with a Common Cathode RGB LED? I'm thinking about experimenting with both.