Hey all, i have drawn what i think is the correct way to hook up my RGB LED in series.
The way i see it is that:
The relay will be turned on by the digital pin on the ardunio using 5v.
Then the relay will connect and produce the 0v (gnd) to the RED LED pin on the RGB led.
The Anode will be powered by 12v that will be in series of 19 LED's per 12v
Solution 0: 4 x 4 array, 3 extra LEDs
+----|>|----|>|----|>|----|>|---/\/\/----+ R = 1 ohms
+----|>|----|>|----|>|----|>|---/\/\/----+ R = 1 ohms
+----|>|----|>|----|>|----|>|---/\/\/----+ R = 1 ohms
+----|>|----|>|----|>|----|>|---/\/\/----+ R = 1 ohms
+----|>|----|>|----|>|----------/\/\/----+ R = 150 ohms
Just making sure that it looks correct before i go and hook it up :o)
If those big black dots are suppose to be the relay's pins, then I think you might have the contacts side and coil side terminal mixed up, but maybe not. However neither you or I can be sure unless you can post a link to a datasheet for your specific relay.
I also don't see any resistors for the led cathode leads in the top drawing and the ASCII art lines showing 1 ohm resistors don't make any sense, to me anyway.
How about a proper schematic drawing showing everything, arduino pins/ relays / leds / resistors. Even if you just freehand draw it and take a picture and post is better then nothing. A proper schematic is the only true language to use in electronics.
Some LEDS require 3.2 or 3.5 V ( blue ), there is a chance that current / brightness would be low.
Redesign your matrix 3x5 or use higher voltage source. If your power isn't regulated, it could be anything between 12 - 16 V. Don't use 1 OHm resistors, they don't have much sense, as a voltage across led varying significantly. Let say 3.2 V x 4 = 12.8, so current would be lower than 20 or so mA. For 2.8 V x 4 = 11.2 V, with 1 OHm current goes high up to 800 mA !
You need a spare 3-5 volts above to keep current under control.
The black dots are the relay pins. 3 on one side and 2 on the other. From the picture below it seems as though i did hook it up correctly? With the coil being on the side of the 3 dots...
I used 3.3v as the forward voltage since that's the highest it will need to go (blue). So i figured the RED and Green would work just fine with that?
As for the ASCII drawings i changed the specs listed to:
12v Source voltage
3.3 diode forward voltage
20 diode forward current (mA)
18 number of LEDs in your array
Solution 0: 3 x 6 array uses 18 LEDs exactly
+----|>|----|>|----|>|---/\/\/----+ R = 120 ohms
+----|>|----|>|----|>|---/\/\/----+ R = 120 ohms
+----|>|----|>|----|>|---/\/\/----+ R = 120 ohms
+----|>|----|>|----|>|---/\/\/----+ R = 120 ohms
+----|>|----|>|----|>|---/\/\/----+ R = 120 ohms
+----|>|----|>|----|>|---/\/\/----+ R = 120 ohms
If I read the datasheet correctly, the coil connections are correct (although I like to put a current limiting resistor in series with the coil), but the LED will not work as you've drawn it. The pin in between the coil pins appears to be one end of the switch, while the pin you connected to the cathode is the normally closed (NC) connection. Please read up on using current limiting resistors with LEDs - your proposal is not likely to work.
Well when I ask for what current you are running and you reply in voltage it is a bit confusing.
I am wondering why you want to turn all the LEDs in an RGB LED on at the same time. The result will be White and a not very balanced White at that. You have to experiment with diffrent resistor values to get a balance otherwise I have found the light will be tinged with too much green. You would be much better off using whight LEDs because the light is more pure and you can wire those in series.
