So I'm fairly new to Arduino, programing, and micro-controllers, so bear with me as I get up to speed.
I'm building an LED effect into a 6ft glass and steel chandelier. I was using the Arduino Uno with the Sparkfun PWM Shield (TLC5940). I was putting 2 small LED's in each of the 16 PWM ports the PWM Shield provides, so I could have 32 LED outputs. The effect was not bright enough so I beefed up the LED's to Superflux 4DIP SuperBright White LED's Outputting 40mA, 140mW, and running at 3- 5.2V (3.7V typ) and soldered 220ohm 1W resistors to the Cathode of each LED to offset the 12V power supply. I picked up a 12V, 1.2A power supply to feed them independently from the Arduino.
When I attempted to hook it all up as per attached diagram, I fried the PWM Shield. Now I originally wired the 5V pin from Arduino to the 5V pin on the Sparkfun Shield, which I believe was one mistake.
Now I notice the VIN pins on the top of the Sparkfun Shield seems like I can hook up 6.5-16V as addition power (the the VIN pins on the 16 port PWM breakout I presume?). As soon as any power connects on the VIN breakout the Chip, again, smokes and fries.
So new chips are on the way, but I'm still troubleshooting.
I believe I need to introduce Optocouplers to keep the two power supplies separate.
I wanted to make sure I was heading in the right direction.
I also was curious about how to properly use the VIN breakout on the PWM Shield, because I feel like I should be able to power off of that without all the work arounds (especially if it supposed to be strong enough to handle multiple servos).
Please let me know what you think,
Evan Nie, Lighting Guy
