gduprey
Newly Enlightened
Howdy All,
Just joined but I'm wishing I'd found the place a long time ago!
My passion is RGB LEDs and finding ways to make it easier to put them wherever you want and being able to control them from a central point (or not).
To that end, I've designed two RGBLED controllers -- one that control up to 13 RGB LEDs (39 outputs) and a small compact one that can drive 3 RGBLEDs (9 outputs).
All LEDs are driven via PWM (the larger one via some PWM chips, the smaller one done in software) via a PIC processor. The LEDs can be controlled over a serial interface (only needing one serial line and ground) from any computer with a serial port.
Each board has the following:
* Ability to set each LED to 1 of 16 million colors (i.e. 24 bit RGB)
* Ability to define "animations" (more below)
* Ability to program initial LED states (including animation) as power up defaults
* Ability to slave LED outputs (for more current or just driving more LEDs)
* Drive common anode or common cathode LEDs (smaller "mRGBLED" only)
* Drive common anode LEDs at 20ma with no current limiting resistors (larger RGBLED only)
The animation stuff is optional, but you can do things like say "fade LED #0 from red to blue over 2 minutes" or "pulse LED #3 from bright to dim red at 1hz" or anything else. There is a color table that can handle 32 colors and those colors can be allocated in any configuration to the LEDs (so you could have a 32 step color table on LED 0 or have LED 0 and 1 have 10 steps each and LED 2 have 12, etc).
Each controller can have the state of each LED stored in EEPROM for power up defaults. So if you just want to program the color, state (on/off) or even animations for LEDs and then want the unit to run independent/unconnected to a computer, you just download the configuratio, save it and disconnect from the computer. Nice thing is, you can later reconnect and reprogram it. Of course, you can leave the computer connected all the time, if it helps.
I include a Java RGBLED test program that lets you experiment with the boards, test colors, animations, etc and save them as power up defaults. I also include a xPL module that allows control over all your RGBLED drivers from anywhere on a LAN (xPL is a simple network oriented automation protocol that has lots of support for). And for those wanting to interface directly, the control protocol is a simple text based protocol that is full documented.
All source code and PC Board CAD files are available for download free for non-commercial use. I also offer a small store so that if folks want a few PC boards (I make them up in batches) or want pre-programmed PICs (the rest of the stuff you can get locally), they can buy it. But that is only a **convenience** -- you do not need to use/buy things from it at all to get this going -- there are no "hidden" parts to the project. All the files you need to compile it yourself or even get PC Board fabricated is included in the distribution.
Anyway -- sorry for the big windy intro. You can read more about it at www.rgbled.org
Final note: There seems to be folks from all sorts of technical and non-tech backgrounds here. This is definitely more a techie thing, not a "finished product", so while you can get the boards assembled if you don't want to solder, even then it will require some electronics (like calculating dropping resistors (mRGBLED only) or connecting the serial port wires or getting a 5 volt power supply, etc).
Gerry
P.S. If this is the wrong place for this post, please feel free to let me know or just move it. I couldn't quite decide where the best place was, so I looked for the most RGBLED references and this forum seemed to be it
P.S. again -- I'll be posting an updated distribution to the rgbled.org site in the next few days with markedly improved firmware for the smaller RGBLED driver (the mRGBLED driver). So if you decide to play around, go ahead, but before you seal a chip in epoxy, wait until the weekend for the updated firmware
Just joined but I'm wishing I'd found the place a long time ago!
My passion is RGB LEDs and finding ways to make it easier to put them wherever you want and being able to control them from a central point (or not).
To that end, I've designed two RGBLED controllers -- one that control up to 13 RGB LEDs (39 outputs) and a small compact one that can drive 3 RGBLEDs (9 outputs).
All LEDs are driven via PWM (the larger one via some PWM chips, the smaller one done in software) via a PIC processor. The LEDs can be controlled over a serial interface (only needing one serial line and ground) from any computer with a serial port.
Each board has the following:
* Ability to set each LED to 1 of 16 million colors (i.e. 24 bit RGB)
* Ability to define "animations" (more below)
* Ability to program initial LED states (including animation) as power up defaults
* Ability to slave LED outputs (for more current or just driving more LEDs)
* Drive common anode or common cathode LEDs (smaller "mRGBLED" only)
* Drive common anode LEDs at 20ma with no current limiting resistors (larger RGBLED only)
The animation stuff is optional, but you can do things like say "fade LED #0 from red to blue over 2 minutes" or "pulse LED #3 from bright to dim red at 1hz" or anything else. There is a color table that can handle 32 colors and those colors can be allocated in any configuration to the LEDs (so you could have a 32 step color table on LED 0 or have LED 0 and 1 have 10 steps each and LED 2 have 12, etc).
Each controller can have the state of each LED stored in EEPROM for power up defaults. So if you just want to program the color, state (on/off) or even animations for LEDs and then want the unit to run independent/unconnected to a computer, you just download the configuratio, save it and disconnect from the computer. Nice thing is, you can later reconnect and reprogram it. Of course, you can leave the computer connected all the time, if it helps.
I include a Java RGBLED test program that lets you experiment with the boards, test colors, animations, etc and save them as power up defaults. I also include a xPL module that allows control over all your RGBLED drivers from anywhere on a LAN (xPL is a simple network oriented automation protocol that has lots of support for). And for those wanting to interface directly, the control protocol is a simple text based protocol that is full documented.
All source code and PC Board CAD files are available for download free for non-commercial use. I also offer a small store so that if folks want a few PC boards (I make them up in batches) or want pre-programmed PICs (the rest of the stuff you can get locally), they can buy it. But that is only a **convenience** -- you do not need to use/buy things from it at all to get this going -- there are no "hidden" parts to the project. All the files you need to compile it yourself or even get PC Board fabricated is included in the distribution.
Anyway -- sorry for the big windy intro. You can read more about it at www.rgbled.org
Final note: There seems to be folks from all sorts of technical and non-tech backgrounds here. This is definitely more a techie thing, not a "finished product", so while you can get the boards assembled if you don't want to solder, even then it will require some electronics (like calculating dropping resistors (mRGBLED only) or connecting the serial port wires or getting a 5 volt power supply, etc).
Gerry
P.S. If this is the wrong place for this post, please feel free to let me know or just move it. I couldn't quite decide where the best place was, so I looked for the most RGBLED references and this forum seemed to be it
P.S. again -- I'll be posting an updated distribution to the rgbled.org site in the next few days with markedly improved firmware for the smaller RGBLED driver (the mRGBLED driver). So if you decide to play around, go ahead, but before you seal a chip in epoxy, wait until the weekend for the updated firmware