Led driver IC

What would be the best way to drive some Nichia leds in parallel. I have quite a few I want to drive from a 555 (flasher circuit) wich will only handle up to 200ma.

Are there any cheap led drivers IC out there ?

Or should I just use plain old 2n2222 transistors ?

Thank's
Canuck

Are you trying to drive them from a lower-voltage source (a step-up converter) or just trying to flash them on and off?

When most people here see "LED driver", they think of a step-up converter that allows you to run a 3.6v LED off of 2.4-3V batteries.

If you're just looking to turn LEDs on and off, probably any old transistor will do.

Thank's ' i tried a 2n2222 and it works fine.

I trigger the transistor from the output of a 555 chip to flash.

I was looking for a chip that has an array of outputs maybe 8 that can drive the leds from a low voltage trigger rather than using a multitude of transistors.

I'm looking for the same thing. I actually somewhere in my files have a data sheet and chip from TI for this. This was a few years ago before I found out about Nichia blue LEDs so I don't know if it will work with those and in searching the web I have so far been unable to find it again.

I will try and dig through my old files and see if I can find it this weekend. But if anyone else knows of this please post.

As I recall it was designed specifically for CMOS or TTL logic so it would work great with a 555.

Sound's interesting. Let me know what you find !