Author Archives: Jeremy

RGBW LED Controller ver 2.2!

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Control your blinky!!!

Meet the RGBW LED Controller. It is a LED controller that features an embedded ATmega328 with an Arduino bootloader for easy programming, 4 channel LED control with dimming, 5 or 12 volt output, IR receiver, XBee header, RS-232 or TTL serial I/O, 2 push buttons, 12 pin extensions for all unused pins (6 analog and 6 digital), power and channel LED indicators, and dual power input options. You can control 5 or 12 volt LED’s via serial with adjustments to the level of any channel with ramping to the desired level, rate of ramping, color cycle start and stop, rate of color cycle, length of stay on each color during cycle. Fans and motors can also be driven with ease. You can buy one for only $35 with the Paypal link below! Be sure and also visit the complete assembly tutorial! Power supplies, RGB and white LED strips, FTDI Friend or FTDI Cable and XBee’s and XBee adapters are available at Adafruit!

Updates include an additional power input option, more pin options, thicker traces for more power handling, and some slight fixes/adjustments.

I now have an updated downloadable PDF manual with pictures and linked index! 🙂

You can purchase them in the store!

Remember, this is not a shield, it works standalone, without an Arduino!

Powering Solar Projects

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I had mentioned in my Solar Badge post that I had tried to replicate the sun to power a Solar Badge and could not. I improved my method (by placing the HID lamp in a driving light reflector) and achieved full voltage, but not full amperage. You can see in the pictures below, the Solar Badge will put out 5V at 40mA without question. In this quick video you will see an HID light powering a Solar Badge as well as my ATX power supply failing and quickly (and time lapsely) preparing another one. 🙂  Continue reading →

Stress Relief..

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So I had a long day, and as I was cleaning my office I found some LED’s that were less than optimal. I’m not usually destructive, but it was time to blow them up. I love how the LED’s physically move as they die, so cool. The picture below is the last LED that smoked (click for full size), it was a trooper, lots of smoke. Outtakes at the end of the video.

Solar Temperature Badge

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Adafruit now carries Solar Badges! It’s like free outdoor 5V batteries forever! I picked up a few of these and have been toying around what I’m going to do with them. They pump out 5V at 40mA for all of your portable power needs. The other huge plus about these is that the cell is a 2″ round badge that comes with a pin. This makes your power supply wearable to show the world your project!  As described in the video above, this badge measures temperature, displays a color scale from red to blue, and flashes digits, displayed as numbered pulses for the temperature. It also has a RGB ‘rainbow’ mode for bling as well as constant color changing temperature display. It was a fun little project and you can pick up the Solar Badge, Perma-Proto Boards, TMP36 Temp Sensor, Tilt Switch, Push Button, RGB LED, and even the ATmega328 at Adafruit. Continue reading →