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TinyCircuits Products => TinyDuino Processors & TinyShields => Topic started by: flyntm on November 04, 2020, 06:30:42 PM

Title: Tri-Colored LEDs
Post by: flyntm on November 04, 2020, 06:30:42 PM

I'm trying to figure out how to hook up some Tri-Colored LEDs to a TinyDuino with a PROTO TERMINAL BLOCKS TINYSHIELD.  The LEDs I'm looking at have 4 wires and the following specs.
DC 2V-2.2V(R) 3V-3.2V (G/B) Volt 20mA, Polarity (2 V) : Cathode "-" (Longer Leg) | Anode "+" (Shorter Leg)

So If I read this right, The red requires a different V than the G/B.  I'd like to wire up 4 of these LEDs

I'm certainly no EE so any help you can give on how to hook this up would be appreciated.  And I probably need some hints as to how to write the code too.

Or if you have a better way to approach this, I'm not stuck on these LEDs :)

Thanks so much for your kind attention.

Title: Re: Tri-Colored LEDs
Post by: lennevia on November 05, 2020, 11:54:14 AM

Hello,

I cannot be quite sure since I don't know what exact LEDs you have, but it sounds like you have tricolor LEDs that may require some resistors to be connected in series with each of the "colored" leads. I found a tutorial that might be helpful: https://create.arduino.cc/projecthub/muhammad-aqib/arduino-rgb-led-tutorial-fc003e

I believe the best way to approach would be to use some RGB LED Wirelings (https://tinycircuits.com/collections/wirelings/products/serial-rgb-led-wireling) and a Wireling Adapter TinyShield (https://tinycircuits.com/collections/wirelings/products/wireling-adapter-tinyshield) - this way you do not have to worry about connecting these tricolor LEDs and keeping track of the pins, just the labeled ports - you can also string them together, and there is an easy-to-use library, FastLED, that includes a lot of functionality that makes it easy to work with.

It depends on what you would like to accomplish!

I hope that helps!

Thanks

Title: Re: Tri-Colored LEDs
Post by: flyntm on November 05, 2020, 05:26:00 PM

That was very helpful. Thank you.  The wirelings seem like a great idea but my project is for the outdoors.  I don't see a good way to weatherize the RGB LED Wireling.

Title: Re: Tri-Colored LEDs
Post by: flyntm on November 09, 2020, 06:17:02 PM

The link you sent me was quite helpful and I'm hoping you can point me in the right direction a bit further.  The link you provided showed me how to power the LEDs from the Arduino, but what I really need to do is power the LEDs from a separate 12 V power source but control them from the Arduino. Can you point me at something to give me a hit as to how to go about this?

Title: Re: Tri-Colored LEDs
Post by: lennevia on November 09, 2020, 06:31:04 PM

I would say that you might need a voltage regulator to step down the voltage.

You can look for more resources on the Arduino forum: https://forum.arduino.cc/

Or I would advise you to contact the vendor of your tricolor LEDs and ask them.