Lightuino Led Driver 30 superstackable

Specifications

Arduino-compatible
100% Software compatible (and register compatible) with Arduino sketches.

Open source software library (Arduino sketch compatible) lets you easily program the LED state, set LED brightness individually, and do intensity fading.

Hardware

Stackable
You can stack multiple Lightuinos to control more than 70 LEDs, or stack Arduinos or Arduino shields on top or below.

Almost 100% Shield compatible

The Arduino’s 3.3v output pin is not provided (but you should be able to use a 3.3v shield by providing your own 3.3v supply).

Uses an FTDI cable (USB to serial) instead of having an onboard FTDI chip. Cable not included Cables are available from many vendors; google search “FTDI cable”.

Accepts USB power or 7.5-16v DC via 2.1mm jack (same size as the Arduino/Boarduino, etc).

common connectors

All LED sink control and power lines are exposed via 2 EIDE ribbon cable 40-pin connectors (AKA hard drive cables). This makes it very easy to connect up to LEDs.

The source driver uses a 16 pin ribbon cable connector. This is a pretty common part and is also available cheaply through us.

CPU core
This is just the highlights. Please refer to the ATMEGA 328 spec for more information
AVR 328p microprocessor
8 Analog inputs
32k Flash
1K EEPROM
2K bytes SRAM
16 Mhz

LED Sink Drivers

2 M5451 constant current chips

Capable of sinking 70 outputs at 15-20 mA, at 12 volts. This is not an LED matrix driver LEDs that are “on” do not blink giving you a much brighter light than a matrix driver.

Independent control of all 70 outputs from CPU (on or off). Brightness of all LEDs can also be controlled, and apparent brightness of individual LEDs can be controlled via open-source software PWM library.

Any 4 CPU IO pins can be selected to drive the LEDs via soldered jumper wires. This lets you stack Lightuinos or use Arduino-shields that do not let you choose their IO pins.

Selectable LED voltage via a trim pot/variable resistor lets you choose brightness and carefully “match” the brightness output from each M5451 chip.

LED Source Driver
16 500mA outputs are available to drive current into LEDs or other devices. Note however that the board’s maximum current is less than 8A, so these cannot all be on at the same time at full power.

In conjunction with the LED sink driver, you can make an LED matrix that is 70×16 (or 35×32) LEDs in size (1120 LEDS total).

Variable voltage regulator
An onboard 1.5Amp variable voltage regulator can be used to select the perfect voltage for your LEDs.

Ambient Light sensor
An ambient light sensor is onboard so you can turn on your project in the evening!

IR receiver

This 38khz infrared receiver will work with most TV remotes and all “universal” remotes. Use a remote control to control your project!!

Software
Software to drive all this hardware is available as an Arduino libraries, so you only need to write code specific to what you want to do.

Disclaimer

This is a DIY board, not a consumer product. As with all electronic circuit boards, it IS possible to fry it, burn out LEDs, or possibly even start a fire if used improperly.