Once again the people behind the tronixstuff website have published another in their series of Arduino tutorials. In the latest instalment they explain how to use the Texas Instruments TLC5940 16-channel PWM driver IC. This is a neat IC that allows individual control of 16 output channels via pulse-width modulation and also offers a constant current output. With this you can control lots of LEDs, common-anode LED displays and also up to sixteen servos at once, with four being demonstrated at once in the tutorial:
Everything you need to get started is described, and the tutorial covers the required circuitry, example Arduino sketches and some interesting notes regarding heat dissipation - so for more information visit the tutorial page. And for more, we're on twitter and Google+, so follow us for news and product updates as well.
If you're interested in controlling more than sixteen LEDs for display purposes, check out our range of Dot Matrix Displays:
Available in a variety of colours, they consist of a 32 by 16 matrix of LEDs. Included with the DMD is a cable to directly connect with an Arduino-compatible board, and at low brightness (which is still fine to read indoors) you can power one DMD from the Arduino. However by connecting 5V at 2.5A for each board they operate at a brightness which is visible anywhere. Furthermore you can daisy-chain (with the included cable) six or more displays for great effects. So for more information head over to the DMD pages today.
