Spark Fun electronics has a new RGB controller for LEDS – “The RGB Matrix Controller is a small backpack that attaches to an Red/Green/Blue LED matrix and allows control over simple serial SPI communication. This allieviates the end user from having to do the individual LED scanning and refreshing. 7 different colors are possible on any of the 64 LEDs in the array. You can even reprogram the on board ATMega8 to monitor external sensors and switches! Also available in a Red/Green configuration.” – Link.
4 thoughts on “RGB LED Matrix controller”
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How easily could this be controlled directly from a computer? I’m looking for something like this, roughly the size of the display in the picture (8 LEDs tall, perhaps 40-56 wide) to use as a pinball score display – I’ll be running it from a PC, so I need it to be able to connect via serial, parallel, or USB port, and be able to quickly react to changes in what it is displaying, and take orders from a custom program…
Any help would be appreciated…
-Johthe
Johthe. You’d need to build an MCU based interface between the PC and these controllers. It’s not very difficult, but if you have to ask it’s probably more complex than you want.
Also note that each 8×8 panel is $60 including the contoller, so 48-56 wide = $360-$420. For a lot less than that you can buy a commercial unit with a PC computer connection.
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This product is of interest to me, but that 7 different colors thing make it very junky. Each of the RGB dies can be on or off. For $60 per 8×8 panel they should have made it PWM the colors.