programmable rgb led

[johnd1234]

hey

Ive been working on a project that evolves being able to change the colour of leds. ive researched online and can find several projects like this that use aurdino to program the colour. the only problem with these is the led must always be connected to the audrino. I was wondering would this be possible to do but be able to remove the programmer and be able to use the led programmed to the last colour. An idea I had for this was to possibly use digital potentiometers with non volatile memory. im not sure if this is possible and would greatly appricate if any one has any suggestions on how I may achieve my project

thank you

 

[BobK]

You are not really programming anything, you are constantly turning each of the R, G, and B LEDs on an off, with the % of off time controlling the color. This is a dynamic process that must continue to go on if the color is to remain set.

A microcontroller is by far the simplest hardware you could use to control the color of and LED that way. It need not be an Arduidno. A PIC or AVR microcontroller, 3 resistors and the LED is all the hardware you need. It cannot get simpler than that.

Bob

 

[johnd1234]

thanks for response the reason I was looking to remove the programmer was I need the finished circuit when the color of the led is set to fit into a small unit

 

[(*steve*)]

You might want to look up the WS2812 and (even better in many respects) the APA102.

These really are "programmable" (for some value of programmable). You can tell them what colour to display and they do it.

 

[Gryd3]

If the space allows... use this:
http://thingm.com/products/blinkm/

You 'program' it first with an Arduino, then can disconnect it. (It still has a small controller for itself.. there is no way around that)

How much space are you limited to?
Does the LED need to be 'programmed' or can it be set with a couple potentiometers?

 

[johnd1234]

If the space allows... use this:
http://thingm.com/products/blinkm/

You 'program' it first with an Arduino, then can disconnect it. (It still has a small controller for itself.. there is no way around that)

How much space are you limited to?
Does the LED need to be 'programmed' or can it be set with a couple potentiometers?

thanks for your reply the space is a 10mm diameter tube no longer than a pen
the reason I suggested 'programming' was to try and achieve a wider spectrum of colors

 

[BobK]

If you simply want to build a circuit that sets the LED to a certain color and then it remains that way, you can use 3 resistors to set the current in the R, G and B LEDs.

Bob