Let me just start off by saying I have never worked with microcontrollers before, so please bear with me. I do have some experience in designing circuits and intend to use a C compiler via MPLAB to program the microcontroller.
My objective is to build an LED array (25x6). I would like to be able to display various patterns on it. Can I do this with a single microcontroller? Is there any way to design it so that the LEDs will remain on? All the LED arrays I've looked up on the net take advantage of persistence of vision. These use outputs on the microcontroller for each column and row in the array. Even if I modelled my 25x6 as a 12x13, this would still require 25 outputs. So this design doesn't appear scale to larger arrays (if you are using a single microcontroller) since there wouldn't be enough time to go through every row/column before the human eye notices. Is the only solution for larger arrays to use multiple microcontrollers (basically 2 LED arrays)? Are there perhaps something like a memory array I could use to store high/low logic for individual rows 12 LEDs (ie microprocessor tells row1 memory bank: 010010100110) such that exploitation of persistence of vision would not required?
My objective is to build an LED array (25x6). I would like to be able to display various patterns on it. Can I do this with a single microcontroller? Is there any way to design it so that the LEDs will remain on? All the LED arrays I've looked up on the net take advantage of persistence of vision. These use outputs on the microcontroller for each column and row in the array. Even if I modelled my 25x6 as a 12x13, this would still require 25 outputs. So this design doesn't appear scale to larger arrays (if you are using a single microcontroller) since there wouldn't be enough time to go through every row/column before the human eye notices. Is the only solution for larger arrays to use multiple microcontrollers (basically 2 LED arrays)? Are there perhaps something like a memory array I could use to store high/low logic for individual rows 12 LEDs (ie microprocessor tells row1 memory bank: 010010100110) such that exploitation of persistence of vision would not required?