Hello there,
I'm enduring on a project, and it might be (it is) crazy. My goal is to make a superbright (stadium like) multicolor lighting for an outdoor concert my friends are having. I want to power 24 3w (3 x 1w) RGB LEDs individually from a microcomputer. I am utilizing PWM to dim each bulb. Most of the time, these things will only be running on 20-100mA current at the brightest inside. However, I want to be able to flash some of the bulbs to full power for a split second or move it outside for this concert and cover a very large area with this colored light. Actually, I just want to overdo it
This thing will be very, very, very bright (which is what I want) - however my search for the right driver for each channel is starting to kill me.
I know I dont need all 350mA for something so bright it can burn my retinas in seconds, but I still want all 350mA for each channel. I have a large heatsink for all of the LEDS (a nice piece of half inch alluminum they are thermal pasted to) - so the heat from those aren't an issue right now.
I'm having problems selecting the right constant current driver IC for my circuit. I have a 5V, 150W power supply and 24 of these fun things:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.4530
If I use a regular linear constant current source with my 5V supply - or carefully calculated resistor values - I'm going to get plenty of heat (about 2.5 watts per LED!) - which is extremely inefficient
Here's another problem: Money! I'm a college student, and my budget for this project is < USD$400
My goal was to make each LED driver < $3 in components, so I have some money left over to make a nice frame and PCB. I can do higher, but I may cringe.
Can anyone recommend a highly efficient way of driving these monsters? Does anyone know of an IC for what I need? I have already taken Circuits I, II, and taking Electronics I at my college in the first semester of my Junior year studying Computer Engineering. Unfortunately, thermodynamics isn't in my course load anytime soon.
Thanks for your help!
Andrew
I'm enduring on a project, and it might be (it is) crazy. My goal is to make a superbright (stadium like) multicolor lighting for an outdoor concert my friends are having. I want to power 24 3w (3 x 1w) RGB LEDs individually from a microcomputer. I am utilizing PWM to dim each bulb. Most of the time, these things will only be running on 20-100mA current at the brightest inside. However, I want to be able to flash some of the bulbs to full power for a split second or move it outside for this concert and cover a very large area with this colored light. Actually, I just want to overdo it
This thing will be very, very, very bright (which is what I want) - however my search for the right driver for each channel is starting to kill me.
I know I dont need all 350mA for something so bright it can burn my retinas in seconds, but I still want all 350mA for each channel. I have a large heatsink for all of the LEDS (a nice piece of half inch alluminum they are thermal pasted to) - so the heat from those aren't an issue right now.
I'm having problems selecting the right constant current driver IC for my circuit. I have a 5V, 150W power supply and 24 of these fun things:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.4530
If I use a regular linear constant current source with my 5V supply - or carefully calculated resistor values - I'm going to get plenty of heat (about 2.5 watts per LED!) - which is extremely inefficient
Here's another problem: Money! I'm a college student, and my budget for this project is < USD$400
My goal was to make each LED driver < $3 in components, so I have some money left over to make a nice frame and PCB. I can do higher, but I may cringe.
Can anyone recommend a highly efficient way of driving these monsters? Does anyone know of an IC for what I need? I have already taken Circuits I, II, and taking Electronics I at my college in the first semester of my Junior year studying Computer Engineering. Unfortunately, thermodynamics isn't in my course load anytime soon.
Thanks for your help!
Andrew