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I just got my arduino kit in the mail yesterday from the free day (also known as break my f5 key day). I stayed up all night toying with some infrared lights.

by ambiate 17y ago

I just got my arduino kit in the mail yesterday from the free day (also known as break my f5 key day). I stayed up all night toying with some infrared lights. I removed the infrared sensor from my craptacular logitech webcam and the fun began. The first thing I noticed from hooking up a few hundred ir leds (best $5 spent on ebay) was the heat the board was producing. This makes me consider dusting off the nerd kit and hooking up the TX/RX to the nerd kit and have 1/4 of the leds on the nerd kit and some of the data processing working there. My end goal is to make a tablet, but right now I'm just toying with a desk sized white board.

CrLf 17y ago
The regulator on the Arduino is made only for low current output (500mA max, I think), not to mention the Arduino pins should not exceed 20mA or they will most likely burn out. If you are drawing enough current to make the board (I'm assuming, the regulator) go hot, you should be using a bigger external regulator to power the LEDs.
compumike 17y ago
Hey ambiate, I think you were one of the first few hundred USB NerdKit customers, before we added the 2N7000 MOSFETs to the mix. Those would probably make your life easier in terms of controlling a bunch of of LEDs at once just for pure power handling reasons. (Won't dive into this here -- ask on our forums for more info.) If you haven't logged in to our site recently, then be aware that we have lots of customers playing with IR at the moment, for example: a custom IR TX/RX remote control (two separate microcontrollers) plus accelerometer at http://www.nerdkits.com/forum/thread/458/ http://www.nerdkits.com/forum/thread/458/ a intervalometer, sending commands to a Nikon or Canon camera via IR remote protocol at http://www.nerdkits.com/forum/thread/338/ http://www.nerdkits.com/forum/thread/338/ as well as lots of customers getting into our recently-released LED Array Kit and controlling lots of LEDs (although where individual control is favored over total brightness). Mike (co-founder, NerdKits)
- ambiate 17y ago
  Thanks Mike! You're absolutely correct. At 20 cents a pop I can't really complain either. On a side note, I'm absolutely floored by a response not only on HN but by email too! That's great business. Thanks for the links and info.

by ambiate 17y ago

CrLf 17y ago

The regulator on the Arduino is made only for low current output (500mA max, I think), not to mention the Arduino pins should not exceed 20mA or they will most likely burn out. If you are drawing enough current to make the board (I'm assuming, the regulator) go hot, you should be using a bigger external regulator to power the LEDs.

compumike 17y ago

Hey ambiate, I think you were one of the first few hundred USB NerdKit customers, before we added the 2N7000 MOSFETs to the mix. Those would probably make your life easier in terms of controlling a bunch of of LEDs at once just for pure power handling reasons. (Won't dive into this here -- ask on our forums for more info.) If you haven't logged in to our site recently, then be aware that we have lots of customers playing with IR at the moment, for example: a custom IR TX/RX remote control (two separate microcontrollers) plus accelerometer at http://www.nerdkits.com/forum/thread/458/ http://www.nerdkits.com/forum/thread/458/ a intervalometer, sending commands to a Nikon or Canon camera via IR remote protocol at http://www.nerdkits.com/forum/thread/338/ http://www.nerdkits.com/forum/thread/338/ as well as lots of customers getting into our recently-released LED Array Kit and controlling lots of LEDs (although where individual control is favored over total brightness). Mike (co-founder, NerdKits)

ambiate 17y ago
Thanks Mike! You're absolutely correct. At 20 cents a pop I can't really complain either. On a side note, I'm absolutely floored by a response not only on HN but by email too! That's great business. Thanks for the links and info.