{"id":150,"date":"2019-05-20T16:26:34","date_gmt":"2019-05-20T22:26:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wolfpack.xyz\/blog\/?p=150"},"modified":"2019-05-20T17:50:22","modified_gmt":"2019-05-20T23:50:22","slug":"on-the-topic-of-led-brightness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.wolfpack.xyz\/blog\/?p=150","title":{"rendered":"On the topic of LED brightness"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I think a vision most builders have for their completed panels are having them all lit up with loads of various LEDs and indicators. I too have the same vision. However one thing to keep in mind is that some LEDs can be quite bright, especially the blue and white LEDs.(I’ll come back to this) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now if you have even a little electronics knowledge you should know that you cant have an LED hooked directly hooked up to the 5 or 3.3V power supply of your arduino. You NEED a resistor to limit current and prevent killing your precious diodes. For standard 5mm LEDs a resistor somewhere in the range of 220 and 330 ohms is a good place to start. Obviously the more ohms the dimmer the light will become.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The LEDs I bulk ordered from china are quite bright especially when it comes to the Blue and White varieties. Having a bunch lit up shining in your face while your trying to play the game isn’t optimal. So I figured before I bulk order a bunch of resistors I should test each color LED and find a resistor value that gives each color an even and comfortable brightness. At first I thought the best way to do this would be to use a potentiometer in series with the LED to tune the brightness to a level I was happy with then use a multi-meter to measure the resulting resistance value. This is a perfectly acceptable way to do this but then I came across a method I liked a little better. (and is a lot more precise and reliable)<\/p>\n\n\n\n