So I finally broke down and made a bigger version of Aurora 9x18, Aurora 18x18.
Just as the name implies, it has twice the number of LEDs. The overall dimension is seven inches in diameter. They say bigger isn't always better, but in this instance bigger is indeed better.
*** The kits and PCBs are available at http://www.theledart.com/blog/aurora-18x18 ***
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Aurora 18x18 is built upon the same foundation. Special PWM technique enabling just one microcontroller to control 18x3(R/G/B) channels of brightness levels, without specialized LED controller ICs.
In addition to doubling the number of LEDs, Aurora 18x18 has a built-in infrared remote receiver. Now you can control this beauty from across the room, without leaving your chair.










































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I don't understand something about the PWM concept.
You say the PIC runs as 32 MHZ, so 8MIPS.
You write that the width of the chart in your 9x18 instrutable is 8.1 ms.
8000000 / 1000 * 8.1 = 65536
SO the width of the chart is 65536 instructions.
There are 256 PWM steps and each step is split into three substeps.
65536 / 256 / 3 = 85
If the maximum width of each substep is 85 you cant increase the length of each pulse 256 times, but in the graph in the 9x18 instructable, this is what happens.
What am I missing?
Not sure if I understand what you are saying, but my implementation on Aurora only has 128 levels of brightness levels.
R/G/B channels each go through 127 varying width of pulses to form equivalent of one phase of PWM output. The basic idea is to control the PWM output in exponential curve, instead of linear typical of usual PWM. And to control multiple LEDs, hardware produced pulses are multiplied with the software controlled output pins to keep the timing precise, and reduce the processing time.
My implementation also has a benefit of reducing visible flicker, by breaking up each PWM cycle into subcycles - similar to spread spectrum technique used by specialized LED controller chips.
can you send me/ or post a complete list of parts for the Aurora 18x18 like the 918-Bom.csv for the dikikeys site.
please, i don´t find the corecct parts.
best regards and thank for the help
Do you have any plans to make a larger version of either the 9x18 or 18x18 i.e. the same number of LEDs but spaced further apart?
18X18 looks great.
What is the price of fullly assembled unit?
How are you?
I have not decided if I sell assembled units. It takes hours to assemble those, so I can't make that many...
Thanks,
Aki
Or you can buy them from me: http://www.theledart.com/blog/archives/496
If you need 1000's of them, let me know and I will let you know of a whole seller.
Yeah color organ mode looks a lot better than I imagined. The idea was around for a while, then I finally did it, and I'm glad that I did.
Aki
Thanks,
Aki
Thomas