LED Rainbow

RGB LED PWM Driver

The LED Rainbow is a dedicated Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) controller which generates color changing effects with RGB LED lighting products. The circuit controls three outputs, each which has the ability to run an LED segment, and with three segments, is a natural for the control of RGB LED arrays.

Sequences are fully customizable and are contained in the microcontroller, which has the ability to strobe, cycle and fade the lighting, creating a massive palette of over 16 million colors using Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) technology. Each output has a resolution of 8-bits, which gives each color a range of 256 intensities and when the three colors are mixed together, a full rainbow of color combinations is possible.

With a minimal parts count, the LED Rainbow is very economical for the hobbyist to build, using industry standard components and running off of a standard 12v-15v power supply. The 2" (51mm) square board is a double sided construction with a detailed silk-screen which aids in the placement of the components.

Want to see the LED Rainbow in action? Posted on YouTube is a video of the controller running one of our LED MR16 RGB display board, holding four RGB LEDs, and housed in a standard household frosted lamp globe. Assembly time of this project was about one hour and the results are amazing to see and produce a bright, shadow-free show. We have seen our LED Rainbow incorporated into other lighting products also, including acrylic displays for edge lighting.

We have an Instructable now, which is a very detailed construction guide of the LED Rainbow. The Instructable walkthrough of the complete assembly process of one of the systems and can be completed by even a beginner at electronics in about 30 minutes.

We will be providing additional code for the LED Rainbow, and we encourage you to visit our support web site often to view the different coding sequences we may come up with. All are fully downloadable for free and can be programmed into your own PIC processor (providing you have a PIC programmer). Additional detailed support including coding information is also on our support web site to assist you in creating your own effects.