Wiring LEDs and Arduino microcontroller

[iLloyd]

I have an Arduino Yun and I was going to buy this LED strip (http://www.adafruit.com/product/306) (1 meter of it). Would I be able to power the Arduino and the LED strip from the Voltage Regulator Module? What wires would I use to wire the power to the Arduino as it uses those odd jumper cable slots?

Thanks!

[TheHolyHades1]

Isiah,

Since you've specified that you're using an Arduino Yun, I should mention here that it does not have in built voltage regulation - so, if you're powering it in any fashion other than the USB input (I believe USB output from a laptop / similar is usually regulated, but not always), then you'll definitely want to have a regulator of some sort. You can apply a +5V line to the Vin pin, and the ground line to the GND pin.

From the arduino yun website:

There is no built in 5V regulator. If you power your Yún with more than 5V, you will likely damage it. If you are not powering the Yún from the micro-USB connection, you can apply power to the VIN and 5V pins on the board. If using the VIN pin, you cannot provide more than 5V, it will damage your board. It is recommended to power the Yún from the USB connection whenever possible.

Also remember that the arduino yun will by default create a wireless network that you will want to disable, should you choose to use this for a competition robot.

Anyway, now that that's done:

The strip you've linked is a 5V LED strip. Conveniently, this is the same voltage as the arduino requires. If you give either of the devices anything more, you'll blow them up. From the AM website, it seems that there are 4 5V outputs on the VRM - 2 with a 500 mA limit, and 2 with a 2A limit. You'll definitely want to use the ones with the 2A limit for the LED strip (at max power, the Adafruit site says that each 2.5" section uses 120mA, which means about 2A for the 1m / ~40" strip that you're getting). The arduino should be fine in the 500mA output, since per this link (http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=188821.0) it seems that the max draw is only about 350mA.

So, the strip you've linked will have 4 wires - 2 power (+5V and GND), and two data wires. The older version of the strip used one data wire, which you could just hook up to PWM directly (so power off the RoboRIO if you really wanted to), but for this one you'll probably want to use the arduino as the libraries provided by adafruit are quite easy to use. Simply plug in the 2 data wires to 2 digitalIO ports on the arduino.

I don't believe you'll need any sort of special connector to connect these things - both the arduino and the VRM have female connectors, and if the LED strip doesn't come with wires soldered on already, you can do that and achieve the connection at that end as well. JST connectors shouldn't really be required.

I hope that covers everything, please let me know if I missed anything.

[Mark McLeod]

The VRM is limited to 1.5a continuous current total on the sum of all the 5v outputs (they share a single 5v power supply), so make your calculations accordingly.
2a is a momentary survivable peak draw.

VRM User Guide (http://files.andymark.com/PDFs/VRM+User+Guide.pdf)

[TheHolyHades1]

The VRM is limited to 1.5a continuous current total on the sum of all the 5v outputs (they share a single 5v power supply), so make your calculations accordingly.
2a is a momentary survivable peak draw.

VRM User Guide (http://files.andymark.com/PDFs/VRM+User+Guide.pdf)




Ah, thanks for pointing that out.

In that case, you'll likely want to invest in a separate regulator for the LED system.