Controlling 12V lights via arduino

[NWChen]

We have a set of these 12V LED light strips that we'd like to control using a (5V) arduino.

With these LEDs each color (RGB) is a ground, and there's one lead for 12V voltage.
I'm assuming that the LEDs would go straight to PDB or through a relay (either way 12V), and then have power adjusted by the arduino. How can we control these LEDs, in a manner similar to this, using an arduino or similar device?

[Nirvash]

With 'dumb' LED strips that just have a common positive terminal and negative terminals for the three colors, you wont get the individually addressable LEDs as show in the video, but you still can control the color of the entire strip.

See this,
http://bildr.org/2012/03/rfp30n06le-arduino/
and
http://www.jerome-bernard.com/blog/2...by-an-arduino/

[NWChen]

Originally Posted by Nirvash

With 'dumb' LED strips that just have a common positive terminal and negative terminals for the three colors, you wont get the individually addressable LEDs as show in the video, but you still can control the color of the entire strip.

Would we achieve the same effect by controlling each color with a relay, or with a motor controller (to achieve a fading effect)?

[Nirvash]

Originally Posted by Signet

Would we achieve the same effect by controlling each color with a relay, or with a motor controller (to achieve a fading effect)?

If controlled by a relay, the strip can only have RGB channels in the full on or full off state, which would give you limited colors and no fading.

With a motor controller (or MOSFET) you get the full range of output from every RGB channel, this gives you thousands of colors and the ability to 'fade' the strip.

The bildr post I linked explains how to do this with a MOSFET and a PWM signal from the arduino.

[juchong]

Here's a tutorial for controlling LED strips using MOSFETs and an Arduino. It even includes part numbers, wiring diagrams, and code!

http://learn.adafruit.com/rgb-led-strips/usage

[om_nom_nom]

This may not be of much assistance, but you could consider wiring them to a pneumatics bumper and treat the LEDs as solenoids. My team is doing something similar to this, and we have yet to have much issue. You would have one relay for each colour, and power each as needed for different colour combinations.