BlinkstroemColourEnglish

project overview
Year	2013
Number of pixels	144
Grayscales / Colors	RGB, 83 = 512 colours
Illuminant	SMD LEDs
Power input	4 W
Contact person	Arne Rossius
Project website

Blinkström Colour is a BlinkenLights clone that can display full colour animations.

This project uses the BlinkenPlus firmware on an ATmega162 controller. On the PCB there is an SD card slot as well as a level converter and solder pads for an RS232 serial port for streaming input and output.

Hardware

The LED matrix is divided into 18 columns and three times 8 rows (8 each for red, green and blue). The multiplexing is going across the columns from right to left, so only one column is lit at a time. The refresh rate is 100 Hz for the lowest brightness level and increases for the higher brightness levels. The board has to be supplied from an external 5 V power supply capable of at least 0.8 A.

The 3.3 V power supply for the SD card is generated either by two silicon diodes in series or a 3.3 V regulator. If the diodes are used, C10A (100 nF) is populated, for the voltage regulator C10B (1 µF) is necessary. R38D is a basic load to prevent the voltage from becoming too high when no SD card is inserted, especially when using the diodes.

• Schematic
• Schematic (EAGLE file, version 4.16)
• PCB layout (EAGLE file, version 4.16)
• Construction kit instructions

Animations

Unfortunately, only very few colour animations are available. If you create your own animations (e.g. using Blimp), you are very welcome to send them in. For now, some animations are available here: Full colour BlinkenLights animations.