In this tutorial you’ll learn how to add RGB LEDs to Clyde’s feet. The opening on the foot end of Clyde’s leg is designed to fit one 5mm LED, and his legs are hollow. So basically Clyde is just begging for new twinkling slippers! Clyde’s main board has solder pads, labelled LED Ext, that allow you to add additional RGB LEDs using the same pins as the eye light. You’ll have to solder the header pins onto these pads to use them. Once you do, you’ll be able to match Clyde’s feet color to his eyes.
This tutorial is presented in three steps (four, if you count tutu-making). You’ll start by soldering pin headers to the LED Ext solder pads. Next, string wires through Clyde’s legs and then solder a RGB led to the foot end. In the final step, you’ll build the simple circuit and wire the LEDs to the LED Ext pin headers. As a finishing touch, you can make Clyde a little tulle tutu to complete the ballerina look. Let’s get started!
Diffused RGB (tri-color) LED – Common Anode – Diffused 5mm tri-color LED with separate red, green and blue LED chips inside! Nice indicator, and fun to color-swirl. 60 degree viewing angle. We like diffused RGB LEDs because they color mix inside instead of appearing as 3 distinct LEDs.
These are Common-Anode type which means you connect one pin to 5V or so and then tie the other three legs to ground through a resistor. We carry and use CA more than CC because multi-LED driver chips (such as the TLC5940/TLC5941) are often designed exclusively for CA and can’t be used with Common-Cathode. (read more)
HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Each weekday this month we’ll be bringing you ideas and projects for an Electronic Halloween! Expect wearables, hacks & mods, costumes and more here on the Adafruit blog! Working on a project for Halloween this year? Share it with us on Google+, in the comments below, the Adafruit forums, Facebook, or Twitter— we’d love to see what you’re up to and share it with the world (tag your posts #ElectronicHalloween). Tune in to our live shows, Wearable Electronics with Becky Stern, 3D hangouts with Matt, Pedro, and Noe, and Ask an Engineer, featuring store discount codes, ideas for projects, costumes, and decorations, and more!
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Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
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Python for Microcontrollers – Adafruit Daily — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: Open Hardware is In, New CircuitPython and Pi 5 16GB, and much more! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi
EYE on NPI – Adafruit Daily — EYE on NPI Maxim’s Himalaya uSLIC Step-Down Power Module #EyeOnNPI @maximintegrated @digikey
HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Each weekday this month we’ll be bringing you ideas and projects for an Electronic Halloween! Expect wearables, hacks & mods, costumes and more here on the Adafruit blog! Working on a project for Halloween this year? Share it with us on Google+, in the comments below, the Adafruit forums, Facebook, or Twitter— we’d love to see what you’re up to and share it with the world (tag your posts #ElectronicHalloween). Tune in to our live shows, Wearable Electronics with Becky Stern, 3D hangouts with Matt, Pedro, and Noe, and Ask an Engineer, featuring store discount codes, ideas for projects, costumes, and decorations, and more!