RGB_LED_Driver

This software can be used to drive an analog RGB LED strip using a raspberry pi and adafruit's 16-channel 12-bit PWM/Servo Driver - PCA9685: http://www.adafruit.com/products/815

The Circuit:

Here's the basic idea:

• Hook up the pi to the PCA9685 breakout board using the I2C connections.
• Connect the pi's 3.3V output to VCC on the PCA9685 breakout board. Leave V+ floating.
• Follow this tutorial for the RGB LED strips: http://learn.adafruit.com/rgb-led-strips/usage
  • I used the N-channel MOSFETs - three of them, one for each channel
  • Connect the +12V from the LED strip to an external power supply (do NOT use your pi for this!)
  • Connect the ground side of the power supply to the pi ground
  • Instead of using the PWM outputs from the arduino, we'll use the PWM outputs from the PCA9685.
  • Connect up the PWM output 0 to the MOSFET with the red wire from the LED strip.
    Output 1 goes to green, output 2 goes to blue.

Here's a picture

Dependencies:

Adafruit's PWM Servo Driver software (Adafruit_PWM_Servo_Driver) must be in your PYTHONPATH. That software imports Adafruit_I2C, which should be in the same directory

Usage:

This program is designed to be used from the command line. You should be able to see most options by typing:

./RGB_Driver.py --help
usage: RGB_Driver.py [-h] [-r RED RED] [-g GREEN GREEN] [-b BLUE BLUE]
                     [-s STEPS] [-d DELAY] [-o]
                     [--red-pin {0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15}]
                     [--green-pin {0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15}]
                     [--blue-pin {0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15}]
                     [--repeat REPEAT] [--reverse] [--random] [--time TIME]
                     [--max-random-walk MAX_RANDOM_WALK]

drive a rgb led strip through a pwm module

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -r RED RED, --red RED RED
                        The beginning and end values for red in fade mode. Max
                        and min values for red in random mode.
  -g GREEN GREEN, --green GREEN GREEN
                        The beginning and end values for green in fade mode.
                        Max and min values for green in random mode..
  -b BLUE BLUE, --blue BLUE BLUE
                        The beginning and end values for blue in fade mode.
                        Max and min values for blue in random mode..
  -s STEPS, --steps STEPS
                        Number of steps in the fade. Not used with --random
  -d DELAY, --delay DELAY
                        Number of seconds between the steps or random changes,
                        can be a float
  -o, --turn-off        Turn off when the fade or random event is over.
  --red-pin {0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15}
                        The red pwm pin
  --green-pin {0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15}
                        The green pwm pin
  --blue-pin {0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15}
                        The blue pwm pin
  --repeat REPEAT       Repeat the fade this many times. Unused with --random.
  --reverse             Reverse the fade, to return back to the initial state.
                        Unused with --random.
  --random              Move around randomly between the max and min values
                        specified with --red --green and --blue. Use with
                        --time and --max-random-walk
  --time TIME           Used with --random. Move randomly for this many
                        seconds
  --max-random-walk MAX_RANDOM_WALK
                        The max that each channel will be allowed to change
                        between steps in random mode.

NOTE: You will likely need to run this as root or use sudo because of the I2C interface, unless you jump through a bunch more hoops. Using sudo can be tricky because of the PYTHONPATH. You can do something like this, though:

    sudo PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:/path/to/Adafruit_PWM_Servo_Driver ./RGB_Driver.py -r 0 4095 --repeat 3 -o

Alternatively, you could just copy RGB_Driver.py into the Adafruit_PWM_Servo_Driver directory to save yourself some grief.

There are two modes:

1. A fade from one color to another (and, optionally back again with --reverse).
   This can be repeated any number of times using --repeat. You can change the speed of the fade by modifying --delay and --steps.

2. Random color changes within bounds and at a rate defined by --delay. The color changes a maximum of --max-random-walk per change. It will continue to change for approximately --time seconds.

Of course, you can also import the module and use random_walk and fade_rgb directly.

Examples:

1. Fade from off to max red, then turn off:

    sudo ./RGB_Driver.py -r 0 4095 -o
   

2. Fade from off to max red and back and repeat this 3 times, turning off at the end:

    sudo ./RGB_Driver.py -r 0 4095 -o --repeat 3 --reverse
   

3. Fade slowly from red to blue:

    sudo ./RGB_Driver.py -r 4095 0 -b 0 4095 -o -d .1 -s 100
   

4. A random twilightish twinkle for 20s:

    sudo ./RGB_Driver.py -r 500 1000 -g 1024 2048 -b 2048 4095 -s 100 -d 0.1 -o --random --max-random-walk 100 --time 20
   

5. Fireplace!

    sudo ./RGB_Driver.py -r 2000 4095 -g 0 1024 -b 0 0 -s 100 -d 0.1 -o --random --max-random-walk 100 --time 20
   

6. Seizure!

    sudo ./RGB_Driver.py -r 0 4095 -g 0 4095 -b 4095 0  --delay 0.01  -o --random --max-random-walk 2000 --time 10
   

Here's a video showing these examples in order

What's Next?

The PWM breakout board has 16 outputs, so, with the right power supply, we could drive up to 5 strips at the same time.

I plan on updating the code to allow for driving multiple strips.