Intermediate
30 min

Achieve stunning color mixing with TLC5947 and ATmega328P

Brighten up your life and illuminate your world

LED Driver 18 Click with Arduino UNO Rev3

Published Feb 14, 2024

Click board™

LED Driver 18 Click

Dev Board

Arduino UNO Rev3

Compiler

NECTO Studio

MCU

ATmega328P

Trust our reliable and innovative LED driver solution to bring your lighting projects to life, delivering unparalleled performance and efficiency for all your LED lighting needs

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Hardware Overview

How does it work?

LED Driver 18 Click is based on the TLC5947, a 24-channel 12-bit PWM LED driver from Texas Instruments. Each channel supports many LEDs in series connected to the LED terminal and has an individually-adjustable 4096-step PWM grayscale brightness control accessible through a serial interface port. It has a programmable current value of all 24 channels achievable through the AD5171, an I2C-configurable digital potentiometer, with a maximum of 30mA of LED current per channel. The TLC5947 also features a built-in thermal shutdown function that turns OFF all output drivers during an over-temperature condition.

All channels automatically restart when the temperature returns to normal conditions. LED Driver 18 Click communicates with MCU through a register-selectable standard SPI interface that enables a high clock speed of up to 30MHz for optimum performance. In addition to the interface signals, the TLC5947 uses another signal from the mikroBUS™ socket. The enable signal routed on the EN pin of the mikroBUS™ socket provides the ability to turn OFF all constant-current outputs. When the EN pin is in a high logic state, all channels (0-23) are forced OFF, the grayscale PWM timing controller initializes, and the grayscale counter

resets to 0. When the EN pin is in a low logic state is low, the grayscale PWM timing controller controls all LED channels. This Click board™ can operate with either 3.3V or 5V logic voltage levels selected via the VCC SEL jumper. This way, both 3.3V and 5V capable MCUs can use the communication lines properly. However, the Click board™ comes equipped with a library containing easy-to-use functions and an example code that can be used, as a reference, for further development.

LED Driver 18 Click top side image
LED Driver 18 Click lateral side image
LED Driver 18 Click bottom side image

Features overview

Development board

Arduino UNO is a versatile microcontroller board built around the ATmega328P chip. It offers extensive connectivity options for various projects, featuring 14 digital input/output pins, six of which are PWM-capable, along with six analog inputs. Its core components include a 16MHz ceramic resonator, a USB connection, a power jack, an

ICSP header, and a reset button, providing everything necessary to power and program the board. The Uno is ready to go, whether connected to a computer via USB or powered by an AC-to-DC adapter or battery. As the first USB Arduino board, it serves as the benchmark for the Arduino platform, with "Uno" symbolizing its status as the

first in a series. This name choice, meaning "one" in Italian, commemorates the launch of Arduino Software (IDE) 1.0. Initially introduced alongside version 1.0 of the Arduino Software (IDE), the Uno has since become the foundational model for subsequent Arduino releases, embodying the platform's evolution.

Arduino UNO Rev3 double side image

Microcontroller Overview

MCU Card / MCU

default

Architecture

AVR

MCU Memory (KB)

32

Silicon Vendor

Microchip

Pin count

28

RAM (Bytes)

2048

You complete me!

Accessories

Click Shield for Arduino UNO has two proprietary mikroBUS™ sockets, allowing all the Click board™ devices to be interfaced with the Arduino UNO board without effort. The Arduino Uno, a microcontroller board based on the ATmega328P, provides an affordable and flexible way for users to try out new concepts and build prototypes with the ATmega328P microcontroller from various combinations of performance, power consumption, and features. The Arduino Uno has 14 digital input/output pins (of which six can be used as PWM outputs), six analog inputs, a 16 MHz ceramic resonator (CSTCE16M0V53-R0), a USB connection, a power jack, an ICSP header, and reset button. Most of the ATmega328P microcontroller pins are brought to the IO pins on the left and right edge of the board, which are then connected to two existing mikroBUS™ sockets. This Click Shield also has several switches that perform functions such as selecting the logic levels of analog signals on mikroBUS™ sockets and selecting logic voltage levels of the mikroBUS™ sockets themselves. Besides, the user is offered the possibility of using any Click board™ with the help of existing bidirectional level-shifting voltage translators, regardless of whether the Click board™ operates at a 3.3V or 5V logic voltage level. Once you connect the Arduino UNO board with our Click Shield for Arduino UNO, you can access hundreds of Click boards™, working with 3.3V or 5V logic voltage levels.

Click Shield for Arduino UNO accessories 1 image

Used MCU Pins

mikroBUS™ mapper

NC
NC
AN
NC
NC
RST
SPI Chip Select
PB2
CS
SPI Clock
PB5
SCK
SPI Data OUT
PB4
MISO
SPI Data IN
PB3
MOSI
Power Supply
3.3V
3.3V
Ground
GND
GND
Channels Enable
PD6
PWM
NC
NC
INT
NC
NC
TX
NC
NC
RX
I2C Clock
PC5
SCL
I2C Data
PC4
SDA
Power Supply
5V
5V
Ground
GND
GND
1

Take a closer look

Schematic

LED Driver 18 Click Schematic schematic

Step by step

Project assembly

Click Shield for Arduino UNO front image hardware assembly

Start by selecting your development board and Click board™. Begin with the Arduino UNO Rev3 as your development board.

Click Shield for Arduino UNO front image hardware assembly
Arduino UNO Rev3 front image hardware assembly
Charger 27 Click front image hardware assembly
Prog-cut hardware assembly
Charger 27 Click complete accessories setup image hardware assembly
Arduino UNO Rev3 Access MB 1 - upright/background hardware assembly
Necto image step 2 hardware assembly
Necto image step 3 hardware assembly
Necto image step 4 hardware assembly
Necto image step 5 hardware assembly
Necto image step 6 hardware assembly
Arduino UNO MCU Step hardware assembly
Necto No Display image step 8 hardware assembly
Necto image step 9 hardware assembly
Necto image step 10 hardware assembly
Debug Image Necto Step hardware assembly

Track your results in real time

Application Output via Debug Mode

1. Once the code example is loaded, pressing the "DEBUG" button initiates the build process, programs it on the created setup, and enters Debug mode.

2. After the programming is completed, a header with buttons for various actions within the IDE becomes visible. Clicking the green "PLAY" button starts reading the results achieved with the Click board™. The achieved results are displayed in the Application Output tab.

DEBUG_Application_Output

Software Support

Library Description

This library contains API for LED Driver 18 Click driver.

Key functions:

  • leddriver18_set_output_pwm LED Driver 18 set output channel PWM value function.

  • leddriver18_write_config LED Driver 18 write config function.

  • leddriver18_set_cc_output LED Driver 18 set constant current output function.

Open Source

Code example

This example can be found in NECTO Studio. Feel free to download the code, or you can copy the code below.

/*!
 * @file main.c
 * @brief LED Driver 18 Click example
 *
 * # Description
 * This library contains API for LED Driver 18 Click driver. 
 * The library initializes and defines the I2C bus drivers to 
 * write and read data for setting constant current output, 
 * as well as the default configuration for a PWM output value 
 * of the OUT pins.
 *
 * The demo application is composed of two sections :
 *
 * ## Application Init
 * Initializes the driver and performs default configuration and sets 
 * the device in output enabled mode.
 *
 * ## Application Task
 * This example demonstrates the use of the LED Driver 18 Click board by 
 * changing PWM values for all output from a minimum value to 
 * maximum value and back to minimum controlling the brightness of the 
 * LEDs in the process.
 *
 * @author Stefan Ilic
 *
 */

#include "board.h"
#include "log.h"
#include "leddriver18.h"

static leddriver18_t leddriver18;
static log_t logger;

void application_init ( void ) 
{
    log_cfg_t log_cfg;  /**< Logger config object. */
    leddriver18_cfg_t leddriver18_cfg;  /**< Click config object. */

    /** 
     * Logger initialization.
     * Default baud rate: 115200
     * Default log level: LOG_LEVEL_DEBUG
     * @note If USB_UART_RX and USB_UART_TX 
     * are defined as HAL_PIN_NC, you will 
     * need to define them manually for log to work. 
     * See @b LOG_MAP_USB_UART macro definition for detailed explanation.
     */
    LOG_MAP_USB_UART( log_cfg );
    log_init( &logger, &log_cfg );
    log_info( &logger, " Application Init " );

    // Click initialization.
    leddriver18_cfg_setup( &leddriver18_cfg );
    LEDDRIVER18_MAP_MIKROBUS( leddriver18_cfg, MIKROBUS_1 );
    if ( I2C_MASTER_ERROR == leddriver18_init( &leddriver18, &leddriver18_cfg ) ) 
    {
        log_error( &logger, " Communication init." );
        for ( ; ; );
    }
    
    if ( LEDDRIVER18_ERROR == leddriver18_default_cfg ( &leddriver18 ) )
    {
        log_error( &logger, " Default configuration." );
        for ( ; ; );
    }
    
    log_info( &logger, " Application Task " );
}

void application_task ( void ) 
{
    float pwm_val;

    for ( int8_t  n_cnt = 0; n_cnt <= 100; n_cnt += 10 )
    {
        for ( uint8_t out_cnt = 0; out_cnt < LEDDRIVER18_MAX_OUTPUT_NUM; out_cnt++ )
        {
            leddriver18_set_output_pwm( out_cnt, n_cnt );
        }
        pwm_val = leddriver18_get_output_pwm( 0 );
        log_printf( &logger, " PWM value: %.2f \r\n", pwm_val );
        leddriver18_write_config( &leddriver18 );
        Delay_ms( 200 );
    }
    for ( int8_t  n_cnt = 100; n_cnt >= 10; n_cnt -= 10 )
    {
        for ( uint8_t out_cnt = 0; out_cnt < LEDDRIVER18_MAX_OUTPUT_NUM; out_cnt++ )
        {
            leddriver18_set_output_pwm( out_cnt, n_cnt );
        }
        pwm_val = leddriver18_get_output_pwm( 0 );
        log_printf( &logger, " PWM value: %.2f \r\n", pwm_val );
        leddriver18_write_config( &leddriver18 );
        Delay_ms( 200 );
    }
}

void main ( void ) 
{
    application_init( );

    for ( ; ; ) 
    {
        application_task( );
    }
}

// ------------------------------------------------------------------------ END

Additional Support

Resources

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