I finished working on my 4x4x4 LED cube. I want to make a larger 6x6x6 cube. Is this possible ?
Which components should I use to control the LEDs ?
Electronic – arduino – How to control more than 64 LEDs using a Uno
arduinohardwareled
Related Topic
- Electronic – arduino – Will the Arduino output pin at 0v handle 25 LEDs cathodes
- Electronic – arduino – Best way to control 130 – 140 LEDS with Arduino Uno 32/64 bit led drivers
- Electronic – arduino – Simulate a bouncing ball on a LED cube
- Electronic – arduino – How should I light up all the LEDs
- Electronic – arduino – How to control several individual LEDs with Arduino
- Control multiple leds using only 2 connection wires
Best Answer
An alternative to shift registers or LED drivers is Charliplexing. Charliplexing allows you to control n^2-n LEDs using only 'n' pins.
For a 6x6x6 cube, you need 216 LEDs. Using 15 pins gives you 210 LEDs (15^2 = 225; 225 - 15 = 210), just short of what you need. You'll have to go with 16 pins which is not a problem on the Arduino (there are 18 IO pins available). This would allow you more LEDs than you need (240 vs. 216) but you can simply not populate the extra positions.
Charliplexing requires less hardware but it is certainly more complex. Also, you have to rely on POV (persistence of vision) if you want to light multiple LEDs simultaneously. Therefor, it might not make sense for your particular project depending on your desired usage of the cube.
This article from Uzimonkey's blog talks about Charliplexing on an Arduino. He includes a good discussion on calculating resistor values at the end of the article.