Electronic – arduino – Power 14 red LED’s and arduino from same source

arduinoledpower

I am new to the science behind electronics (software guy at heart) but I am working on a project where I need to power an Arduino and 14 standard 20 mA red LED's preferably from the same source.

I want to be able to control the LED's from the Arduino, nothing fancy, just fade them all on and off (together). I have a Darlington TIP120 on hand, will this be useful?

Best Answer

Since you want them all controlled from a single pin, you will need to use the transistor (it is unlikely that a single Arduino pin can safely source or sink enough current for that many LEDs).

schematic

simulate this circuit – Schematic created using CircuitLab

The output will be PWM, which uses a variable duty cycle to control the brightness.