Shift register RGB led brightness

Any LED multiplexing solution will inherently reduce intensity of the LEDs pretty much linearly by the factor of the multiplexing duty cycle. This change in intensity is not identical to the change in intensity observed when current through the LED is reduced by changing series resistance: The resistance value is not directly the determining factor, the resultant current through the LED is, and that does not enjoy a linear relationship to resistance.

The human eye's perception of intensity of light, LED or otherwise, is far from linear: Intensity variations at low LED intensity, or for that matter in low ambient light conditions, are much more sharply perceived, than a similar change in intensity at a brighter point in the intensity curve, or under brighter ambient light conditions. This explains why the change in resistors did not show a significant change in perceived intensity.

To answer the specific question about over-driving LEDs: Yes, that is a standard mechanism for countering loss of intensity in multiplexed displays. To counter a 8-way multiplexed LED display's intensity drop, i.e. 12.5% duty cycle per LED, hypothetically the LED should be driven at 8 times the constant current. However, that is rarely practical, so either compromises must be made, or risks of LED damage must be accepted.

How much a given LED can be safely overdriven by, is (a) possibly specified in the datasheet, but (b) more typically determined by the display designer through empirical testing, especially in hobby and low-cost applications, if the datasheet-specified overdrive current is not sufficient, and risk of LED failure is acceptable.

• For more context on LED overdriving limits for pulsed load, see this answer.
• For a more detailed description of LED intensity and human perception, see this answer.
• Another answer in the same vein, with pretty graphs too.

Without a schematic, based on your question, you have Common Cathode Led with TIP120 transistors? I assume you have them connected backwards from normal.

^{simulate this circuit – Schematic created using CircuitLab}

The TIP120 is a NPN darlington pair transistor. It normally expects to be on the low side of the load. You are using them for High Side Switching, which won't work. If your led was common anode, you could swap them around, and it would work (WITH THE RESISTORS).

But in this case, you have 1) A different signal level from the led power level (3.3v vs 5v) so Direct PNP transistor won't work, and 2) The Raspberry PI GPIO cannot source a lot of current. 16mA at max. So You need both NPN and PNP transistors. Some 2n3904 and 2n3906 Common npn and pnp transistors, but any similar would work

^{simulate this circuit}

I only show the blueled (5v source voltage - 3.2v forward voltage - 0.2v VCE drop / 20mA = 80Ω), do the same for the green led, and use a 140Ω or higher resistor for the red led.