LED circles using multiplexing
 This
project uses two groups of eight LEDs sharing eight GPIO pins
via one of my Pi interfaces. The anodes of each group of LEDs are
commoned and driven by a BFY51 transistor.
The two transistors are controlled by a further two
GPIO pins to select either one or the other group. To make things nicer
looking, the LEDs are mounted in the form of two circles. The circuit
diagram can be seen on the right whilst the photograph below shows the
project connected to a Raspberry Pi.
To turn an LED ON, its GPIO pin has to go low, to allow
current to flow. At the same time its selector line has to go high to
turn the transistor ON. This is quite straight forward as long as the
LEDs to be lit are in the same group.
Should you want to light LEDs that are
members of both groups at the same time and not connected to the same
GPIO pin, multiplexing has to be used. This means that your program
must send signals to turn the selected LEDs on and off in rapid
succession. If this is done fast enough, the eye is deceived into
thinking that all LEDs are on at the same time. It is a technique
commonly used with LED displays.
If you feel really creative, you could combine this
multiplexing with pulse width modulation in order to change the
brightness of the LEDs. By varying the on-off proportion of the signal
supplying an LED an apparent change of brightness can be produced.
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