Hey All,
Let me present my next round of noob question to keep you all on your toes....
I'm trying to add AmandaLDR to my next project. Two eyes in front, two on the bottom for edge detection. The problem is that digital outs and space for wires are limited, so I was hoping to combine my SuperBright LEDs into a single output if at all possible.
When I connected the anode of one LED to the cathode of the next LED, only the second LED would work. Ditto for the third of 3, etc.
1. Is that because of the forward voltage of the LEDs?
Based on my positive experience with Oddbot's IR tracker, I though I could try to pull more power using a transistor:
...but with no luck. In fact, they don't light up at all with this approach. So ...
2. Why does this work for IR LEDs, but not regular LEDs?
3. Is 330 too much resitance?
...So I tried using the UNLxxx darlington chip and putting the LEDs in parallel rather than series. They both lit up, but it was a weak output. When I added a third LED, the output was too weak to even use. Ideas? Even 2 LEDs x 2 would work for me, as long as they were bright enough for the AmandaLDR to work.