RGB LED Blinky

This sample illustrates a simple program to cycle an RGB LED through each of its primary colors: red, green, and blue.

It was tested with a Chanzon, Common Anode RGB LED

The forward voltage on the LED is:

• Red: 2V-2.2V
• Green: 3V-3.2V
• Blue: 3V-3.2V

And a current draw of 20mA for each color.

Using the RGB calculation described here, we get the following voltage drops:

3.3V - 2.2V (red) = 1.1V
3.3V - 3.2V (green and blue) = .1V

Therefore, the resistance necessary is:

Red R = 1.1V / 0.020A = 55Ω
Green R & Blue R = 0.1V / 0.020A = 5Ω

A 47Ω and two 4.7Ω resistors are close enough.

Note that particular LED is "Common Anode", meaning the long pin needs to be hooked to positive voltage. This inverts the logic, so it would be on when the LED pin is off (grounded at 0V).

A common cathode LED would probably not need that logic inversion.

Code

using System;
using Microsoft.SPOT;
using Microsoft.SPOT.Hardware;
using System.Threading;
using SecretLabs.NETMF.Hardware.Netduino;

namespace RGB_Blinky
{
    public class Program
    {
        public static void Main()
        {
            OutputPort redLed = new OutputPort(Pins.GPIO_PIN_D3, false);
            OutputPort greenLed = new OutputPort(Pins.GPIO_PIN_D4, false);
            OutputPort blueLed = new OutputPort(Pins.GPIO_PIN_D5, false);

            // just for seeing that the program is running
            OutputPort onboardLed = new OutputPort(Pins.ONBOARD_LED, false);

            // because it's common anode, on is actually false. if you're using
            // a common cathode LED, you'll want to reverse this.
            bool ledOn = false;
            bool ledOff = true;

            while (true)
            {
                onboardLed.Write(true);
                  
                // make it RED
                redLed.Write(ledOn);
                greenLed.Write(ledOff);
                blueLed.Write(ledOff);

                Thread.Sleep(250);

                onboardLed.Write(false);

                // make it GREEN
                redLed.Write(ledOff);
                greenLed.Write(ledOn);
                blueLed.Write(ledOff);

                Thread.Sleep(250);

                // Make it BLUE
                redLed.Write(ledOff);
                greenLed.Write(ledOff);
                blueLed.Write(ledOn);

                Thread.Sleep(250);
            }
        }
    }
}

Schematic

Breadboard View

Netduino Samples Github Repository

Full source code for all of the samples can be found in the Netduino Samples repository on Github.