Powerboost 1000C hooking up a RGB LED?

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Level42
 
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Powerboost 1000C hooking up a RGB LED?

Post by Level42 »

Since I'm building my Powerboost 1000c in an enclosure (which actually is an Atari Lynx ;) ) I want to have an external LED to signal the different battery/charging statuses. I bought a RGB SMD LED on a small PCB which has a common GND connection.

My intention is to remove the original LEDs on the Powerboost (except the blue one) and hook up the signals to the RGB LED. (Blue would replace the yellow). However, the red LED is hooked up to GND and gets a plus voltage when it needs to turn on but the yellow and green LEDs are hooked up to the plus voltage constantly and get turned on by a GND signal.....

So, I can't simply hook up the RGD LED I guess.......

Any way to accomplish this (as simple as possible) ?

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: Powerboost 1000C hooking up a RGB LED?

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

You can replace the red LED directly with one element of a common-GND RGB LED.

For the orange and green LEDs, you need to use the same general circuit that drives the red one:
led.jpg
led.jpg (9.65 KiB) Viewed 409 times
The /STAT input will be the low end of the orange or green LED on the PowerBoost. When one those outputs goes low (which would light the LED currently on the board), it will turn on the PNP transistor and send current through the LED.

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RatWolf6
 
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Re: Powerboost 1000C hooking up a RGB LED?

Post by RatWolf6 »

Hello,
i want to add an logic to an RGB-LED for the LEDs from the 1000c.
adafruit_support_mike wrote:You can replace the red LED directly with one element of a common-GND RGB LED.

For the orange and green LEDs, you need to use the same general circuit that drives the red one:
led.jpg
The /STAT input will be the low end of the orange or green LED on the PowerBoost. When one those outputs goes low (which would light the LED currently on the board), it will turn on the PNP transistor and send current through the LED.
For this i want to use an attiny841 and just want to ask, if i understood your comment right.
If i want to Test if this LED is on i have to check for the blue and red one on HIGH and for the orange and green one on LOW?
Is this Right?
Thanks alot befor for your Answer.
Kind Regards
Ralf

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: Powerboost 1000C hooking up a RGB LED?

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

The colors got kind of mixed up above.. the connections from the yellow and green LEDs built into the PowerBoost weren't specifically mapped to the blue or green components of an external RGB LED.

The PowerBoost has one copy of the circuit above already built in, and you'd need two external copies to control the blue and green components of an RGB LED.

In all cases (red, green, and blue external LEDs), you can tell whether the LED is turned on by checking the voltage at the point equivalent to the one labeled /STAT above.

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RatWolf6
 
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Re: Powerboost 1000C hooking up a RGB LED?

Post by RatWolf6 »

adafruit_support_mike wrote:The colors got kind of mixed up above.. the connections from the yellow and green LEDs built into the PowerBoost weren't specifically mapped to the blue or green components of an external RGB LED.

The PowerBoost has one copy of the circuit above already built in, and you'd need two external copies to control the blue and green components of an RGB LED.

In all cases (red, green, and blue external LEDs), you can tell whether the LED is turned on by checking the voltage at the point equivalent to the one labeled /STAT above.
I want change the coulers from red, orange, green and blue to green, orange, red and red, in reason of this i have only an RG-LED, and for This i want to use an ATTiny841 because noone of the LEDs on the 1000c is alone on.
So i have to use some logic like "if red is on and blue is on, than only turn green on".

Because i build an Gameboy-Zero, i only have minimal space and so my Question is, if i can read the state with the ATTiny without the extra Circuit?
The ATTiny has no used Pins until now.

Thanks alot for your answer.
Kind Regards

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Re: Powerboost 1000C hooking up a RGB LED?

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

Yes, a microcontroller like the ATTiny841 can read all four signals that control the LEDs.

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RatWolf6
 
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Re: Powerboost 1000C hooking up a RGB LED?

Post by RatWolf6 »

adafruit_support_mike wrote:Yes, a microcontroller like the ATTiny841 can read all four signals that control the LEDs.
Just for understanding:
- On the red and blue LED i can normally use pinmode input and solder it to the anode.
- on teh orange and green LED i must use the pinmode Input_pullup and have to solder the Pins to the cathode.

Ore did i get it wrong?

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Re: Powerboost 1000C hooking up a RGB LED?

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

It's easiest to plan the connections by referring to the schematic:

https://cdn-learn.adafruit.com/assets/a ... 1429650091

The orange and green LEDs that already exist on the PowerBoost have separate control pins, and light when the control pins go low. The current-limiting resistor is between the LED and the control pin, so to read the signals with a microcontroller's digital pin, you'll want to tap the low end of the resistor, not the cathode of the LED.

The red LED is controlled by the signal broken out as LBO, and the LED lights when that signal goes low.

The blue LED gets power from the 5V output, and it's easier to tap that pin than to try and tap the LED or the current-limiting resistor. The LED lights when the 5V output is high.

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