Help creating an LED matrix controlled by a microcontroller.

[LaserJay]

hi there

i have used the PICAXE range of pic based processors for many projects, they are programmed by using there own version of visual basic, i found them easy to program and they can be used for a wide variety of projects.

all you need is a small interface card and a serial port on your pc

[mixedgas]

[QUOTE=shrad;109062]replace it by a "EDIT: removed due to a project to be released "

sorry for that, but this idea is something I must do, and post here, as it is more than UBER

btw do you know of something that fluoresces with IR light? I might need a non-nasty dye for this purpose


Yes, but its not cheap.
Its a phospor. comes in orange and green, hard to get in small Qs unless you buy it as a laser viewing disk.

I have the formulary for it, but you need a 1100' c oven (common in labs) to make it.

Easier to buy the leds.

Steve

[shrad]

well that's sure dyes are hard to obtain when they are not fluorescein

an UV-absorbing, visible emitting dye is not hard to find, but never seen an IR-absorbing, visible emitting dye

I had an idea about something similar to the led cube, but with no leds at all

I'll stop polluting this thread now ^^

[tocket]

It is unfortunately impossible for a material to absorb an IR photon and emit a visible light photon. This is because visible light is higher in energy than IR and energy cannot be created.

However, everyone who knows the basics of how DPSS lasers work know that it is possible to make visible light from IR. This process is called upconversion and exists in many forms. Regardless of how it's done it's not a very efficient process. In all cases it requires at least two IR photons to make one visible photon. It is only somewhat efficient at extremely high intensities (i.e. in a laser).

It should be possible to make a molecule that can do upconversion internally. I don't know if it has been done already, but I at least have an idea of how to do it.

In any case, I wouldn't expect to find anything on the market that can do what you're looking for.

[Sergey]

Hi Tom

It is serious project. It's realization depends on your requirements. If you need grayscale colors then you should use PWM led drivers like TLC5940 and MBI57XX. If you need only 2 grades (ON/OFF) then it becomes much easier. In any way I recommend you to use dinamic indication because you will save much time and money. Arduino... didnt experiment with it but I heard it works not very fast. At least not so fast as compared to programs written on assembly and C.
Several months ago I made scrolling text LED display with dinamic indication on 294 LEDs(42*7). Controlled by AVR MCU. I made column bus on serial shift registers(74HC595). It is very effective way to get almost unlimited number lines for LEDs.

[heroic]

Arduino *is* written in C.

[mixedgas]

It is unfortunately impossible for a material to absorb an IR photon and emit a visible light photon. This is because visible light is higher in energy than IR and energy cannot be created.


In any case, I wouldn't expect to find anything on the market that can do what you're looking for.

You want to place a bet against materials that adsorb 2 photons?

Steve