Now I know after browsing around here you guys are bombarded with LED questions everyday but I just have to ask and confirm a few things I have in mind...
I am modding my own LED light for an automotive application, and this is the first LED project I am doing. I have a couple of ideas for how I want to do it, but I need some assistance from the electronics people on TBCS. This whole application will have to fit within a 32MM x 35MM PCB board.
I want this light to be fadable, if possible. For example, when current is removed, the LED's will fade out. Maybe switch to a different circuit and fade a different set of LED's out. Is this possible, and how? Note: there will NOT be a constant power source to this circuit.
The power source of the car is steady, but not extremely so. I've tested other LED's on the circuit but there is a noticable change in brightness between when the car is on and when the car is off. Is there a way I can steady the output power to provide consistent brightness? I'm thinking capacitors...
There will be at least 20 LED's in this circuit. I was going to arrange them into 5 rows of 4 LED's in series. There will be 1 main power contact and 1 main ground contact. How many resistors do I need? I know I need at least 1 for each series of LED's, but is it possible to consolodate and use only 1 resistor for the entire circuit? Also, will that change what kind of resistor I need?
Thanks.
-Cool-