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Project Help and Ideas » Fun with RGB leds

February 05, 2015
by Noter
Noter's Avatar

Just for fun I replaced the indicator leds on the front panel of my PC with RGB leds to be controlled by an ATmega328 giving selectable color and patterns (solid, pulse, blink) according to the state (on, standby, off w/power). As well as customizing the color of the HD activity led.

I choose an arduino nano board and python3 for the control program. The program runs on the PC and communicates with the arduino to get the current settings and then displays them in a window where they can be changed and sent back to the arduino. The settings can also be saved or loaded via eeprom.

python

Specify color by clicking the colored button -

color

The nano is just hot glued inside the case and has a permanent usb cable from the motherboard. The various front panel indicator lines and power supply signals are input to the nano so it can drive the 2 rgb leds.

nano case

I did this little project to learn python3 as well as get a little more practice with rgb leds.

February 06, 2015
by Rick_S
Rick_S's Avatar

Cool project and integration. Got a video of it in action??

February 06, 2015
by Noter
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Thanks Rick. Haven't made a video but if I do I'll post it. Thought about it but the camera on my phone doesn't capture/show the led color very well.

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