I decided to make a (semi) Charlieplexed LED array with RGB lights.  This continued off my project a few weeks ago with 4 RGB LEDs Charlieplexed.

I decided on a 4×4 array for manageability.  16 RGB LEDs is 48 LEDs (if we ignore the shared anode constraint), which we could drive with 8 pins using Charlieplexing (8*7 > 48).  The layout and crossings for that would be difficult (see Neil’s examples for workable solutions).  I decided to clone my 4 LED multiplexing design, making each row separate.  This uses 4*4 IO pins, but requires no crossing.  After laying it all out, I realized I could save a few more pins without crosses by sharing adjacent rails between rows and looping a few row lines down to the next row.  Next time…

I did the layout in Eagle.  It’s sometimes tedious, but I like the control it offers and the visual workflow agrees better with how I think about layout right now.  Here’s the schematic:

I put a mini-USB connector for power and not much else.  I used an ATmega328 to get enough IO pins.  I thought about leaving space for a resonator, breaking out unused pins, and bringing USB data to the MCU, but the layout was too tight.

Here’s the circuit laid out:

As before, I had to send 2 traces underneath each RGB LED to work.  The layout works because each LED is rotated 180 degrees.  I send traces under the MCU by coming in diagonally from the corners.  I sent traces under the mini-USB connector, which I’ll explain soon.  I laid out the left and right sides manually, then used the auto-router to connect the MCU to the resistor array.  I used a fine grid and told it to prefer diagonal traces.

Here are the trace and board files for the Modela:

I decreased the tool width in the fab modules until all the traces were cleanly separated in the path.  For the first try milling, I set the cut depth too deep and some of the small traces peeled off:

I went back to the default depth and everything was fine.  Some traces are very thin, but seem sturdy and tested fine:

I cut a piece of vinyl to cover the traces going under the mini-USB connector.  I didn’t want the connector shell to short out these traces.

Completely stuffed board:

I wrote some code to run through colors randomly.  It revealed that I had a bad solder joint on the green pin of one LED.

I made it cycle through the letters M I T.  Here’s the code and makefile.  You program it the usual way (I use my FabISP to power the board):

sudo make -f matt_rgb_array.make program-usbtiny

Here’s a video of the flashing message:

 Update: Eagle files and code are here.  I used the class fab.lbr and the SparkFun Eagle libraries.  I still need to make cooler patterns and messages for the board…