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**Replacement: **None. This product is in the middle of getting revised but we don't have a replacement yet. This page is for reference only.
The LoL Shield is a charlieplexed LED matrix for the Arduino. The LEDs are individually addressable, so you can use it to display anything in a 9×14 grid. Scroll text, play games, display images, or anything else you want to do.
Since this is a shield, you will need an Arduino for this project. The LoL Shield is just a board with LEDs and headers on it, so you need something to control them. Once you have the Arduino, it’s as simple as downloading the LoL Shield Library and programming something fun. The library takes care of the complicated mess of driving a charliplexed display, so you just need to set x and y coordinates to on or off. If you would like to set animations manually you can download the ODS file here.
We welcome your comments and suggestions below. However, if you are looking for solutions to technical questions please see our Technical Assistance page.
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I have been waiting for this for a while now. Hoping it will come in soon as I have ordered several things and this is holding up my order. I am confident it will be in soon!
does anybody know how to make a message scroll like a library or something on my lol sheild i try it just wont work
Is the board available on it's own. I would lie to use my own LEDs.
Does this have the same problem the White shield has where the LEDs aren't flush against the board?
Can anybody explain why it's safe to drive the LEDs directly from the Arduino 5v power without current-limiting resistors? I'm new to this stuff and just curious. Thanks.
Charlieplexing and AVR I/O pin limits. Look at 30.8 Pin Driver strength at the ATMega88 (/168) datasheet. Blue leds drop about 3V to turn on and since both "ground" and "5V" are I/O pins in the Charlieplexing situation, count 1V drop on both output and input; you will get about 40mA of current. That is a bit much for the AVR, but doesnt exceed any limits, and I guess the LEDs will take that as a peak current. And with 12 pins you can charlieplex up to 132 leds, but can drive only 11 (not sure, but I think so) of them at once, thus you will need to drive the display in 12 stages, so each led would appear as if it had 1/12th of the peak current just calculated, about 3.33mA. Yeah, you can see that (IIRC), but it is not a very bright display.
EDIT: Oh, and 11*40mA is 440mA. He is totally raping the AVR total current limits, but whatever, I guess it works.
I haven't looked at the LoL shield library, but I would imagine that the library uses PWM to control the current.
Woot! just what I need to finish my W.O.P.R.
What, no fully assembled pics? :)
I'm guessing they couldn't find anyone with enough patience to assemble it.
Its only 126 LEDs. You should try building an 8x8x8 LED cube like I did. Over 1500 connections and 50 man hours later I made this: http://www.mushroo.me/the-voxel-shield/voxel-shield-project-summary
You may find more pictures from the link provided.