Testing the rows

Post date: Dec 04, 2014 10:27:17 PM

To test the pillars, I soldered 8 red wires to 8 metal clips, to supply power to each of the 8 layers. Then I took a ground wire and, through a 1KΩ resistor, touched each of the cathodes, three for each of the 8 pillars. This lit up one color of one column at a time so I could visually check to be sure that each led is working in each bulb. Using this process, I found one solder joint that had broken, and fixed it. It is very important to make sure everything works before I solder the rows together because if one is broken on the inside of the cube, it will be extremely difficult to fix it.

I noticed that there is a significant difference in brightness when comparing the colors, since I am using the same 1KΩ resistor for all of them and the colors have different voltage drops. There is also a difference in brightness when comparing lights of the same color, which is more than I expected. Hopefully this will not be as noticeable when the cube is put together and the colored LEDs get their respective resistors.

My next steps are to connect the rows to form the cube and then start with the control boards.

-Jeremy