15 x 15cm LED array PCB kit

This PCB allows you to make a LED array easily and neatly. It consists of a high grade, double sided fibreglass PCB with white solder mask for good reflectivity. It holds up to 144 LEDs of any size, from 1.8mm through to 10mm.

Rather than 144 individual resistors, the LEDs are driven from 9-pin, 8-resistor resistor networks, with each network driving 8 LEDs, so there are just 18 resistor networks to fit. This speeds up assembly (and helps save your sanity). We have the appropriate resistor networks for powering this board from 5V here (you want the 9-pin, 8 resistor networks for this PCB!). We recommend the 220Ω network for lower voltage LEDs like reds, oranges and ambers, and the 180Ω networks for higher voltage LEDs like blues and whites etc.

We have designed this PCB to run from 5V, keeping each LED separate. This allows you to use animating LEDs, such as our RGB slow animating LEDs, for a very effective display which will generate complex colours and patterns without the need for any external microcontroller! (We did this, it looks amazing.) Of course, you could also just fit solid colour LEDs, or any combination of colours and types. Note: we don't recommend you use higher supply voltages as the dissipation in the resistor networks may become excessive.

The PCB measures around 150mm x 150mm and is designed to fit into a 6" square deep box photo frames from Rinkit (we have no affiliation with Rinkit, they just sell photo frames that are perfect for this use). There are even 4 holes in the PCB to allow you to reuse the spring steel retainers from the photo frame by transferring them to the back of the PCB with the nylon hardware provided.

Power is supplied to the PCB via a standard 5.5x2.1mm DC coaxial socket which, along with the resistor networks, is mounted on the rear of the board. We should have a suitable power supply for these PCBs soon, but many people probably have one sitting in a drawer somewhere. You will need a 5V, 1.5A (at least) regulated DC power supply.

Kit includes PCB power socket and nylon hardware. No LEDs or resistor networks are supplied but are available from the appropriate categories on this site. For more information, check out the instructions here.

Note, please excuse the photo, the PCBs look much nicer than this in real life.