Philip Galanter wrote:
> Much more of a programmer guy than a hardware guy, and still a bit
> new to PICs, so sorry if this is a trivial question...
>
> I am working on using 4 hardware PWM outs on a 18F-something to drive
> 4 LEDs using pulse-width to control brightness.  And I need to make
> them as bright as possible when they are full on.
>
> I think I may run up against current limitations sourcing/sinking the
> LEDs straight from the pins, so I could use some transistors to drive
> the LEDs.
>
> But rather than using discreet transistors is there a single DIP
> package of some sort I could substitute?  4 independent drivers would
> be optimal...
>
> thanks, Phil


Phil, do you already know how much current do you need for those LEDs ?

Remember that some microcontrollers, and I suspect PIC is in the list, can
drive or sink around 20mA per pin, tops 100mA or 120mA per chip (using pins
in parallel).

I used an AVR to drive 2x IR LEDS, 6 port pins in parallel, I can drive
100mA easily to those light beasts...

Wagner.

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