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Rgb led anode cathode10/30/2023 ![]() Single color LEDs require that the shorter leg, which is below the flat side of the LED cap, faces ground. Whats the difference between a common cathode and common anode LED? Recall from our basic LED introduction that for a single color LED we need to pay attention to which leg is facing ground. Identifying Your RGB LED Cathode vs Anode These issues are entangled - I am going to deal with the identification problem first, and the switching problem second. To gain this understanding we need to resolve two issues: identification and signal switching (a strength of the Arduino). ![]() This shipping glitch has given us a chance to explore some really interesting aspects of electronics. ![]() The take away here is, if you received a common anode (wonky) instead of a common cathode (expected) RGB LED you can still do everything I have asked - it just takes a small bit of extra understanding. We (the makerSpace team and I) have never ordered common anode RGB LEDs - so being able to deliver them to you was a genuine surprise! (After school special kind of surprise).ĭiscovering and coming to understand what happened partway through a remote class - and having no access to one for me to test with and confirm - made for a challenging pivot, as you all witnessed. (Had we been in a face-to-face class we would have just switched them). The issue with this mix up has much more to do with us being remote than it does with any actual problem with the LEDs. These differences reveal some interesting patterns that, while a bit advanced, are useful to think through. They require different wiring - and sending the same code code to one channel of each leads to opposite behaviour. However, in terms of inner connections and electrical setup they are quite different in fact, they are mirrors of each other. So, from these perspectives, common anode and common cathode are fully interchangeable. We are going to make the most of this glitch and take this opportunity to think about different ways to control LEDs.Ĭommon cathode (from class - ‘expected / normal’) and common Anode ( from class - wonky) LEDs are virtually identical in appearance and there is no difference in their spectrum of color output. As you are all aware I was surprised by the fact that, while most of the 2021 kits have common cathode RGB LEDs, a significant number have common anode RGB LEDs.
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