When you start building objects like these lighting systems there are things that you don’t make yourself but which you buy, like aluminum tubing or the microprocessor board that runs the show. I also bought the LED driver boards that allow for the smooth blending of colors. These were designed by another hobbyist and he had a blog set up through which these could be purchased.

Last year when I was ready to build a second model I had hoped to contact him again for another set of these wonderful devices, but I discovered much to my dismay that he had apparently abandoned his blog as he had not responded to any questions or inquiries on his blog.

Fortunately he published the designs of his high brightness LED driver board as open source/open hardware and for the last several months I’ve been working on redesigning the board. While the final PCBs are not likely to come from ITEAD studio in China, this it what is show in the image below. Pretty nice for the price if you ask me! 10 boards for little more $50. The photo makes these look huge but in reality they are about 2″ x 2″. I am still waiting for the Inductors to come in from the UK (were not available in the US) and I should have assembled and functional prototypes within the next 3-4 weeks. My PID controlled Toaster oven is already set up and tuned to follow a temperature profile and I am feverishly waiting for the last components and the solder paste (lead free) to arrive.

For more details on these please follow this link http://ledshield.wordpress.com