User Manual

12
RGB LED
An RGB LED is provided in this kit. RGB LEDs emit light in various colors. An RGB LED packages
three LEDs of red, green, and blue into a transparent or semitransparent plastic shell. It can
display various colors by changing the input v oltage of the three pins and superimpose them,
which, according to statistics, can create 16,777,216 different colors.
RGB LEDs can be categorized into common anode and common cathode ones. In this
experiment, the latter is used. The common cathode, or CC, means to connect the cathodes
of the three LEDs. After you connect it with GND and plug in the three pins, the LED w ill flash
the corresponding color. I ts circuit symbol is shown as figure (n).
(m) (n)
An RGB LED has 4 pins: the longest one is GND; the others are Red, Green and Blue. Touch its
plastic shell and you will find a cut. The pin closest to the cut is the first pin, marked as Red,
then GND, Green and Blue in turn.
(o)
Or you can distinguish them in another w ay. As GND is the longest one and can be defined
directly, you just need to confirm the other three pins. You can test it by giving them a small
voltage. The forward v oltage drop from the three pins to the GND are respectively 1.8V (red),
2.5V (blue), and 2.3V (green). Thus, w hen you connect the same current limiting resistor w ith
the three pins and supply them with the same v oltage, the red one is the brightest, and then
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