Thread: Serial port, relay, and a bunch of LEDs

Well the least amount of pins you would use for a only out connection would be ground and DataSend. For a minimalist send/recieve then just ground, dataSend, and dataReceive.

Also you won't be able to control a relay directly from a serial port. You will need to use a transistor to ramp up the voltage and then send through a relay.

What happened to that board everyone was checking out earlier with all the LED's?

Also do you want to turn the relays all on or all off, or do you want to control them all individually from the PC?

Also if you wanted only 2 controls, and no way of fine control meaning just on/off then don't even mess with the data signals. Just use the DTR and RTS ports.

Originally Posted by 2k1Toaster

What happened to that board everyone was checking out earlier with all the LED's?

If I wanted to control RGB or do some cool pattern or something then it would be a good board..well, that and I've already got a lot of 12v white LEDs that apparently won't work for that...I'd have to source a whole bunch of random LEDs.

Also do you want to turn the relays all on or all off, or do you want to control them all individually from the PC?

Here's the deal. The amps will all be lit with white leds. The amps are mounted on 1/8" black plexi, then 1/4" clear plexi, then 1/8" steel plate that will be painted black as well.

The white LEDs will shine through just the clear plexi.

It would be cool to be able to have them do patterns and what not, but not if it requires sourcing a bunch of one off LEDs that all have to have resistors soldered in, and have to mess with 30 wires per amp and try and fit them, along with rca, speaker, and power and ground through a 2 1/4" pipe...lol

Originally Posted by bbalazs

And as far as I know, THERE IS a parallel port on the mainboard of your MII (as pinouts).

I need to change that since that set-up isn't in my car any more...actually I'm in the process of changing out the system.

Thanks for the other information!