Generic 16-Channel 12-bit PWM/Servo Shield - I2C interface - (AD28600)

Description:

Do you want to make an Arduino robot, maybe a walking hexapod, or maybe just a work of art with a lot of moving parts. Or perhaps you want to control a lot of LEDs with precise PWM output. Then you realize that the Arduino has few PWM outputs, and maybe those outputs conflict with another shield! Now what? You could give up or you could get our PWM and Servo driver shield. It's like our popular PWM/Servo Breakout but now ready for Arduino and works with any Arduino that uses shields: Uno, Leo, Mega, ADK, it's all good.

When we saw this chip, we quickly realized it would be an excellent complement. Using only two I2C pins, it controls 16 free-running PWM outputs! You can even stack up to 62 shields to control up to 992 PWM outputs (which we would really like to see as it would be glorious and 4 feet tall) Because I2C is a shared bus, you can also connect other I2C devices and sensors to the SCL/SDA pins as long as their addresses don't conflict (this shield has address 0x40).

- There is an I2C-controlled PWM driver with a built-in clock. That means that, unlike the TLC5940 family, you don't need to continuously send signals from your microcontroller, it's completely free-running!

- It is 5V compatible, meaning you can control it from a 3.3V Arduino and still safely control outputs up to 6V (this is good for when you want to control white or blue LEDs with forward voltages of 3.4+)

- 6 address select pins so you can stack up to 62 of these on a single I2C bus, a total of 992 outputs - that's a lot of servos or LEDs

- Adjustable PWM frequency up to approximately 1.6 KHz

- 12-bit resolution for each output, which means about 4us resolution with a 60 Hz refresh rate

We fell in love with this chip with a couple of extras:

- Terminal block for power input (or you can use the 0.1" breakouts on the side)

- Reverse polarity protection on the terminal block input

- Green and red LEDs for power

- 4 groups of 3-pin connectors so you can connect 16 servos at once (Servo headers are slightly wider than 0.1" so you can only stack 4 next to each other on a 0.1" header)

- Stackable design

- A place to put a large capacitor on the V+ line (in case you need it)

- 220 ohm series resistors on all output lines to protect them, and to make driving LEDs trivial

Note: This board is a generic version, but you can use the link below as a reference.

Reference Link