Kit for examining dynamic backlighting effects

Greater product differentiation and enhanced ease of use are key potential advantages of colour-change backlighting, which can be used to help end users navigate features and understand operating modes intuitively.

Colour change can also be used to influence the user's mood, or to permit customisation of a variety of devices, from domestic appliance interfaces to car-interior panels.

Included in each kit is an evaluation board carrying five tri-colour (RGB) LEDs, combined with a 50 x 50mm printed light-guide built using Design LED's technologies, plus a power supply.

The backlighting colour balance can be optimised by manually adjusting red, green and blue brightness levels, allowing developers to take advantage of the LEDs' entire colour range.

A dedicated pin header is also provided, which allows the Microchip PICkit 2 Development Programmer/Debugger to be connected.

This board allows user-control of the LEDs.

The microchip board is not included with the OEM Colour-Changing Evaluation Kit.

Design LED's printed light-guide technology enables a cost-effective custom solution for controlling the colour and brightness of backlights and uniformly illuminating large areas or multiple segments with individual illumination control.

The 1mm-thick LED and light-guide assembly permits a range of colours and combinations, eliminates the need for a separate PCB to hold the LEDs, and avoids the high tooling costs associated with injection-moulded light guides.

Individual printed light guides can be produced cost-effectively in small-to-medium volumes, to suit backlight dimensions from 5 x 5mm up to 500 x 500mm.