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Sorry if this is too basic but I don't understand this issue.
Right now, using an MCU, I change the RGB colours of an LED strip with 3 PWM signals. All colours works great . The thing is, when I am trying to set the intensity of the light, I don't know how to do it.
So if, for example, I have RGB(15,170,230), then I want to slowly reduce the intensity of the light, keeping the same colour, how would I change the RGB to get that?
Start by scaling the R,G and B by the intensity value, for your example at 50% intensity you would set 15*0.5, 170*0.5, 230*0.5 (7, 85, 115).
The LEDs might have different non-linear responses, so you might need to tweak the scaling for perceived colour
In particular, at very low levels, you will suffer from rounding error. There is no easy way around this except by increasing the colour resolution (e.g. to 0-1000 instead of 0-250) or selecting devices with a more appropriate dynamic range for the application (brighter or dimmer LEDs).
Another alternative if you are using multiple devices is to switch a subset of the devices on to give different intensity levels, for example if you have 6 RGB LEDs you could switch 3 to (1,10,10) and 3 to (0,10,10) to add resolution, effectively (0.5, 10, 10) overall.
In your case:
(1) I'd establish hardware + software CURRENT drive proportional to PWM output value. Current and not voltage control is essential as lumens:mA is ROUGHLY constant but lumens:volts is very non linear. Very.
(2) I'd establish max current allowed per colour and
(3) brightness of each at that current.
Note that the measure is liable to be lumen/mA. As lumen are an eye response based unit, even if LEDs had equal light_mW/mA the lumen values per mA would differ. Also - when mixing coulours, even when the sun of (Red)lumen + green_lumen + blue_lumen) is constant as magnitudes change, you may well find that the perceived brightness varies. However, when two LEDs are observed one at a time, a difference in luminous output of nearly 2:1 is needed before a brightness change can be discerned by most people. Side by side maybe 1.5:1. Wall washing adjacent - maybe 1.2:1.
(4) Then I'd establish brightness per PWM step.
This allows desired brightness per PWM step to be used to select an RGB mix.
You could
scale in software so all colours use value say 0-100 for 0-100% brightness, or
0-100 for absolute intensities (setting most sensitive colour to 100 at mx brightness so it did not get overdriven OR
use data "on the fly".
eg SAY
Red = max brightness 200 units at 25.0 mA
Green = max brightness 120 units at 20.0 mA
Blue = max brightness 80 units at 20.0 mA
So Red = 8 brightnesses per mA, 25 mA max So Green = 6 brightnesses per mA, 20 mA max So Blue = 4 brightnesses per mA, 20 mA max
There are various ways of controlling this.
If you ALWAYS want top be able to use equal RGB then blue (being less max bright) red sets the limit at 80bu, 20 mA.
So Green max = 80bu/6 ma/bu= 13.333 mA max
Red max = 80bu/8 = 10 mA
Blue = 80bu/4 = 20 mA (as above).
You can use these scaling values on the fly OR if say PWM max = 250 = 25 mA then you could use brightnesses 0-100 per colour so that:
Red 100 = 10 mA -> Scaling factor = 1
Green 100 = 13.333 mA -> scale values UP by 1.33
Blue 100 = 20 mA -> scale values up by 2.0
So a value of say RGB 50 50 50 produces "white" light with equal RGB brightness.
Actual PWM values are 50 67 100.
Actual mA are 5 6.7 10.
So also 25 25 25 brightnesses yields white at half the above overall brightnesses and currents.
Changing to 50 20 80 or to 50 80 20 produces a new colour and APPROXIMATELY unchanged brightness IF independent lumen values are added. What the eye-brain system sees may differ.
How did your original experimenting work out?
I'm about to try 'playing' with some LED strips that I acquired.
Just do a linear interpolation. Say, over 100 time steps, start with the original color and then decrease each component by 1% each time step. You need to preserve the ratio between the components to preserve the overall color. As long as you scale all of the elements by the same amount, the color will remain the same.
