I want to make a button box with the following parts:
- 10 momentary push buttons
- 5 rotary encoders
- 1 toggle switch
- 1 start engine button
- 16 leds for RPM (from a WS2812 Strip)
- 1 LED matrix for gear indication (MAX7219 LED Matrix)
My question is, which Arduino is the best for this project. If I understand correctly I need an Arduino Pro Micro so the games recognizes the buttons. Will an Arduino Leonardo be as good as the Arduino Pro Micro for this project, because I can't seem to find an Arduino Pro Micro in stores.
Besides the Arduino, do I need an additional power supply or is the 5V from the Arduino enough for the parts?
Thanks in advance!
Hey! Leonardo works in the same way as Micro. In fact, they are the same thing. It is also recognized as a joystick in games, but has more inputs and an additional power connection. For such a project, i did not use additional power, there enough power from USB.
@alexxx23 Thank you for helping out! Just ordered the Leonardo and hope it's going to work out!
You might need external power supply! The switches, encoders and buttons don't require much power, but 16 WS2812B LED-s, and an LED matrix might. I had an 8 digit 7 segment LED display, a 16x2 LCD, and 16 WS2812B LED-s hooked up trough USB, and if the WS2812 LED-s lit up at higher brightness, the contrast on the LCD would fade away, also the 7 segment LED display would dimm as well, so i think you should consider an external power source.
@blackghostd5 Thanks for your input! The start engine button and the toggle switch have a LED built in and they use 12V, so I'm thinking of a solution to power the LED strip, matrix and the two leds with just one power supply or the Arduino itself as the LED strip and matrix are 5V.