1. Use a LOW wattage iron -- 15 or 20 watts max with a fine tip -- the finer the better.   More than 15 watts and you'll risk cooking the chips.
   
2. Use fine, rosin core solder.
   
3. You should have solder braid/wick to clean up any mistakes
4. Insure you and your workspace are grounded and don't remove chips from the packaging until you are at the point you need to install them

• 15 watt solder iron with a new fine tip point (no chisel end -- a tiny, tiny point).
  
• 60/40 rosin core solder
• Fine mesh (vs a coarser mesh) solder wick
• clips/clamps to hold the board in place
• as much light as you can put on the thing
• Diagonal wire cutters
• Smaller needle nose pliers (to hold things and help form leads)
  

	Layout all your tools and the kit on a clean surface.  Since some parts are very tiny and easy to get mixed in with any debris, I recommend the cleaner and more open the better.
	Empty out the kit and carefully check to make sure you have all the parts.  Your part list should include: 1 tiRGBLED Driver PC Board 1 18 pin DIP socket 2 28 pin .3" wide DIP sockets 1 16F87 or 16F88 PIC microcontroller 2 TI TLC5940NT PWM chips 3 3 pin jumper posts 3 jumpers 1 T 1 3/4 RED LED 2 330 ohm, 1/8 watt, 1% resistors 1 150 ohm, 1/4 resistor 9 10k ohm, 1/4 watt resistors 1 2N3904 NPN transistor 2 2-position terminal blocks 1 3-position terminal block 3 9-position terminal block 1 0.1uf capacitor 1 1.0uf capacitor 2 10pf capacitors 1 220uf to 4,700uf (or higher) capacitor (optional) 1 LM7805 5 volt regulator (optional)
	Install the 2 10pf capacitors into C1 and C2, near where the PWM chips will go. These are the two smallest capacitors (physically)
	Install the 2 330 ohm, 1/8 watt 1% resistors in R1 and R2. These are the physically the smallest resistors
	Install the 0.1uf capacitor into C3 and the 1.0uf capacitor into C4.
	Install the 18 pin and 2 28 pin DIP sockets to the board with the notches facing left
	Install the 6 10k ohm, 1/4 watt resistors into R3, R4, R5, R6, R7, R8. Note that R5 goes next to the upper right pin of the 18 puin DIP socket (some sockets may cover the R5 label)
	IF you are using a RS232 interface (vs an SPI interface), install the 3 10k ohm, 1/4 watt resistors into R9, R10 and R11 and the 2N3904 transistor into Q1. IF you are using an SPI interface, then do NOT install R9-R11 or the Q1 transistor, just install a small piece of wire as a jumper into JP1 (middle right side of board).
	Install the 150 ohm, 1/4watt resistor into R12 and the LED into the ERR LED space on the left side of the board (the flat side of the LED should face the PWM chips)
	If you will NOT be installing a voltage regulator (i.e. you will be powering the circuit from a regulated 5 volt supply), then install a piece of wire in the jumper JP2, located about midway on the left side of the board. DO NOT INSTALL JUMPER IF YOU WILL BE USING A REGULATOR!!!
	Install the 2 pin power terminal block on the upper left of the board.
	IF you are using an RS232 serial interface, install the 2 pin serial terminal block on the upper right of the board (use the top-most two positions for the terminal block) IF you are using the SPI serial interface, install the 4 pin serial terminal block on the upper right of the board.
	Install the 3 9-pin terminal blocks into the LED outputs at the bottom of the board, starting at the left and working right. They will fit, but it will be very snug. Install the 3 pin terminal block at the right end of the LED output terminals.
	If you wish to install the optional large capacitor into C5, now is the time. Values can run from 220uf to over 4,700uf. The exact value depends on your power conditions. Be sure to keep the polarity of the capacitor correct with the + lead pointing toward the top. If you are not sure you need this capacitor, omit it for now and add it later if the units operation is unstable
	IF you are using an unregulated power supply, install the optional LM7805 5 volt regulator into the VREG space. In this case, be absolutely sure that there is NO JUMPER in JP2 and that the metal tab/back of the regulator face the inside of the board.
	Install the three baud rate jumper pins into BR0, BR1 and BR2.
	Double check that you have correctly installed or not installed the JP1 and JP2 jumpers to match your configuration. If either is installed when it is not supposed to be, you can and likely will damage one or more components at powerup (or thing just won't work). Double check now!
	Install the PIC 16F87 or 16F88 chip into the 18 pin DIP socket with the notch and pin 1 indicator oriented toward the left side of the board
	Install the two TLC5940NT PWM chips into the 2 28 pin DIP sockets with the notch and pin 1 indicators oriented toward the left side of the board
	You will need to set the baudrate on the board to match your hosts speed.  The baudrate is set with the 3 jumpers on the upper right side of the board and the values are set per the image to the left (click for larger one).  Do be aware that 57600 baud is slightly error prone as the oscillator in the chip isn't an even multiple of the needed baudrate.  It'll usually work, but the error is like 3% from standard, so for some systems, no deal. Also, the maximum sustained baud rate the controller can handle is 19200 (though that can slow a bit if there are commands with lots of animation color manipulation).  At 38400, the best bet is to insert a 1ms delay between each command (at which point the board can generally keep up).  Finally, keep in mind that the lower the baudrate, the longer the run of wire can be.  High baudrates and long wire runs often don't work (or don't work reliably).  So if you've got a major run, consider a more conservative baudrate.
	Next, hook up a test LED.  Use a common anode LED to make things simple.  Hook the LED up to the left most LED outputs -- that will be LED #0. When you power up the LED, the LED should briefly flash and then start cycling through colors (that is the built-in self test).  If there is no light at all, check the PIC and PWM chips and insure they are installed correctly.  Then, connect the RS232/DB9 to your computer and run the jRGBLED configurator program.  Check the File->Properties to make sure the correct serial port and speed is selected.  The go to the Board menu and pick Clear Board.  When you clear it, the LED should go off. Now, select LED 0 and type in a color of FF0000, insure the "Led ON" is checked and press Upload LED.  The LED should light up red.  Then try 00FF00 and the LED should light up green.  Finally, try 0000FF and the LED should light up blue.  If the colors do not match that sequence, check your wiring to your LED -- you may have swapped some wires.
	If you have any questions or problems, please ask on the RGBLED forum.  Please DO NOT SEND EMAIL to me.  Any support email I receive will be replied to with a form letter asking you to post the question on the forum.  The Forum allows multiple people to help answer questions and acts as a repository of knowledge that future builders can consult.

Last Updated February 22, 2007