Hi guys,

I have a project which I want/need to create but I think its quickly becoming well out of my league. I'm going to outline what I need to do and I hope that collectively we can turn this project idea into a reality.

I would like to control the intensity of maybe 750-1000 High power LEDs using a touchscreen lcd or maybe buying a graphical lcd and touch screen separately and assembling it my self, what ever is cheaper/easier and is more compatible with the MCU. (comments about developing the software to do this would also be much appreciated)

However I need to be able to adjust the brightness of the the LEDs in groups of about 50 AND It needs to be powered by mains electricity which in the UK is 230V. I have read about LED drivers which can be used to adjust the brightness of individual LEDs and i think they can be daisy chained together BUT i dont think they are suitable fro High power LEDs which use 350mA and 3.7V, especially when there is approx 750 of them! If someone knows differently then great! My main concern is how to supply the LEDs with the amount of power they need to run whilst not destroying the MCU and other delicate ICs.

Ive read about using relays to power light bulbs using a microcontroller, but LEDs are not the same as incandescent light bulbs so im not sure how applicable this method is, especially because the brightness of an LED is controlled using PWM. Ive also read about Led Driver Evaluation Boards which can be used in conjunction with traditional triac dimmers and mains power to adjust the brightness of the LEDs but Im not sure how applicable they are to my project either. A combination of all these approaches would be ideal......

As you can see ive got my self into quite a pickle... and would really really appreciate some insight and guidance on this one. I look forward to reading all your responses.

Thanks alot

kemil