adafruit / adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_Qualia

Allow PWM control of display brightness

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#12 2 comments 1 reaction 0 assignees View on GitHub
Dominant language
Python
Stars
3
Forks
5
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No merged PRs in 30d

Description

`peripherals.brightness` (`board.BACKLIGHT` on the PCA9554 I/O expander) is enabled as an output on startup, and is set originally to `True`. Setting it to False leaves it as an output.

If the A1/PWM jumper is soldered closed, the code above prevents PWM output on `board.A1` from adjusting the brightness, because the output current can override the PWM output.

If board.BACKLIGHT` on the PCA9554 is set to an input, then it has two weaker pullups on it: one is a 10k resistor on the board, and the other is the built-in pullup on the PCA9554.

This can be done in a hacky way by doing `peripherals._backlight.switch_to_input(pull=Pull.UP)`. But it would be better to have it in the API.

How about allowing `peripherals.backlight = None`? This would do a `switch_to_input()` as above. If the jumper is solder closed, then this has been shown to allow PWM-ing the brightness. The API documentation should explain this and explain that the jumper must be soldered closed.

There _could_ also be an API added to do the PWM-ing.

See https://discord.com/channels/327254708534116352/537365702651150357/1439017635697262735 and below (and a little above).

Contributor guide

No contributing guide indexed for this repository

Research direction

Start by tracing the peripherals.backlight API and its board.BACKLIGHT handling on the PCA9554. Confirm whether the intended scope is accepting None, adding PWM control, or both; done should include the selected behavior and API documentation explaining the A1/PWM jumper requirement.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python
Domain
embedded-iot
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
38/100

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