Hi,
I am new to this forum and have some questions on what to use for my project.
A bit of history:
I am building phase 2 of a kiosk that has 11,000 LEDs in it. The current LEDs use the WS2801 chipset and are the tape strip kind. Version one is working with Netduino Plus 2's. There are 7 Netduino's that all talk over ethernet to control each section of the display.
The kiosk has 6 sections that have LEDs. For example, there is the floor, a welcome piece, a backlit wall, a final section, etc.. Each section needs to have its own control. So in other words the floor will be on its own so that I can display any pattern and the backlit wall can have its own pattern.
Problems with current config:
1. The Netduino's are terrible at ethernet, they drop connection at random times. I've posted on their forum many times and have yet to get a respose. There are many other posts that have the same topic with no answer.
2. The Netduino's also hang the program when I do a "socket.connect" and the remote endpoint isn't connected. According to the responses I received on this topic no one has a fix other than rebooting the device.
3. The WS2801 LED's are susceptible to noise. I get random flickers from time to time and can't run the clock above 1Mhz.
4. I can't update the Netduino's remotely. (Meaning, connect via ethernet and send a new program).
To start off with a new design I want to just work on the floor which is a 16' diameter circle that has a 7' circle cut out of the middle, it looks like a ring. The circle has 48 floor supports that we call 'ribs' and each rib has 3 strands of LEDs on them which have 45 LEDs each. The ribs have one strand down the middle facing up and the other two strands face the sides. There is a total of 144 strands of LEDs in the floor (3 X 48 = 144). There are 8 sections to the floor making and each section has 6 ribs equaling 810 (3 strands X 45 LEDs X 6 ribs = 810).
I would like to have the floor be modular, able to remove any section and still function. A total of 8 sections.
My thoughts for redesign are to make each octet have its own Teensy that talks to the strand and it has its own power source. I would communicate with the Teensy via serial from a PC or a BeagleBone (This is one of the questions) What would work best? I'd like to be able to create a pattern using 'LED Edit' or a similar program. Currently I have what I call sequences setup in the Netduino's and they all talk to each other to create a show. (This is a pain because I have to reflash the ND every time I want to make a change)
Questions:
1. Will the Teensy control 810 LED strand with no problem?
2. Do I need to change to WS2811 or WS2812 instead of the WS2801's?
3. Do I need the BeagleBone or just us a PC running Python or equivalent or the LED Edit software?
4. What does the sync pin do on the Teensy's?
5. If I use the Teensy's do I connect the usb cable or use the UART? (To connect to the PC or BeagleBone)
6. Is a buffer chip required to interface the Teensy to the LED strand? (meaning a 74HC245)
7. Can the Teensy's be daisy chained?
I know this is a lot but I would really like to be able to send data to each section and have the LEDs update with a fast enough framerate to not be noticable. (~20-30fps)
Thank you in advance for your help,
Steve
I am new to this forum and have some questions on what to use for my project.
A bit of history:
I am building phase 2 of a kiosk that has 11,000 LEDs in it. The current LEDs use the WS2801 chipset and are the tape strip kind. Version one is working with Netduino Plus 2's. There are 7 Netduino's that all talk over ethernet to control each section of the display.
The kiosk has 6 sections that have LEDs. For example, there is the floor, a welcome piece, a backlit wall, a final section, etc.. Each section needs to have its own control. So in other words the floor will be on its own so that I can display any pattern and the backlit wall can have its own pattern.
Problems with current config:
1. The Netduino's are terrible at ethernet, they drop connection at random times. I've posted on their forum many times and have yet to get a respose. There are many other posts that have the same topic with no answer.
2. The Netduino's also hang the program when I do a "socket.connect" and the remote endpoint isn't connected. According to the responses I received on this topic no one has a fix other than rebooting the device.
3. The WS2801 LED's are susceptible to noise. I get random flickers from time to time and can't run the clock above 1Mhz.
4. I can't update the Netduino's remotely. (Meaning, connect via ethernet and send a new program).
To start off with a new design I want to just work on the floor which is a 16' diameter circle that has a 7' circle cut out of the middle, it looks like a ring. The circle has 48 floor supports that we call 'ribs' and each rib has 3 strands of LEDs on them which have 45 LEDs each. The ribs have one strand down the middle facing up and the other two strands face the sides. There is a total of 144 strands of LEDs in the floor (3 X 48 = 144). There are 8 sections to the floor making and each section has 6 ribs equaling 810 (3 strands X 45 LEDs X 6 ribs = 810).
I would like to have the floor be modular, able to remove any section and still function. A total of 8 sections.
My thoughts for redesign are to make each octet have its own Teensy that talks to the strand and it has its own power source. I would communicate with the Teensy via serial from a PC or a BeagleBone (This is one of the questions) What would work best? I'd like to be able to create a pattern using 'LED Edit' or a similar program. Currently I have what I call sequences setup in the Netduino's and they all talk to each other to create a show. (This is a pain because I have to reflash the ND every time I want to make a change)
Questions:
1. Will the Teensy control 810 LED strand with no problem?
2. Do I need to change to WS2811 or WS2812 instead of the WS2801's?
3. Do I need the BeagleBone or just us a PC running Python or equivalent or the LED Edit software?
4. What does the sync pin do on the Teensy's?
5. If I use the Teensy's do I connect the usb cable or use the UART? (To connect to the PC or BeagleBone)
6. Is a buffer chip required to interface the Teensy to the LED strand? (meaning a 74HC245)
7. Can the Teensy's be daisy chained?
I know this is a lot but I would really like to be able to send data to each section and have the LEDs update with a fast enough framerate to not be noticable. (~20-30fps)
Thank you in advance for your help,
Steve
