WS2811 on Teensy 3.0 using FastSPI_LED library

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I don't sell them, but you'll find the eagle board file HERE.

It works for me, but because I have no idea how you may use it... please... use it at your own risk (etc, etc...)

Thanks! I was hoping you would have some extras, but that will do just as well. Great that you are sharing the plans!
 
Thanks! I was hoping you would have some extras, but that will do just as well. Great that you are sharing the plans!

Quick note on the boards...

The teensys are being powered via USB, not the 5V from the board. I did this because I needed a way to turn off the LEDs without killing power to the teensys.
 
Has anyone found that connecting the -5v on the ground bus worked to power the ws2811 strips? That was the only way i could get my led strip to work and it only works with adafruits neopixel library. I am having a hard time with power. Can the way i have it hooked up damage my teensy and/or my computer?
 
I'm getting ready to finalize my setup and I was curious if anyone had experiences with USB 3.0 extension cords and hubs?
I am planning to use an extension of 30ft with a hub and 3 units at the end. Overkill?
 
Superspeed (5 Gbit/sec) USB is overkill for only 3 units, and probably much less capable of work over a long cable. High speed USB (480 Mbit/sec) will probably work much better.
 
Superspeed (5 Gbit/sec) USB is overkill for only 3 units, and probably much less capable of work over a long cable. High speed USB (480 Mbit/sec) will probably work much better.

You are always so quick to answer. Thank you!

That's what I was thinking as well, just wanted some input in this regard.
Cheers!
 
hey guys
just hooking up the 6xteensy octo rig again and getting some lag on one of the teensys, the "last" (far right) one. I remember noticing this the first and only other time I have used this. I shot these videos exhibiting the behavior:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Su8RNAcsVw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5c_LsHJ0giA
any thoughts? sync distro? the sync wires have resistors so maybe it is too much? maybe something in just that last panel? I am going to swap the panels tomorrow and see if the issue is the panel or the data delivery or bandwidth issue.
 
hey guys
just hooking up the 6xteensy octo rig again and getting some lag on one of the teensys, the "last" (far right) one. I remember noticing this the first and only other time I have used this. I shot these videos exhibiting the behavior:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Su8RNAcsVw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5c_LsHJ0giA
any thoughts? sync distro? the sync wires have resistors so maybe it is too much? maybe something in just that last panel? I am going to swap the panels tomorrow and see if the issue is the panel or the data delivery or bandwidth issue.

Hey giorgio,
I ran into the same issue (check it out HERE) and I'm not even sure how I fixed it. As you know the issue could be lots of different things.

So... I'm sure you've done most of this stuff, but here are a few things to check for anyway:

  1. Bad or single-TT hub (more info here)
  2. Bad or cheap USB cable (try switching around cables to see if things change)
  3. Sync wire is getting long and you need a resistor. (see above link)
  4. BIOS usb settings (I've found that EHCI works better then xHCI, but I could be off here)
  5. It could be how you are sending the data and what OS you're using (more info here)
  6. More than one teensy is the master

I hope that helps. Good luck :)
 
thanks hunter ! sometimes in the thick of frustration it is hard to break it down :)

but all i did is re-flash all the code from the arduino IDE and run my processing sketch again, and everything worked great tonight :)

I wonder what that lag problem actually is though... probably the same thing for you and me, cause it looked exactly the same in the vids, where you can tell but it is also almost okay....
 
Hey folks, I just got my Kickstarter up and running for a couple different types of the matrices I have been showing in this thread. Any help on getting the word out is appreciated.

Additionally, if anybody is interested in jumping in on the final order for leds just let me know. I have about 10K of the new WS2812B's (four pin) pixels and will more than likely be placing an order for more. There was another thread on the site asking about code compatibility of the WS2812B's and I can confirm that they work no problem.
 
144LEDs are apparently real

Hey guys, I just received this email and figured some might be interested:

Dear all,
Good day!

This is Jack from Clenled(in Shenzhen China), now i'd like to recommend our high density addressable LED Strip--ws2812(Inbuilt IC ws2811).
144LEDs ws2812 LED Strip
 
Application 1. To create LED Display;
2. Car decoration;
3. Toy decoration;
4. Christmas decoration.
 
Parameter 1.DC5v,144LEDs/M,144 pixels/M(1 LED per pixel);
2.ws2812 inbuilt IC, grey scale: 256;
3.waterproof & Non-waterproof.
 
Advantages 1. IC is built into the 5050 lamp, space saving;
2. Can be controlled by DMX via Decoder;
3. Higher resolution.
 
Price $26/M(below 100meters)
PS: 30/60/64/144 LEDs per meter are available.

 
Please down load the Spec at: https://app.box.com/s/yha2olo2pi3lf3hi4w20

Thank you for your time.
Best Regards,
Jack Huang
 
Hey guys,

I was wondering if anyone encountered the following issues and had some suggestions:

I have a couple of varying lengths of data lines to access WS2811 32/m LED strips located at different locations in a room (between 8ft to 20ft), all have been wired with 220Ohms resistors, 12AWG wire for power and ground and coaxial cable for data, I have 5V 70A power supplies (lights and power from Gree-Leds)

I realized that I needed to lower the power consumption on most of the power to the lowest possible to get the signal to arrive cleanly, but for the two longest lines I cannot lower the power output anymore to clean up the signal.

I was hoping that someone would have some suggestions on how to fix this issue. Any help is much appreciated!
 
How are you all 'sticking' your leds together to make the grids?

Do you keep the silicone covering on or off? I was thinking of hot glue but it didn't seem to stick. Now I'm using double sided tape but perhaps there was something better?
 
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How are you all 'sticking' your leds together to make the grids?

Do you keep the silicone covering on or off? I was thinking of hot glue but it didn't seem to stick. Now I'm using double sided tape but perhaps there was something better?

I used a high temp hot glue gun (I think it's 80 watts) on 3/4" birch 5x5 plywood sheets without the silicone covering.
 
I have just purchased 2m of these 144led/m ws2811 from Clenled. The price for non-waterproof was USD26 a meter. Postage was USD19 to the UK, but not sure if I will get stung for import tax. They accept Paypal for such small quantities. Will let you know how I get on with them.

mortonkopf
 
Well, when you go overkill on the dataline cabling using coax make absolutely sure that your exterior shielding is not touching your pins... 4 days of banging my head before noticing this. haha. I'm just glad it's working smoothly now.

Hey guys,

I was wondering if anyone encountered the following issues and had some suggestions:

I have a couple of varying lengths of data lines to access WS2811 32/m LED strips located at different locations in a room (between 8ft to 20ft), all have been wired with 220Ohms resistors, 12AWG wire for power and ground and coaxial cable for data, I have 5V 70A power supplies (lights and power from Gree-Leds)

I realized that I needed to lower the power consumption on most of the power to the lowest possible to get the signal to arrive cleanly, but for the two longest lines I cannot lower the power output anymore to clean up the signal.

I was hoping that someone would have some suggestions on how to fix this issue. Any help is much appreciated!
 
Is anyone familiar with openFrameworks? It's a c++ base coding framework.

We started a port of the processing code from Paul (thanks for that) - https://github.com/BBDO/ofxTeensyOcto

We've tried to break it out into a class and we'll expand on this over the next few weeks (add a gui / kinect modules etc)

The benefit over processing is that it is insanely fast. We haven't needed to use the sync for the teensy boards yet.

I also created a very simple script to give me a rough idea on numbers for creating a LED array. Was useful for me - http://jsfiddle.net/sermad/PuxKr/
 
Paul, this library is fantastic! This is what we made with it:

Exhibition booth with fabric frame. Behind the fabrics, about 6500 LEDs (WS2811). We’ve used 8 Teensy boards and 8 power supplies. Note we did not connect the frame sync pins, because it seemed to work just fine without connecting them, and connecting them gave some issues...

Youtube movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IELtFiXF13Q

Thanks a lot Paul!
 
I have just purchased 2m of these 144led/m ws2811 from Clenled. The price for non-waterproof was USD26 a meter. Postage was USD19 to the UK, but not sure if I will get stung for import tax. They accept Paypal for such small quantities. Will let you know how I get on with them.

mortonkopf

So, the 144leds/m strips turned up. reasonable quick delivery of two weeks to the UK and simple payment via Paypal. The build quality varies, however, with some sort of intermittent power at three places along one strip. the other strip works fine. I did get stung for import taxes which bumped up the price considerably, so worth thinking about if you are going to buy from China.
 
I've been told the WS2812 is the same. However, I've seen datasheets with very different specs, but I think some of the info in the original WS2811 datasheet is simply incorrect and they fixed it for newer versions of the file. Then again, the silicon might actually be different? Ultimately, I can not say with absolutely certainty what the specs of those chips really are.
 
Hey guys. I am finally able ((allowed) to release our project footage of our installation Paths as well. Details are in the video. Thank you for all the support and help. Looking forward to the next installation which will hopefully feature a video wall with those 144s. Cree send out an email recently selling them (WS2812B) for $28/m and(waterproof $28.5) as well.
 
Has anyone experienced 'random flickering' of their strips? Some seem rock solid yet others just flicker every now and again. It's super distracting.

I've got 220 ohm resistors on the data pins and I'm using Cat5 for the data cables.
 
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