possible to wire two octows2811 boards to a teensy 3.6?

[stan]

curious about whether this would work given the finer points of how the octo library functions. I've run four 3.2s being fed from various software on my PC without issues, so I know I can feed that much out. But would the 3.6 handle not only double the pixels (i.e. 8640) but double the outputs?

[philu]

I was just about asking the same question.
I connected a Teensy 3.6 to an octows2811 adapter, the sketch compiles but i don't get any output.

[philu]

Has anyone successfully used Teeny 3.6 with the octows2811 library?
I can't get even the BasicTest Example to work.

Everything behaves as expected when using a Teensy 3.2 board instead.

[MichaelMeissner]

Looking at the sources on github (https://github.com/PaulStoffregen/OctoWS2811), I don't see any #ifdef's for the Teensy 3.5 and 3.6. The code currently only has support for the Teensy 3.0, 3.1/3.2, and LC (and IIRC, the Teensy LC might have been problematical).

[philu]

Thanks, that got me a bit closer.

after changing #elif defined(__MK20DX256__) (Teensy 3.2) to #elif defined(__MK66FX1M0__) (Teensy 3.6) in OctoWS2811.cpp - just to see if something would happen - i got some pixels to light up randomly.

I would love to know if there are any plans to make the library 3.6 compatible.

[RyanElm]

I would love to know the answer to this before I purchase for my project.
The latest update to the codebase says "Add support for Teensy 3.5 and 3.6"
but no comments as to the specs (max pixels/num ports).

[PaulStoffregen]

I updated OctoWS2811 for Teensy 3.5 and 3.6. I tested with 1920 LEDs.

It certainly should work with several thousand. As far as OctoWS2811 is concerned, these new boards are pretty much the same as Teensy 3.2. Of course, the CPU is faster, so you can do more to compute whatever animation you're doing.

All WS2812 type LEDs take 30 us per LED to update, so the length of your strips determines the max update speed. Teensy 3.2, 3.5, 3.6 will all update the strips at the same speed, because the communication protocol is the limiting factor.

In theory, these new boards ought to be able to update a pretty incredible number of LEDs, if you're willing to accept the slower update rate due to longer strips.

[philu]

I updated OctoWS2811 for Teensy 3.5 and 3.6. I tested with 1920 LEDs.

It certainly should work with several thousand. As far as OctoWS2811 is concerned, these new boards are pretty much the same as Teensy 3.2. Of course, the CPU is faster, so you can do more to compute whatever animation you're doing.

All WS2812 type LEDs take 30 us per LED to update, so the length of your strips determines the max update speed. Teensy 3.2, 3.5, 3.6 will all update the strips at the same speed, because the communication protocol is the limiting factor.

In theory, these new boards ought to be able to update a pretty incredible number of LEDs, if you're willing to accept the slower update rate due to longer strips.

Awesome, this works really well with my setup.
My teensy is receiving the pixel data as udp stream over ethernet and has to do a lot of computation to get single color values.
The speed improvement makes a big difference there.

[drichelson]

Does anyone know if the 3.5 or 3.6 could support more than 8 outputs? and if so is there a new Octo (HexaDeciWS2811?) breakout board in the works?

[PaulStoffregen]

and if so is there a new Octo (HexaDeciWS2811?) breakout board in the works?

I'm considering making something like this....

[gbarill]

I'm considering making something like this....

I would be very interested in (and would purchase) these; reducing the number of Teensys required for projects would make my job a lot easier. Please make this!

[arduinonaut]

I'm considering making something like this....

FWIW, if these existed today, I would order several.

[gunderson]

As would I! Please!!

[Chris]

hi,

Can anypone say (at least theoretically) how many ws2811 leds the teensy 3.5, 3.6 and octows2811 can push ?

Chris

[gunderson]

8864 @ 30hz

The main limitation is the speed of the ws2811s and refresh rate (assuming you adequately power them). So, the info for 3.2 at https://www.pjrc.com/store/octo28_adaptor.html is consistent for 3.5 & 3.6.

[Chris]

many thanks

chris

[Chris]

Gunderson, so the limit of 8864 @30 Hz is based on octows2811(software) since 3.6 is faster and more powerful than 3.2 ?

Chris

[GremlinWrangler]

@ Chris, the 8864 limit is because the control waveform for WS2811 has a fixed speed, so if you want updates to be imperceptible you need at to limit the number of pixels per strand to the number that can get data in 1/30 of a second. A Teensy 3.6 could go larger if you wanted a static sign or similar that could live with a visible update pattern. One of the reasons to use Octo for large projects is because the DMA works in the background leaving the cpu free to prep the next frame so your limit is the pixel streaming rate, rather than pixel rate+time to prep next frame.

[Chris]

Gunderson, so the limit of 8864 @30 Hz is based on octows2811(software) since 3.6 is faster and more powerful than 3.2 ?

Chris

[Chris]

i got it.

thanks

chris

[Chris]

Assuming Octows2811 pushing 8500 leds @ 30 Hz to scroll a 10 led wide text led display at 8 led columns per second, I estimate that the length of the display could be up to about 3,000 leds. Am i in the ball park ?

Chris

[PaulStoffregen]

I don't understand what you mean by "8 led columns per second" and a length of 3000 without the height. Maybe you mean 10 tall? Sorry, it's just not clear to me, so can't answer well.

[Chris]

Sorry, the display is 10 leds tall and scrolls horizontally at the speed of 8 led columns per second

Chris

[PaulStoffregen]

So is the entire array 10 rows by 3000 columns, for a total of 30,000 LEDs?!

[Chris]

you got me.
thanks