WS2811 large project help

Status
Not open for further replies.
I'll be posting my code here soon but I'm just starting the build with it. I'm using the teensy 3.2 with the OctoWS2811 add-on.

Basically I'm making 5 towers.
3 of the towers are 30 LEDs wide and 16 LEDs tall
The other 2 towers are 60 LEDs wide and 16 LEDs tall

The towers will be snaked from bottom right on all of them. Using 5 of the 8 ports on the OctoWS2811. The other ports are reserved for additional panels later on down the road.

Unsure on how to code this without each panel doing the same thing. Mostly will be running Glediator but hopefully I can use some other patches to do random things when alive control isn't a requirement.

Thanks for the help guys and if any rules are being broken (I didn't see this topic in searches) please let me know. I'm new to the group. Excited to share the design and pictures with each of you!
 
Unsure where you are starting from but good reference is:
https://www.pjrc.com/store/octo28_adaptor.html
https://www.pjrc.com/teensy/td_libs_OctoWS2811.html
for power and cabling. fair number of posts around the forum on similar projects and general issues seem to be trying to send signals to far, underestimating power or not having a robust design that is easy to build lots of.

Do have a think about RAM usage with your LEDs, since by default you will have three lots of 60*16 allocated but not used. You will be under the RAM limit for a Teensy 3.2 but not a huge amount of headroom left over for effects, and I don't think you will be able to achieve 60 hz refresh rate. While more expensive it may be easier to have a teensy per pillar.

If you have not spent too much time with the Octo library yet strongly recommend building a demo board with less than 50 total LEDs between all strands. This should be OK to power from USB and gives you something that nicely fits on the desk to program with. Note especially the base Octo Library is easy to do array overruns on so never plan for 'I run lots of LEDs from USB because I limit the brightness' since you will make a white strobe at least once.
 
I could possibly add maybe one more teensy to the mix but at the same time. I feel with design and power distribution it would be much easier with one teensy.

With two teensys it would be possible to run 2 control signals to each. Allowing me to save a few signals for the addition panels later down the road
 
First question. This is the code I am running.



#include

const int ledsPerStrip = 15;
const int NUM_LEDS =120;

DMAMEM int displayMemory[ledsPerStrip*6];
int drawingMemory[ledsPerStrip*6];

const int config = WS2811_GRB | WS2811_800kHz;
OctoWS2811 leds(ledsPerStrip, displayMemory, drawingMemory, config);

void setup() {
leds.begin();
leds.show();
}
int serialGlediator() {
while (!Serial.available()) {}
return Serial.read();
}
byte r,g,b;
int i;

void loop()
{
while (serialGlediator() != 1) {}

for (i=0; i < NUM_LEDS; i++) { b = serialGlediator(); r = serialGlediator(); g = serialGlediator(); leds.setPixel(i, Color(r,g,b)); } leds.show(); } /* Helper functions */ // Create a 24 bit color value from R,G,B unsigned int Color(byte r, byte g, byte b) { //Take the lowest 8 bits of each value and append them end to end return( ((unsigned int)b & 0xFF )<<16 | ((unsigned int)r & 0xFF)<<8 | (unsigned int)g & 0xFF);}


I built a really small version of towers. With the glediator software it has to be in a "chain"

How can I use different pins on the octows2811 for each tower in the code and it be one image. Like LED 1 for the first tower and LED 2 for the second tower.

Each tower is 4 lines of 15 leds
 
Anyone? I've been drowning in code and other information the past couple days, even someone to PM on the issue would be absolutely amazing!! Even possibly using a different software, the design is great, just how to deliver is the issue
 
Yes. My main question at the moment. I'm looking to use one output of the teensy OctoWS2811 to control one snaked tower. Snaking from bottom right then another output to control the second tower from another output snaking from the bottom right and so on
 
Think I'm throwing in the towel. I'll have to go Madrix or another control. I've dug and dug. Still can't quite figure this one out. Thanks anyway guys
 
I completely understand. I could use anything for live control. But it seems as if that's the only interface that supports that many pixels. Roughly 3100. Any suggestions would be appreciated but if not. I understand as well. One of the beasts with custom large builds
 
In Gladiator there is an option to set how boards are setup and the number of Leds per board.I believe that you set the total matrix size first in the "options>Matrix" menu, and then go and set the number of leds wide by led high and then whether the second and third boards in in the x or y plane. This is done in the "options>output" menu. In this menu click on "mapping mode" drop down and set to board mode. I have not done this in anger, but it seems to work on the small scale.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top