<div dir="ltr"><div>I would suggest using WS2811 or other pixels with the following hardware:<br></div><div>Falcon F16V3 (this is the latest, greatest, but there are older and smaller models)</div><div>Sandevices' e682 or e6804</div><div>ESPixelStick (e1.31 over WiFi)</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Here's more information:</div><div><a href="http://www.doityourselfchristmas.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page">http://www.doityourselfchristmas.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page</a><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Jan 3, 2018 at 10:28 AM, Scott Hall via TriEmbed <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:triembed@triembed.org" target="_blank">triembed@triembed.org</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div bgcolor="#FFFFCC" text="#3333FF">
<div class="m_5092358074865589326moz-cite-prefix">Rodney (and any interested),<br>
<br>
As a semi-expert in this (I have been designing my display for
over 10 years), you want to consider these points:<br>
<ul>
<li>the going standard for the controls and channel signals is
DMX, originally a theater and stage light controlling system</li>
<li>you DO NOT want to use relays, as they will quickly fail,
and cannot act fast enough</li>
<li>typically MOSFETs are used as they can be switched much
faster, and are suitable for PWM average power control; for
experimental purposes Darlingtons can also be used<br>
</li>
<li>normal DMX uses 3-wire or 4-wire microphone-like cables</li>
<li>I have several articles on specifically using ESP8266s as
DMX endpoints decoding the DMX protocol, and firing 4 channels
of PWM outputs (through a mux) for multistring or RGB control</li>
<li>neopixels take a serial data stream, which is something else
that the ESP's are good at<br>
(I did this this year, neopixels in luminaries, where they all
emulated candle-light flicker & colors until the show,
then each became individual RGB lights to the soundtrack, and
then went back to luminaries after the show)<br>
</li>
<li>there are quite a number of open source DMX software out
there</li>
<li>MIDI is exactly a good source material, and the DMX
controller software can start with those files or signals;
check out this YouTube video of the Piano Guys who rigged a
MIDI pickup to a piano to control a DMX-based system:<br>
"88 Piano Keys Control 500,000 Christmas Lights! I Saw Three
Ships - The Piano Guys"<br>
<a class="m_5092358074865589326moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2IBGlDJ3lg" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr>v=D2IBGlDJ3lg</a><br>
</li>
</ul>
I have a couple of co-workers who do this, and can forward their
contact info off-list if you ask me.<br>
<br>
On 01/02/2018 11:03 AM, Brian Henning via TriEmbed wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre>I'd encourage you to consider solid-state control instead of some of the relays, as it would give you the option of dimming. I find instantaneous on/off displays, especially when really bright, hard on the eyes. Of course, I'm a lighting designer by night, so I'm particularly opinionated about such displays. :-D
John's suggestion of using MIDI is not a bad one. I'd encourage you to consider it, at least as a format for your sequencing data.
Aside: A family near where my parents live has had a large music-synched display for the past few years; I think they're trying to get noticed by local media. It's huge, bright, and dazzling, but (imnsho) not artistic at all. Don't be that guy. X-D
-B
On 12/28/2018 12:33 PM, Rodney Radford via TriLUG wrote:
<blockquote type="cite"><pre>For years I have been reading about, researching, and wishing for a fancy Christmas light show on my house and I have decided next year I will put together my first setup.
My plan is to build several 8 and 16 channel light control boxes that have power in to the outlets, and be controlled from an esp8266 (arduino + wifi) controller fed to a 8x or 16x channel relay board. This would mean I only need to run one power line to each board and all control sequences can be controlled from one system inside the house.
I plan to put one on each side of the house for the bushes/trees and porch railing, and one on a large cone christmas tree (16x strands of 100 lights each).
I already have 165' of neopixels that I bought for this project about 2 years ago and I want to put them along the roof line.
I am researching different open source control software and have several that look promising, but have not downloaded and tried out yet.
I am reaching out to see if anyone else on the TriLUG and TriEmbed lists already have their own lights and if so, would you be willing to trade a few emails on ideas, suggestions, things to stay away from, etc?
Btw, this is the first video of a long series showing how to build the control boxes and using Vixen software to control the lights. I like the general idea, but I plan to use the esp8266 for the control link instead of a Raspberry Pi and wired ethernet.
<a class="m_5092358074865589326moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvG9c84ApFA" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr>v=WvG9c84ApFA</a>
I have 11 months until Thanksgiving... that is my deadline.
;-)
</pre>
</blockquote>
</pre><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888">
</font></span></blockquote><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888">
<p><br>
</p>
<pre class="m_5092358074865589326moz-signature" cols="80">--
Scott G. Hall
Raleigh, NC, USA
<a class="m_5092358074865589326moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:ScottGHall1@GMail.Com" target="_blank">ScottGHall1@GMail.Com</a></pre>
</font></span></div>
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