Cosmic Ribbon

[riri7707]

Regarding the comercial Cosmic Ribbon we can found, i wanted to have confirmation about the concept of the ribbon itself...

I read 150 leds and 50 channels...
So 3 RGB led per channel on the ribbon...

My first question : how these 50 channels are managed point of view cabling in the strip.
Does it includes chips also in the ribbon for that and a specific BUS to dialog with each group of 3 RGB Led?

Someone tried to check how it was made?

Cheers,  Henri

[ɟɐsʇǝppʎ]

The CCR ribbon has 3 SMD 5050 RGB LEDs for each controllable pixel. It has 50 of these pixels over a 5 metre length and each pixel takes 3 channels (red, green, blue) so that is 3 LEDS x 50 Pixels = 150 LED lights. 50 RGB pixels = 150 channels (RGB)

Now each pixel is controlled by its own IC chip that will know its position within the CCR. The pixel IC is not addressed in a way that it needs to be in order, so that means if you cut a CCR up it wont matter if you mix the sections up it will still work. This is actually very handy for my matrix which gives me 8 spare pixels, so if one pixels fails i can just replace it with the spares that I have and not worry about it being the incorrect channel. I'm not sure what comms are used for the CCR itself but there are 4 supply tracks, i presume 2 tracks are for + and - DC supply to the ribbon and the other 2 are the comms between each pixel.

Now the CCR can be delicate, i recommend having it secure to something solid as if the strip is handled to much or bent to much then the solder joints on the IC or LEDs may get damaged.

Otherwise they are bright, colourful and i think they will make a great addition to mine or anyone elses display this year

Hope that helps a little

[riri7707]

Thanks fasteddy...
I was just curious, because i got some ribbons with HL1606 chips embedded  in the ribbon.
So i have five units/5 meters with the same RGB SMD 5050 / 150 per strip.

But i musted to buy a specific controller as this is a BUS +  Power Supply (5 wires).
All works from 5 volts and the controller have DMX too.
So the ribon itself was drive by 5 volts DC.

But it's limited to 83 functions (embbeded ) in the controler and DMX can only manage these
Functions and not do other thing. So Somewhere very limited...

This is a rainbow ribbon you can find on E-bay... around $90 unit.

I thought, maybe some one made some interface to manage them other way, with more flexibility.

I attached  the pdf file of the HL1606, if anyone have some good ideas or feedback or running work on that

Cheers,  Henri

[ɟɐsʇǝppʎ]

Thanks fasteddy...
I was just curious, because i got some ribbons with HL1606 chips embedded  in the ribbon.
So i have five units/5 meters with the same RGB SMD 5050 / 150 per strip.

But i musted to buy a specific controller as this is a BUS +  Power Supply (5 wires).
All works from 5 volts and the controller have DMX too.
So the ribbon itself was drive by 5 volts DC.

But it's limited to 83 functions (embbeded ) in the controler and DMX can only manage these
Functions and not do other thing. So Somewhere very limited...

This is a rainbow ribbon you can find on E-bay... around $90 unit.

I thought, maybe some one made some interface to manage them other way, with more flexibility.

I attached  the pdf file of the HL1606, if anyone have some good ideas or feedback or running work on that

Cheers,  Henri

Henri,

I have also looked into these ribbons you described and was turned off them due to the fact they don't have direct control of the ribbon and it is only controlled from stored functions which can be called up with a DMX channel.

Now i have been softly suggesting to Phil  that he should investigate designing a controller to utilize the strips, I know Phil has the same ribbon you have that's sitting in his draw. I think if enough people start showing interest in this type of controller then Phil just may be convinced to look into it for us who lack the skills to do the same

No pressure Phil 

[rrowan]

Thanks fasteddy...
I was just curious, because i got some ribbons with HL1606 chips embedded  in the ribbon.
So i have five units/5 meters with the same RGB SMD 5050 / 150 per strip.

But i musted to buy a specific controller as this is a BUS +  Power Supply (5 wires).
All works from 5 volts and the controller have DMX too.
So the ribbon itself was drive by 5 volts DC.

But it's limited to 83 functions (embbeded ) in the controler and DMX can only manage these
Functions and not do other thing. So Somewhere very limited...

This is a rainbow ribbon you can find on E-bay... around $90 unit.

I thought, maybe some one made some interface to manage them other way, with more flexibility.

I attached  the pdf file of the HL1606, if anyone have some good ideas or feedback or running work on that

Cheers,  Henri

Henri,

I have also looked into these ribbons you described and was turned off them due to the fact they don't have direct control of the ribbon and it is only controlled from stored functions which can be called up with a DMX channel.

Now i have been softly suggesting to Phil  that he should investigate designing a controller to utilize the strips, I know Phil has the same ribbon you have that's sitting in his draw. I think if enough people start showing interest in this type of controller then Phil just may be convinced to look into it for us who lack the skills to do the same

No pressure Phil 

Oooh, DIY CCRs

Yeah No Pressure Phil

Cheers

Rick R.

[AussiePhil]

Oooh, DIY CCRs

Yeah No Pressure Phil

Cheers

Rick R.

Rick

absolutely correct dear sir no pressure

I will get to it - just unlikely to be this year. I will likely have to buy a controller to do some decoding of the protocol because the data sheet is not the best one i've ever read, there is from memory a variation in the traditional thinking and any firmware will need to cater for this.

Cheers
Phil

[rrowan]

Hi Phil

Like I said in Chat 2011 would be fine with me. Money seems to be tight this year

Cheers

Rick R.

[Tabor]

Hey Phil

I would be interested in this also.

Here are some link to other projects that have decoded the led strip

http://www.instructables.com/id/Too-cool-Rainbow-Headband/
http://bleaklow.com/2010/05/24/how_the_hl1606_works.html
http://bleaklow.com:80/2010/05/26/driving_the_hl1606_using_the_arduinos_hardware_support.html
http://bleaklow.com:80/2010/05/27/how_the_hl1606_really_works.html
http://bleaklow.com:80/2010/05/28/bidirectional_patterns_with_the_hl1606.html

and a partial datasheet in english
http://led-headband.googlecode.com/files/nps6B3.pdf

Hope these help.

Tabor

[AussiePhil]

Tabor

Nice work on the links, i hadn't seen the bleaklow ones before and they filled in one of the blanks, i've actually got a complete data sheet that i can use, though different to the one you linked.

Thanks
Phil