2811 pixel to dc board/s

AAH

I love blinky lights :)
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After installing lots of dmx dc boards this year and deciding that 2013 I'd better put out some pixels I came up with the revelation that it would be easier to run pixel data all over the place and use that data to drive DC boards. As the 2811 pixels offer much better range than the 2801 pixels I decided that 2811 data is the way to go. What I'm planning on making up are 1 or more different boards that appear to the network as 2811 pixels but have high current dc outputs. I'm thinking that I'll probably make up 15, 30 and 60 channel boards an they'll have similar currents to my AAHMega60 dmx board (30A max per 15 channels). I'm also planning that the DC is isolated from the pixel stream so different power supplies can be used. Because of the simpler electronics and dramatically reduced features I'm hoping to get the cost per channel down a lot closer to what the 27 channel Ray Wu board is.
I'm also planning on making these boards so that they slot straight into the cheap Masters boxes.
Watch this space for updates as they happen.
 

Kaden

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Put me down for a handful of boards already!

A 3ch one (ie 1 pixel) would also be good too if it was easy enough to build?
 

David_AVD

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Good idea Alan. I made the DC24 PCB so that I could produce a 2801 pixel I/O version, but have never offered it for sale.

I think there would be many people now who have pixel controllers sitting there with spare capacity and this is an easy way to add some DC channels.
 

fasteddy

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Great to see this being offered and this will now help bring the cost per DC channel down, a great suggestion Alan
 

anon

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Excellent idea, it would eliminate the need for a lot of DMX of small networks for static lights.


Would this also be able to be stuck at the end of a pixel strip (with appropriate power supply) to take data forwarded on from the the last true RGB pixel?


Similarly will it be able to be put at the head of a 2811 chain and forward the SPI data onto true RGB pixels?


Would a single IC 3-channel board also be an option? A few small boards that could be daisy chained before or after a 2811 strip would pretty much allow me to eliminate my ECG-D2, Ray wu 27ch and smaller 3ch (and probably come out in front cost wise too).
 

Binkles

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Seeing if I'm on the same page, is this where you would have a string of pixels, a dc card of yours a row of dumb, and then start the pixels again?

If so, me likes the idea, and changes a bit of my thinking.
 

fasteddy

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Kaden said:
Put me down for a handful of boards already!

A 3ch one (ie 1 pixel) would also be good too if it was easy enough to build?

I agree a 3 channel version may be a great option as well
 

AAH

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It's easy to build a 3 channel 1 but the cost overheads for the remaining electronics means that anything much under 20 channels would push the cost per channel up a fair bit. In a week or 2 I will start on the design and that will give me a better idea of what things will cost. For the sake of ease I'm going to buy some chips through Ray. At the same time I'll order some blinking lights solely for the purpose of bulking the order up ;)
 
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