RiverBendLights
Apprentice elf
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2014
- Messages
- 52
I have posted a few questions in this thread about where to buy items and many directed me to ray wu, I spoke to him a few times and he has been very helpful. I wanted to post what I plan to buy just to double check compatibility and such.
PIXELS
So I plan on buying 100m (5m Rolls x 20) of these http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/5m-DC5V-IP65-WS2812B-led-digital-strip-30pcs-WS2812B-M-with-30pixels-36W-white-pcb-waterproof/701799_1074720878.html
[/size]I will cut them to fit the outline of windows and may order a few more meters for some columns.
[/size]CONTROL BOARD
[font=arial, sans, sans-serif][/size]To control all these pixels someone recommended a beagle bone with a pixel bone, I believe. If I understand correctly I need to buy both (2) board which connect together to control the pixels. I will be using falcon player. [/font]
[font=arial, sans, sans-serif]POWER SUPPLIES[/font]
[font=arial, sans, sans-serif]To power the pixels I found a PSU on ray wu's site. Its 12V/350W. The pixels are only 5v but it shows on the site in the description that I can output 5v and have 70A at that rating. I need 144A so I will order 3 of these PSU's and plant them an equal distance apart in the front of the house to minimize the cable necessary. http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/12V-350W-switch-mode-power-supply-LED-power-driver-AC90-260V-input-DC12V-350W-output-constant/701799_1948832565.html[/font]
[font=arial, sans, sans-serif]WIRE[/font]
[font=arial, sans, sans-serif]To send power and data to the pixels I plan on using this cable unless someone has a better price on it somewhere else. I'm not sure how much I need I plan on buying 1 or 2 of these 50m 3 pin 18AWG rolls. That should be enough I assume. http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/50m-lot-3pin-RGB-18AWG-cable-for-led-pixel-module/701799_623994646.html [/font]
[font=arial, sans, sans-serif]QUESTIONS[/font]
[font=arial, sans, sans-serif]Now that I have explained my setup hopefully someone can help answer my questions.[/font]
[font=arial, sans, sans-serif]How do I know when I need to inject power to the pixels? If each window is about 6 meters in perimeter and there are 30pixels a meter, than there are 180 pixels in each window. How many runs of wire do I need to make to each window so i can inject power at the right intervals. I read here http://www.doityourselfchristmas.com/wiki/index.php?title=Power_Injection that I must inject every 50 pixels. Which means 4 runs of wire to each window... Is there anyway around this? Can I use better wire such as 16AWG? What about using these "null pixels" which are supposed to regenerate the signal? http://www.aliexpress.com/item/DC12V-WS2811-null-pixels-to-regenerate-the-data-signal-with-13-5mm-3-core-black-waterproof/32279633328.html how do they work and will it be better to use these rather than run more wire? I plan to use waterproof quick disconnects at every window anyway, how will this work with this cable? do I just solder the ends on?[/font]
[font=arial, sans, sans-serif]I assume that If I sort out the wiring of the pixels, I can run it back to the beagle bone send it through my E1.31 switch. which I may need an additional one since I only have 6 universes on it how many would I output from the beagle bone to the switch to get back to my LOR computer?[/font]
PIXELS
So I plan on buying 100m (5m Rolls x 20) of these http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/5m-DC5V-IP65-WS2812B-led-digital-strip-30pcs-WS2812B-M-with-30pixels-36W-white-pcb-waterproof/701799_1074720878.html
[/size]I will cut them to fit the outline of windows and may order a few more meters for some columns.
[/size]CONTROL BOARD
[font=arial, sans, sans-serif][/size]To control all these pixels someone recommended a beagle bone with a pixel bone, I believe. If I understand correctly I need to buy both (2) board which connect together to control the pixels. I will be using falcon player. [/font]
[font=arial, sans, sans-serif]POWER SUPPLIES[/font]
[font=arial, sans, sans-serif]To power the pixels I found a PSU on ray wu's site. Its 12V/350W. The pixels are only 5v but it shows on the site in the description that I can output 5v and have 70A at that rating. I need 144A so I will order 3 of these PSU's and plant them an equal distance apart in the front of the house to minimize the cable necessary. http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/12V-350W-switch-mode-power-supply-LED-power-driver-AC90-260V-input-DC12V-350W-output-constant/701799_1948832565.html[/font]
[font=arial, sans, sans-serif]WIRE[/font]
[font=arial, sans, sans-serif]To send power and data to the pixels I plan on using this cable unless someone has a better price on it somewhere else. I'm not sure how much I need I plan on buying 1 or 2 of these 50m 3 pin 18AWG rolls. That should be enough I assume. http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/50m-lot-3pin-RGB-18AWG-cable-for-led-pixel-module/701799_623994646.html [/font]
[font=arial, sans, sans-serif]QUESTIONS[/font]
[font=arial, sans, sans-serif]Now that I have explained my setup hopefully someone can help answer my questions.[/font]
[font=arial, sans, sans-serif]How do I know when I need to inject power to the pixels? If each window is about 6 meters in perimeter and there are 30pixels a meter, than there are 180 pixels in each window. How many runs of wire do I need to make to each window so i can inject power at the right intervals. I read here http://www.doityourselfchristmas.com/wiki/index.php?title=Power_Injection that I must inject every 50 pixels. Which means 4 runs of wire to each window... Is there anyway around this? Can I use better wire such as 16AWG? What about using these "null pixels" which are supposed to regenerate the signal? http://www.aliexpress.com/item/DC12V-WS2811-null-pixels-to-regenerate-the-data-signal-with-13-5mm-3-core-black-waterproof/32279633328.html how do they work and will it be better to use these rather than run more wire? I plan to use waterproof quick disconnects at every window anyway, how will this work with this cable? do I just solder the ends on?[/font]
[font=arial, sans, sans-serif]I assume that If I sort out the wiring of the pixels, I can run it back to the beagle bone send it through my E1.31 switch. which I may need an additional one since I only have 6 universes on it how many would I output from the beagle bone to the switch to get back to my LOR computer?[/font]