Wearables, Sequenced lights

[Jayxdallis]

Hey Legends

I've been asked by a local school if this kind of lighting could be used in clothing for dance class??? are there particular led's that would be used here? was looking at the idea of Esp pixelstick controllers on a battery pack and sew on to the clothing, 5v like this one and I'm guessing a wi-fi link to connect them all up?

29.85AU $ |Ws2812b Led With Heatsink(10mm*3mm);dc5v Input;5050 Smd Rgb With Ws2811 Ic Built-in - Light Beads - AliExpress

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com

www.aliexpress.com

I'm asking if anyone can come up with any good ideas or any negatives to overcome as I think the idea is for me to only assist the project and the kids plan, design & manufacture the hole thing. Its such a great project for a school as it will have many kids involves from creative arts, technology & IT getting together and creating a show on stage!!!

thanks again
J

 

[Nojoy]

Design Guidelines on LED Costumes for Dance Performances

We present design guidelines on light emitting diode (LED) costumes for dance performances assuming repetitive use during concerts. We used LED costumes more than 120 times for large concerts of well-known artists at venues of approximately 50,000 capacity that were commercially successesful and...

www.mdpi.com

Section 2.3.3 has some lessons learnt to assist

 

[TerryK]

Here is a link to a US vendor that sells 'wear-ables'. https://www.adafruit.com/category/65

Their web site indicates they ship worldwide and have international resellers. Try searching for (Australian unless noted) Aus3D, Build Circuit, Electronic R Us, Logic Ware, Mind Kits (NZ), Pakronics, Small Devices, Australian Robotics, Core Electronics, Little Bird Electronics, Micro Wear, Nice Gear (NZ), and/or Robot Bits (NZ).

For wearables, one needs to keep power draw low to avoid requiring the user from carrying a somewhat heavy/bulky battery. The MPU needs to be light and compact as well. I feel the WS2812 will be too large. I would suggest something similar to a NeoPixel. A search for LED Sequins may produce results too although those are typically single color. Creative programming of the MPU can offset that limitation.

 

[Katekate]

I feel the WS2812 will be too large. I would suggest something similar to a NeoPixel.

Neopixels, also known as WS2812

 

[TerryK]

Came back to edit, Yes, the V2 Neopixels are using either a WS2812 or SK6812. The V1 Neopixel used a WS2811 and are being phased out. The V2s are 12.5 mm x 2.5 mm. AdaFruit has two controllers that run a version of Python or an Android IDE. The smallest is slightly larger than a US quarter.

Thank you Kate. You keep me on my toes.

 

[Kockie_nl]

I did it with simple led-strip:

View: https://youtu.be/Shhw5Qd9ncw


View: https://youtu.be/KDdeQHYuB6A

I must search for a video of it in action....

 

[Jayxdallis]

The neo pixel is cool! A few google searches for controllers come up with esp2866 wifi boards but there is a mine field on it having to be mounted to another pcb to make a pixel stick and others saying direct connect to a node mcu. It’s a bit overwhelming.

I just want something cost effective for bulk purchase that will control approx 150 lights each and wifi link together to run a sequence together on a stage! I think I have to spend some time searching forVCS2020 videos or mini’s!

 

[TANSA]

I have one of the JBoards never actually used it but setup was easy as long as you read the instructions to the letter.
$14US and he is always out but if you have enough time might be worth it.

ESPixNode **No NodeMCU available**

Combines a NodeMCU (esp8266 based board - included in purchase) with a daughter/add-on board that allows simple connection and use of espixelstick firmware made available by Shelby Merrick of http://forkineye.com Quick setup guide: Download here - Supports both 5v/12v - Up to 8 universes...

jboards.ecwid.com

 

[Jayxdallis]

I have one of the JBoards never actually used it but setup was easy as long as you read the instructions to the letter.
$14US and he is always out but if you have enough time might be worth it.

ESPixNode **No NodeMCU available**

Combines a NodeMCU (esp8266 based board - included in purchase) with a daughter/add-on board that allows simple connection and use of espixelstick firmware made available by Shelby Merrick of http://forkineye.com Quick setup guide: Download here - Supports both 5v/12v - Up to 8 universes...

jboards.ecwid.com

Thats cool

 

[Kockie_nl]

I used 2 wemos D1 with a null pixel from Hanson electronics directly at the wemos. 1 for the skirt and one for the body/headpiece.

Had 4x 4s2p homebuilt 18650 packs to power it. 2 packs mounted to a belt for the skirt and 2 on a mini backpack for the body and headpiece

 

[BAZMick]

There was a guy mentioned on the SuperHouseTV live stream today who is apparently a guru of wearable addressable LEDs, Mark "Millan" Does anybody know of him?

View: https://youtu.be/4QGZMBXMk7g

About 2hrs and 24 mins he is mentioned as notorious for crazy led costumes!

 

[TANSA]

I think I have seen some of his home automation hacks for the sonoff

 

[Jayxdallis]

I used 2 wemos D1 with a null pixel from Hanson electronics directly at the wemos. 1 for the skirt and one for the body/headpiece.

Had 4x 4s2p homebuilt 18650 packs to power it. 2 packs mounted to a belt for the skirt and 2 on a mini backpack for the body and headpiece

Got any more info on your setup? I'm interested in this idea as it needs to be as simple as possible! curious as to if I could use esp32 dev boards and they all sync over wi-fi to a scheduler like Xschedule on network or FPP on a pi??? no idea!! also seen the Circuit Playground board which is packed with cool stuff to use on clothing but will xlights see it?

Problem is I'm thinking about this too much and not on next years light show plan!!

 

[BAZMick]

Flash WLED to the ESP32 or ESP8266 device and set them to listen to e131 data. Then you program sequences for them from xLights and drive them from FPP or xschedule

 

[Kockie_nl]

Got any more info on your setup?

What do you want to know? The dress had about 1500 leds in total (500 pixels). Was driven by 4 buck converters, 2 for the skirt en 2 for the body. It was made in two pieces because of the requirement to quickly dress otherwise. It has a couple of powerinjection points. The electronics side is taken of the dress now, so i can't take more pictures

The wemos' were running espixelstick and were controlled bij FPP via the big-button page. Unfortunately the conductor wouldn't use a clicktrack, so i could not synchronise to music...