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Ws2811 Strobes, anyone making them?

Discussion in 'RGB Lights - Intelligent Pixels and 3-Channel RGB' started by GoofyGuy, Jan 10, 2013.

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  1. GoofyGuy

    GoofyGuy Guest

    Just a question if anyone has designed or already working on this? Ive done away with conventional controllers and trying to figure out a way to get a strobe on a pixel based display.
     
    GoofyGuy, Jan 10, 2013
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  2. fasteddy

    fasteddy I have C.L.A.P Global Moderator Generous Elf

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    I dont think anyone has been looking at this because your limited to what you can use as an LED. The 2811 has a rated output of 18.5ma per channel, so if wanting to use a 1 watt or 1/2 watt LED then you may be limited as a 1/2 watt LED is normally rated at 150ma forward current and a 1 Watt LED is normally rated around 350ma. So as you can see the 2811 chip has no chance of driving any decent wattage LED. Other components will be required to make this work which then brings the total cost up.
     
    fasteddy, Jan 10, 2013
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  3. David_AVD

    David_AVD Bite my shiny metal ass! Community Project Designer Generous Elf

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    It certainly can be done. It all depends on the acceptable costs and if people want to solder the SMD parts.
     
    David_AVD, Jan 10, 2013
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  4. fasteddy

    fasteddy I have C.L.A.P Global Moderator Generous Elf

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    The other issue with using any chip like this to drive a strobe is the on/off time. You are bound by the the DMX/e1.31 data rate which may not get that pop flash feel as the light maybe on too long due to the data refresh rate, This is why the ACL strobes have their own Pic control so its not dependant on data, all you do is turn on the strobe trigger and the pic will refresh at a rate that allows for more of a pop flash feel as you can now get flashes that are 0.01 or 0.02 seconds.
     
    fasteddy, Jan 10, 2013
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  5. OP
    OP
    GoofyGuy

    GoofyGuy Guest

    Didnt know about the power rating on the chip itself. Makes perfect sense. As for soldering SMD, Ill try anything but as posted it doesnt look like a viable solution. I want something that will strobe faster than DMX speed but I like that I dont have dc controllers or ac controllers. Everything is the same, no danger in crossed wires kinda thing. Thank guys I appreciate the input, back to the drawing board.
     
    GoofyGuy, Jan 10, 2013
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  6. fasteddy

    fasteddy I have C.L.A.P Global Moderator Generous Elf

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    What can be an option for you down the road is using the ACL strobes (if enough demand is available i will do another co-op) then connect the trigger to the 2811 DC controller that is being developed by AAH. This way you will end up with the best of both worlds, fast flah response times but still part of your 2811 output.
    I run 25 strobes to a string so it only uses one channel for the trigger per string.
     
    fasteddy, Jan 10, 2013
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    GoofyGuy

    GoofyGuy Guest

    Always an option. I though AAH was trying to create an output on the 2811 protcol that the DC boards could read for colors. Not a board to convert interupt a pixel based signal and output an on/off.

    Reading what I typed makes no sense. I will see how the year develops.
     
    GoofyGuy, Jan 10, 2013
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  8. fasteddy

    fasteddy I have C.L.A.P Global Moderator Generous Elf

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    LOL
    Remember that any output from a 2811 is just a channel in software, so you can treat it any way you want, RGB or as a single channel, it shouldnt matter because its the software that groups these channels together as RGB, all the chip does is outputs 3 channels, they dont have to be RGB
     
    fasteddy, Jan 10, 2013
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  9. David_AVD

    David_AVD Bite my shiny metal ass! Community Project Designer Generous Elf

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    The obvious solution is a pixel strobe controller. Then the refresh rate is not an issue as you send the controller a flash rate value instead of trying to toggle it on and off via DMX.
     
    David_AVD, Jan 10, 2013
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  10. fasteddy

    fasteddy I have C.L.A.P Global Moderator Generous Elf

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    Agreed, this way you could then control the flash speed, flash density and other parametres
     
    fasteddy, Jan 10, 2013
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  11. David_AVD

    David_AVD Bite my shiny metal ass! Community Project Designer Generous Elf

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    OK, how about we start a new thread (in Development) for a pixel strobe controller then?
     
    David_AVD, Jan 10, 2013
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  12. cenote

    cenote Suburbs of Philadelphia

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    Are we talking about development of and RGB strobe? I'm all for get out my hot plate and soldering anther few hundred SMD parts.
     
    cenote, Jan 10, 2013
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  13. j1sys

    j1sys There are no rules, and those are the rules. Community Project Designer

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    any of the ECG-P2, DCG-P2, uDCG-P2 could be programmed to do this as an option. one caveat. the shorter the string connected, the quicker/short strobe effect etc. longer strings might only be able to do 5ms or longer duration.

    this way it will work with any pixel type these drive, can be configured by usb/eth(ECG-P2), etc.

    -Ed
     
    j1sys, Jan 10, 2013
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  14. David_AVD

    David_AVD Bite my shiny metal ass! Community Project Designer Generous Elf

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    I guess one question that needs to be asked is do people want control over their LED strobes or are they happy with the previous solution of just switching them on and off as a set?
     
    David_AVD, Jan 10, 2013
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  15. gigogig

    gigogig gigogig

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    gigogig, Jan 11, 2013
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