WS2811 Strobes with Arduino

Unfortunately, just have flexstrips and the regular 12mm nodes - no strobes yet. I'll get the .75w and the new strobes from Ray in a few weeks.


as for driving it off a DLA SSC or falcon16 like device (those are the two hardware components I have) I know some people were looking for nutcracker to have the ability to sequence the rgb for strobe like feature, but nothing is available yet. I have a video i'm pretty sure some where of a tree that got really icy on me last winter and it looked like strobes (used from the standard 12mm nodes). if I can find that in the archives i'll post.
 
smartalec said:
Kane said:
AussieDoug said:
Did I hear someone mention group buy of ACL strobes again???

I would buy a fair few that's for sure. They are on the missus wish list, so that part of the budget hasn't been spent yet :)
Click to expand...
I wouldn't have the time to organise one, but if you put your hand up to do the organising, that's the best way to ensure it goes ahead.

If you're keen, speak to FastEddy to find out what would be involved.

Last time, AAH offered to do the SMD soldering for the aussies, and someone in the US offered the same (memory fails me), so that was another part of it - not sure if they'll be up for it again!
Click to expand...

Hey Guys, im all for another strobe coop.. but in all fairness its a bit late in the season for anyone to organise a group buy, but maybe if you set the wheels in motishion for early next year(say feb) then something might be able to happen.
LONG LIVE THE ACL STROBES
Click to expand...

Ok guys,
Ive been thinking about the ACl coop/group buy idea..
an this is the easyest possible way i could think of.

1. Over 75% of the ACL strobes People wanted them built. (AAH worked heaps hard for that to happen)

2. Maybe Alan could maybe stock this item in his shop pre-built.

3. As by doing a group buy, you need a interest thread, then sending money in, then getting the parts an organising them for each person, then finely the postage stage happens (by this time 4months have passed)

4, If people realy want a coop, then we have been thinking feb 2015

How does that hit everyone?
 
I am interested, sooner the better for me. If they make it this year great I will put them in the show. If not, then more for next year.
 
smartalec said:
1. Over 75% of the ACL strobes People wanted them built. (AAH worked heaps hard for that to happen)

2. Maybe Alan could maybe stock this item in his shop pre-built.
Click to expand...

I'm up for a couple hundred if Alan decides he can do this!
 
drlucas said:
Unfortunately, just have flexstrips and the regular 12mm nodes - no strobes yet. I'll get the .75w and the new strobes from Ray in a few weeks.


as for driving it off a DLA SSC or falcon16 like device (those are the two hardware components I have) I know some people were looking for nutcracker to have the ability to sequence the rgb for strobe like feature, but nothing is available yet. I have a video i'm pretty sure some where of a tree that got really icy on me last winter and it looked like strobes (used from the standard 12mm nodes). if I can find that in the archives i'll post.
Click to expand...
I got the new strobes from Ray...the semi bulb ones with three LEDs in them each. Tried a quick test with the arduino and wasn't working...but I had 25 strobes set when it's just 20 in my test string.


http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/30mm-diameter-UCS1903-WHITE-font-b-strobe-b-font-pixel-string-DC12V-input-20pcs-a-string/701799_1951113206.html


I will do some testing in the next day or two...tonight was fixing my EDM-RDS and Pi scripts. will post any luck I have or if I need help with the code I'll come back.
 
Well, i've had some basic luck with the 1903chip but not a ton. fastled library has support for them, but it hasn't been as easy as changing the one line of code that references the WS2811 to be UCS1903, but they are strobing a bit. I'm going to be playing a lot more with them over the next couple of weeks and will continue to post my successes/failures with these. Over the next month i'm going to be full steam ahead on getting ready for the Halloween show. I also have a flexstrip of the same LEDs and if I can get that 3m strip of lights to ever work i'll post what they look like. Ray sent me a couple of different products to try out, but these little bubble strobes are likely what i'm going to focus my attention on.
 
SUCCESS!!!
http://youtu.be/khVm9oMgeyE


These three LED dome strobes work really good - I will have to try to quantify what "really good" means when I run these at night and if I can see them from across the street.


My next trick will be to try to get them firing with a DMX channel.


I also need to probably figure out why I took out the RELAY part and what that actually does within the code. I don't have the GND connected to anything on the string of strobes except at the power supply.




Code: 
// Don't edit this line
#include "FastSPI_LED2.h"


// Edit the below options if you like.


// How many strobes in the string?
#define STROBES 20
// How many milliseconds do you want the strobes to be on for?
#define SPEED 30   // I personally wouldn't use any value less than 10 or more than 100
// How many strobes on at any one time?
#define TOTAL 7
// How old are you? 
#define AGE 23 // Changes strobe pattern just in case you want a different pattern for whatever reason so feel free to lie about your age ;)
// Data pin (Blue wire from strobes)
#define DATA_PIN 6  // !!!!!DO NOT USE PINS 0 or 1!!!!!


// That's all folks!
// No need to edit past here


CRGB leds[STROBES];


int strobe;
int trigger;
int data[TOTAL];
void setup() {
  FastLED.addLeds<UCS1903, DATA_PIN, RGB>(leds, STROBES);
  randomSeed(AGE);
}


void loop() {
  
  if (trigger == LOW) {
    for(int count = 0; count < TOTAL; count = count + 1) {
      strobe = random(STROBES);
      data[count] = strobe;
      leds[strobe] = CRGB::White;  
      FastLED.show();
    }
    delay(SPEED);
  }
  for(int count = 0; count < TOTAL; count = count + 1) {
    strobe = data[count];
    leds[strobe] = CRGB::Black;  
    FastLED.show();
  }
}
 
Try stripping the dmx code i have.
the relay option was a way to have the arduino running an the strobes will only turn on once the relay contacts are closed grounding a input pin causeing the strobes to run...

if you need help, just fire questions. allways willing to help out

drlucas said:
SUCCESS!!!
http://youtu.be/khVm9oMgeyE


These three LED dome strobes work really good - I will have to try to quantify what "really good" means when I run these at night and if I can see them from across the street.


My next trick will be to try to get them firing with a DMX channel.


I also need to probably figure out why I took out the RELAY part and what that actually does within the code. I don't have the GND connected to anything on the string of strobes except at the power supply.




Code: 
// Don't edit this line
#include "FastSPI_LED2.h"


// Edit the below options if you like.


// How many strobes in the string?
#define STROBES 20
// How many milliseconds do you want the strobes to be on for?
#define SPEED 30   // I personally wouldn't use any value less than 10 or more than 100
// How many strobes on at any one time?
#define TOTAL 7
// How old are you? 
#define AGE 23 // Changes strobe pattern just in case you want a different pattern for whatever reason so feel free to lie about your age
// Data pin (Blue wire from strobes)
#define DATA_PIN 6  // !!!!!DO NOT USE PINS 0 or 1!!!!!


// That's all folks!
// No need to edit past here


CRGB leds[STROBES];


int strobe;
int trigger;
int data[TOTAL];
void setup() {
  FastLED.addLeds<UCS1903, DATA_PIN, RGB>(leds, STROBES);
  randomSeed(AGE);
}


void loop() {
  
  if (trigger == LOW) {
    for(int count = 0; count < TOTAL; count = count + 1) {
      strobe = random(STROBES);
      data[count] = strobe;
      leds[strobe] = CRGB::White;  
      FastLED.show();
    }
    delay(SPEED);
  }
  for(int count = 0; count < TOTAL; count = count + 1) {
    strobe = data[count];
    leds[strobe] = CRGB::Black;  
    FastLED.show();
  }
}
Click to expand...
 
Hey drlucas,

Any new updates on your UCS1903 dome pixels? I'm thinking of possibly going this route this year but wanted to see if you were having more success and liked your results. Any progress on the DMX interface?

Thanks,

David
 
https://vimeo.com/104955398


I basically took twinkleclaus's circuit and smartalec's code and got the DMX interface working. The dome bulbs looked good in the house but I really wanted to move over to the flex strip that ray sent me. Had some problems but finally got the lights to work.


https://vimeo.com/104883669


A couple of videos shows you the lights working finally in the day and the lights not working so well at night. I don't have the dome lights outside to compare, but they are quite bright and can easily see them from 50' away.




Code: 
#include "FastSPI_LED2.h"#include <Conceptinetics.h>// http://sourceforge.net/projects/dmxlibraryforar/files/#define DMX_SLAVE_CHANNELS   2 #define DMX_START_CHANNEL   1   // Configure a DMX slave controller#define STROBES 50  // How many strobes in the string?#define SPEED 20   // I personally wouldn't use any value less than 10 or more than 100  // How many milliseconds do you want the strobes to be on for?#define TOTAL 15  // How many strobes on at any one time?#define AGE 27 // Changes strobe pattern just in case you want a different pattern for whatever reason so feel free to lie about your age ;)#define DATA_PIN 6  // Data pin (Blue wire from strobes) // !!!!!DO NOT USE PINS 0 or 1!!!!!CRGB leds[STROBES];int strobe;int trigger;int data[TOTAL];unsigned long       lastFrameReceivedTime;const unsigned long dmxTimeoutMillis = 10000UL;DMX_Slave dmx_slave ( DMX_SLAVE_CHANNELS );void setup() {    dmx_slave.enable ();    dmx_slave.setStartAddress (DMX_START_CHANNEL);    dmx_slave.onReceiveComplete ( OnFrameReceiveComplete );    FastLED.addLeds<WS2811, DATA_PIN, RGB>(leds, STROBES);    randomSeed(AGE);}   //END setupvoid loop() {   unsigned long now = millis();   if ( now - lastFrameReceivedTime > dmxTimeoutMillis )    dmx_slave.getBuffer().clear();   if ( dmx_slave.getChannelValue (1) > 127 )   trigger = LOW;  else trigger = HIGH;   //trigger = LOW;   if (trigger == LOW) {     for(int count = 0; count < TOTAL; count = count + 1) {       strobe = random(STROBES);       data[count] = strobe;       leds[strobe] = CRGB::White;         FastLED.show();    }    SPEED == dmx_slave.getChannelValue(2)/2;    delay(SPEED);  }  for(int count = 0; count < TOTAL; count = count + 1) {    strobe = data[count];    leds[strobe] = CRGB::Black;      FastLED.show();  }}  //END loopvoid OnFrameReceiveComplete (unsigned short channelsReceived){  if ( channelsReceived == DMX_SLAVE_CHANNELS)  {    // All slave channels have been received  }  else  {    // We have received a frame but not all channels we where     // waiting for, master might have transmitted less    // channels  }  // Update receive time to determine signal timeout  lastFrameReceivedTime = millis ();}

[/size]
[font=dejavu sans mono, monaco, lucida console, courier new, monospace][/size]I just had to change the WS2811 to UCS1903 and it worked no problem. [SIZE=x-small][/font]

[font=dejavu sans mono, monaco, lucida console, courier new, monospace][/SIZE]I'll try to get videos of both up, but might not get back to that until later this month as I'm back to working now on a few new display items....[size=x-small][/font]
 
Thanks to everyone for sharing there code and experience. I was able to run a little test tonight with my arduino uno with a strand of ws2811 w/o DMX. Getting DMX integrated will be my next project. I think I'm going to go with the 1903 dome pixels. Just not sure how to mount these things. I'll have to see if Ray can do like 12" - 24" spacing on these things so I can spread them out over the house and yard.
 
Those dome strobes have two notches (one on each side) where you can screw them down to something like a 1x2 piece of wood and then just zip tie that wood down to a pvc pipe. That's the easiest way I can think of - you can see a picture of one here..

1951113206.html


I'm sure Ray can probably make the lead a bit longer.
 
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