Smart String Project 2013-2016

[sebjsan]

Reminds me of the led used on aethers. Perhaps you can call them aether strobes.

[chrisatpsu]

they would be high powered pixels 350-400mA per color as opposed to 11mA that the pixels use.

on off, and intensity would be controlled via the sequencer.
no sense in adding "features" and firmware for a pic, when it can all be run from the software.

[chrisatpsu]

hehe, don't look into a 3watt rgb led while full on!

well, i know it's stinkin bright!

[rm357]

$2 per strobe?
Does that include the led or is the decimal in the wrong place?

[lortiz]

Hi,

5W resisors are big and you'll need 3 in each strobe. How do you plan on placing these in your design?

Have you considered using 2 or 3 RGB LEDS in series to lower the voltage across the resistors?

Leo

[t.jo13]

What about heat issues? or will the random firing ofset that.

[chrisatpsu]

the 3w rgb leds are $1.30 each so that takes up the bulk of the price.  the led is on a 20mm heatsink, and i can fit the electronics inside a 30mm plastic dome.

as far as placing these in series, i'll still need close to a 5watt resistor.

interestingly enough, all 3 colors use the same 27 ohm, 5 watt resistor. (the red is lower voltage, but uses more current)

Reminds me of the led used on aethers. Perhaps you can call them aether strobes.

the aether's led is bigger in size (and in the current it uses)

i think the aether's is about 28mm
 
this one is 20mm

Hi,

5W resisors are big and you'll need 3 in each strobe. How do you plan on placing these in your design?

Have you considered using 2 or 3 RGB LEDS in series to lower the voltage across the resistors?

Leo

there is plenty of space in the plastic dome to fit everything.  I left the led cycling for about 30minutes, nothing got hot. nothing even got warm.

What about heat issues? or will the random firing ofset that.

by using  5watt resistor (which is well over the 3 to 4watts thats needed) there isn't an issue with any of the components getting warm.

[SteveMaris]

Very cool Chris.

[t.jo13]

[quoteVery cool Chris] [/quote]

+1

[chrisatpsu]

a little bit of a design issue though...

if they were powered by the ssc, there would be a limit of 3 rgb strobes per SSC as each strobe is about 1.1A

i could still power the circuitry via an SSC, and provide power to the LED's externally (kinda like trying to control a 5v device with an MR16)

so there would be the normal 3 wire connection between the strobes like the nodes have, but also a thicker 2 wire cable also bundled with it to provide the higher Amperage power.  (so a 20 Amp power supply could run 14 or 15 strobes)

however, the nice side would be, you could have 128 strobes on a string, with each block of strobes getting it's power from a different source.
(or you can just break up the strings as you see fit)

[chrisatpsu]

on, a side note, the icicles will be a lot easier (also a simpler design to the smart arches, that would make it easy for anyone to build)

each icicle would have just 8 solder points per led

the new smart arch design would have only 8 solder points per segment as well!

[zwiller]

Re: sequencing these.  One thing I picked up in the aussie thread is the data rate with dmx/pixelnet is an issue for good strobe effects.  I can vouch for this with testing my 10W spots.  It might still be doable though.  Great progress though!

How much cheaper/easier white only might be? 

   

[chrisatpsu]

i'll have to see how these respond to a sequence

i went the rgb route, since the control is coming from a tm1804 chip, and since it has the 3 channels right there, it made sense to go with the rgb led.

plus, i liked the flexibility to match the strobe effect with the color being used in the sequence.


white is possible. for 1watt, it wouldn't be as bright as the an rgb turned on full giving 3 watts.
and using 3 watt white, you might as well add that to one channel from an dsc, since i'd have to switch from a normal transistor to a MOSFET.

[Kasey911]

since i'd have to switch from a normal transistor to a MOSFET.

Chris,

This is very cool stuff!  This is going to be my first year and I'm loving all the cool ideas you are coming up with.  As I'm still learning, I just wanted to confirm that the reason you'd have to switch to a MOSFET with a 3W LED is due to current draw?  Just trying to learn as I go

Keep up the great work!

[chrisatpsu]

yes