I have been Toying with a stand alone controller for some time.
Two external factors have occur to push this a step closer.
HLS – Joe Hinkle create the an excellent Free to Use sequencing software – Check it out over at DIYC.com. Better still down load it and try it out! HLS creates an XML file with tabulated Time step of Channel Data. Cool thing about thist is for static displays you simply change the time base and you get faster chases etc.
ET TEam released a new AVR controller board based on the XMEGA 128A1. Features include 8 Serial ports 4 SPI ports, on Board Micro SD card, On board 3.3 volt regulator
WIZNET released a WS82oi ( and to make it even easier, Mouser stock them!)
So now to the new Project Details:
4 Universe of DMX data
Micro SD card with channel data.
Activity LEDs on DMX channels
switch selectable display sequences
switch selectable sequence speed
optional E31.1 I/F
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All my controllers and most other DMX controllers used in the Christmas Lights hobby don’t use switches to set the start address like most commercial applications. As far as I can see, there are two main reasons for this:
Our controllers are not moved around an lot, where you need to be able to set the address regularly
we want to economise on space.
Removal of the switches does require another mechanism to set the start address. the least cost option is to use Vixen. Create a simple 2 second sequence and use the first 2 or 3 channels to transmit a known level as required by the particular controller. Just remember to set Vixen to absolute levels and the sequence to repetitive. I have used the method for a couple of years.
I also have a neat test set featured in Elektor’s June 2002 Portable DMX Tester. This unit not only displays the DMX Received but also transmit values input through the GUI.
This year I am added a fair number of controllers as well as changing the display around. To enable fast Stat address resetting I created my TinyTxDMX testset. It doesn’t have any bells and whistles, it can’t RX DMX, it can’t tell you anything cause it doesn’t even have a LCD display. But it is small, small enough to fit in your pocket and reliable.
TinyTxDMX Test Set
As can be seen, there isn’t much to this.
X1 is an RJ45 and outputs DMX data.
S1, S2 & S3 are Binary Coded Decimal switches that are used to set the Start address
S4 is a push button switch to wake it back up.
H1 is a LED that flashes every second to show it it awake.
X3 is used to change the start address scheme.
Update1 – July 2012
The PCBs came back from the Fab House.
Zero defects found – I still get a warm and fuzzy feeling with I find out I did it all right.
First Prototype soldered
Rev 1 of the firmware is loaded and works a treat.
DMX Tx Firmware
Henne’s Tx code
The transmission code is completely based on Hendrik Holscher ‘s code found in ApNote 113.
I had always intended to add more stars and Mike’s was the trigger to get on with it. My star is very similar except my is based on 100mm sections of RGB strips.
The 3D aspect of the star come from the fact the small stars sit proud of the larger stars. Mikes’ graphic display this well.
2 Dimensions
the pointer lengths are: 100, 200, 300 & 400 mm.
Material used, 10×3 mm Rydal bar.
I cut the steel at an angle of 108 degree using 300mm bolt cutters.
Rydal Cutting deminsions
Makes for a simple quick cut and unfortunately with some share edges. The finished star needs a quick touch up with the angle grinder after they are welded.
My cutting list for a single display item is are follows:
Star Size
(mm)
Cut length
(mm)
Qty
Total length required(mm)
Rydal lengths
100
130
10
1300
0.3
200
230
10
2300
0.6
300
330
10
3300
0.8
400
430
10
4300
1.1
3 length of 10×3 x 4000 rydal is required per star. At just under a kilogram per length, I hope to get the complete metal work to be less than 3.5kg.
3 Steel Construction
I created a simple jig to speed up the welding of the pointers together. See the gallery below. I ended up joining the stars with 3.2 mm Φ wire.
4 LED Strip
For this display Item I am using LED 5050 RGB Strip. the strip can be cut into segments of 100mm. Each Star will require a total of 10 metre. It all starts to add up!!!
Moving from multiple USB-2-DMX dongles to a system based on E31.1 components requires a bit of planning.
I sorting the Ethernet side of this project pretty easily, by adding a basic Ethernet Switch.
Decided it will be best to utilise a 1RU rack case.
[nggallery id=11]
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In order to replace the house outline with RGB strips, I need the ability to control individual strips.
I still have way too many RGB Kittys made up so I decided to create a new shield for the kitty to increase the current drive.
The design has the following feature:
DMX in / out on opposite sides on the board – the board in used inline so as to speak
DMX start address via Push button on start up – no risk of loosing pesky link packs
smallish form factor
Power entry either separate screw terminals or Cat 5 cable
Operating voltage – 11 to 13 volts
High Output current – approximately 1.5A per channel ( to be verified)
So how much strip can this controller drive?
Typical RGB strip is 5 meters long and has 150 LEDs. The 150 LEDs are broken down to 3 LED segments. Each segment is set for If = 20mA ( assumed worse case). This means 5 meters of strip will consume 50 x 20mA = 1 Amp per colour. These controllers will be good for 5 to 7metres of 150LED RGB Strip.
This Project details the end result.
Single DMX to RGB Strip Controllers
Note: the above photo shows the RGB Kittys connected to the shield via connectors. in normal operation that are soldered directly to the shield.
As I added 3 universes this year I needed a way to create new profile outside of Vixen. This How To details how I created the profile and then edited it using information I had in excel spread sheets about the channels and my display layout.
Tools needed:
Vixen 2.5
Excel 2003 to 2010 (I didn’t succeed in using Open Office for this task)
NotePad++ ( a free down load)
Procedure
Step 1 – create the profile in Vixen with het correct number of channels and the Output Plugins
Vixen Profile
Step 2 – Open the profile with Notepad++. Change the language to XML
You will notice the channel data is defined between <ChannelObjects> and </ChannelObjects>
Vixen Profile XML
Select ALL of the lines between <ChannelObjects> and </ChannelObjects> and copy to the clipboard ( Ctrl C)
Step 3 – Open Excel and paste the lines in to column A
Channel Objects imported into Excel
Now it is time to break all the channel data into manageable chunks.
Select the Text to Columns button.
Converting Channel Objects to editable data
Step 4 – Edit the Channel names and colours to suit your display.
I have all my channel data in OO spread sheets, so it is a simple matter of copying & paste from one to the other.
Edit the profile to suit your display
You could delete column A, but I found it useful to refer back to. At the very least you can hide the column if the page looks too busy.
Step 5 – Recreate the Channel Data objects
Basically we need to add in all the ‘ ” ’ marks we removed to create the columns and concatenate the columns into a single ASCII string.
Re-constructing the Channel Objects
Step 6 – Copy and paste the final string back into the profile to overwrite the existing data.
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A fellow country man created what he called an RGB Spinner. Check out his video here. Also Barbotte ate DIYC.com made a similar unit using Frank’s SuperStrips. You can check out his project here.
I liked the idea concept, so started to plan my version. I decided not to build a cross with a longer lower main axis, but rather stick with equal length arms. Bevo didn’t give too much away on how to construct them either but hey it can’t be too hard, especially if I MIG the frame together. I wanted to place them in front of two largish windows at the front of our house on the top floor. It was at this point I asked my wife for her thoughts and her immediate comment was, “how are you intending to store them?” Ouch- How does she do that?
So a welded frame is out of the question as storing largish items is some what challenging here. I needed to come up with a version that can easily be broken down for storage. It was time to go to Bunning’s and hunt for Ideas.
The following How-To is what I came up with. For those that better relate to pictures, you will find a photo gallery details most of the construction.
1. Dimensions
The LED strips I intended to use were similar to Bevo’s 30 LED per meter RGB Strip. I had previous purchased some non water proof version to play with and wanted to use it for this display item. The strip is 5m long, and it doesn’t take a lot of rocket science to work out if I want to use a single strip for each spinner, I will need to cut them into 600mm lengths. As is turned out a couple of sections were damaged, so I had to settle for 500mm lengths of strip. The spinner would still be 1100 mm diameter and very viewable.
2 Design
The design is quiet simple, all that is needed is 8 equally spaced lengths of tube radiating out from a hub. I choose to make the whole thing out of PVC. The radial ate 20mm grey conduit, the hub is an end cap for Storm water pipe from the plumbing section. As I wanted to be able to remove the radial, decided the best way would to be able to unscrew them from the hub. I picked up some 20mm Conduit connectors and lock nuts as well as some 3/16 x 38mm roofing screws.
3.1 Construction – Prototype 1
The first prototype used a 100mm PVC end cap with 20mm holes drilled in the lip to take the conduit connectors. The end cap side was barely long enough for the 20mm holes, so I had to mill slots in the flat front to take the nuts.
This prototype proved very successful, I thought I had the item completed and started to determine the controller type and placement. Quite often I stick the controller in an ABS box that can either be hidden out of sight or is mounted as part of the display. What ever I decided, the wiring of 8 RGB channels represented a lot of wires and connectors.
3.2 Construction – Prototype 2
After a sumptuous Sunday roast lunch, resting easy in a comfy chair, I thought how cool it would be to have the controller inside the hub. After my Sunday duties, with my 8Ch RGB controller in hand, it was off to Bunnings again, before they closed for the night!
It turns out the 150mm PVC end cap is a lot stronger than the 100mm one, and will enable the controller to be mounted inside the cap. The downside is the RGB strips are being pushed further out from the middle.
having drilled the first 150mm hub, I got to say I really like this one better. the material is about 4.5mm thick and extremely rigid. The controller is a very snug fit, with plenty of room for the twin RJ45 and a DC inlet connector between radials.
At last a test video to show some of the capabilty.
One final comment: these spinners are designed to break down for storage. I estimate the storage area for two units will 100 x 200 x 600mm, which is way cool. 😉
[nggallery id=10]
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simply change the time base and you get faster chases etc.
