Author Topic: LED Strip Controller Project (Read 7357 times)

canniscam · « **on:** January 08, 2013, 12:50:00 pm »

A buddy of mine has a classic car restoration and customization shop and we've been playing around with an idea for months to build accent lighting kits into some of his resto projects.

Once we heard about the Digispark we started sourcing some LED strips from china. We decided to start with some SMD 5050 RGB LED flex strips that are self adhesive. Our test strip is a 5m 12vdc strip with no addressable ic's.

The plan as it stands is to use the Digispark as the core controller with some powerfets, currently the IRF520PBF-ND, and the RBG LED Encoders from Sparkfun to set the PWM values. Since the encoders have push button functionality we plan to have memory set and retrieve functions for up to three presets as well.

We are beginners at this so be gentle. Even so I wanted to at least share my first step along the road to a finished project. I plan on keeping tabs on the build with YouTube from this early stage to the finished controller.

Link to a video of my first success: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XWSAGRGLpU

plexer · « **Reply #1 on:** January 08, 2013, 01:11:39 pm »

Awesome video looking good.

Ben

digistump · « **Reply #2 on:** January 08, 2013, 01:45:30 pm »

great job! if you dipped the final Digispark in epoxy you could even mount it under the car

I\'d think this might be a good use of an ir shield so it could be changed by remote?

canniscam · « **Reply #3 on:** January 08, 2013, 01:59:15 pm »

That would be a good idea ... I\'ll have to order some of the ir shields once the store opens up. I didn\'t put any on my KS wishlist.

I\'ll also have to create no go mixes for colors in the state of NC.. Forward/Rear facing red and blue are a good way to get a ticket here. They count drop lighting on the front end and rear of the car as Forward facing ..

Casey

canniscam · « **Reply #4 on:** January 08, 2013, 02:01:43 pm »

Oh .. BTW the Fets aren\'t available from digispark .. They may however be available at digikey.com..

*facepalm* and Sparkfun...

Casey

plexer · « **Reply #5 on:** January 08, 2013, 02:20:18 pm »

I had thought of the ir controlled rgb colour selection last night.

Capture remote signals for 0 - 9 and assign a keypress for r,g & b ?

Ben

canniscam · « **Reply #6 on:** January 08, 2013, 02:40:24 pm »

I was thinking of using one of the cheap flat import remotes and setting encoded values by using the Channel Button up and down for Color Channel Selection values .. and the Volume Up and Down for the PWM values .. It would also be nice to interpret the numpad entries as .. Channel Down (Red Blinks Twice) .. Type in Decimal Value (000 - 255) .. Channel Down (Green Blinks Twice) .. Rinse and Repeat ..

Value 000 would be off ..

Casey

canniscam · « **Reply #7 on:** January 09, 2013, 01:32:03 am »

I spent a bit of time learning how to use Eagle this evening.. I\'ve had it for a few weeks but I never really used it. I started to layout the daughter board, too big to be a shield) for my accent lighting controller.

This is what I have so far:

Bad Render: http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/547/cmglowprotoboard.png/

Schematic: http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/571/schematicy.png/

Board: http://imageshack.us/content_round.php?page=done&l=img831/5029/boarda.png

Casey Annis