[Noisebridge-discuss] Massive LED Project at Noisebridge needs your help!

[James Sundquist]

Hey all,

  PayPal donation info is available for anyone wanting to donate to Mitch
directly as he makes the flight to China; note the directions on the wiki
page avoid any fees.  Thank you so much for your donations in making this
project a reality!

https://noisebridge.net/wiki/LED

On Wed, Oct 22, 2014 at 1:45 PM, Dan Cote <terminationshok at gmail.com> wrote:

> I have a few pixelpusher installations out, and some open software that
> can drive any pixel tech. You wanna locate your pixels close to the power
> supply or else you end up with ridiculous thick wire gauges. Don't use atx
> power supplies.
>
> Diffusion is key. If you don't diffuse, the light is coming from points.
> They hurt to look at. With diffusion, the light is spread out and better
> looking.
>
> Here is a low res (40*12) video wall with wax on acrylic that we made with
> 36mm pixels. They are 12v, and you can use server power bricks (12v only)
> to run them. It was around $500 for the pixels. They use 2801 chips.
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0-NG26shxg
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTs0EQAq1_c
>
>
> http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/36mm-2801-led-pixel-wall-light_664267133.html
>
> On Wed, Oct 22, 2014 at 12:14 PM, Henner Zeller <h.zeller at acm.org> wrote:
>
>> On 22 October 2014 11:32, Andy Isaacson <adi at hexapodia.org> wrote:
>> > On Wed, Oct 22, 2014 at 11:04:52AM -0700, James Sundquist wrote:
>> >> Dana and I have a grand idea for setting up easily programmable LED
>> >> displays at Noisebridge in a massive matrix. What we need are
>> donations of
>> >> panels, which will be purchased and shipped by Mitch on his China
>> trip. See
>> >> our nicely organized wiki page for details, source code, and more info.
>> >>
>> >> https://noisebridge.net/wiki/LED
>> >
>> > Awesome idea, awesome project!
>>
>> +1.
>>
>> (Though I am biased and would suggest to use the RPi version
>>    https://github.com/hzeller/rpi-rgb-led-matrix
>>  it has one realtime challenge right now that I'd like to fix using DMA,
>>  but it would have the advantage that it would be a thing made by a local
>>  Noisebridger. The DMA thing is on my list as soon as the access control
>> is finished)
>>
>> >
>> > A few suggestions, note that this is totally not backseat driving and
>> > y'all should totally do the thing whatever way works for you. :)
>> >
>> > 1. Consider getting WS2812 pixels rather than cheaper knockoffs, and
>> > driving them with Fadecandy http://www.adafruit.com/products/1689
>> rather
>> > than other solutions.  Fadecandy has truly incredibly beautiful
>> > dithering, giving much much nicer subtle color gradients compared to
>> > straight PWM systems.  Micah (aka @scanlime, creator of Fadecandy) has a
>> > really nice installation of Fadecandy open to the public sidewalk at 80
>> > Turk St in the Tenderloin, and if you check it out at evening and then
>> > walk over to Yerba Buena Gardens and check out their currently installed
>> > non-Fadecandy LED art you can really tell the difference.
>>
>> The WS2812 are way more expensive per pixel than the $20 32x32 RGB
>> matrices
>>
>> >
>> > However I see you're aiming at doing video, which I don't know if that
>> > is very well supported with fadecandy; would require additional
>> > research.
>>
>> There is also PixelPusher.
>>
>> >
>> > 2. Don't use an ATX power supply, get an appropriate 5V power supply
>> > that's properly sized for the application.  It'll be cheaper, overall,
>> > and easier, and save power.
>>
>> +1. The Panels use a _lot_ of current. A 32x32 panel needs 3.4A tops, and
>> there
>> are already  40A+ 5V power supplies readily made for these kind of
>> things (on ebay
>> in the $20-30 range). ATX power supplies typically only have 20-25A on
>> the 5V rail, and
>> useless 12V and -12V rails.
>>
>> > 3. the LED wall panels are somewhat expensive per pixel, last I looked.
>> > It can be cheaper to get the flex-pcb strips and mount them to panels
>> > yourself, then mount diffuser panels appropriately.
>>
>> Not sure about that.
>>
>> -h
>>
>> >
>> > -andy
>> > _______________________________________________
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>
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