Hey all. I have ten costumes that have LPD6803 smart RGB LEDs on them and I need them to sync up when the program runs and I need them to run wirelessly (they're costumes after all). I was thinking one arduino can run the program for one costume while acting as a master to tell the other 9 arduinos to run the same program so the lights sync up. Is this possible? I already have one costume with an arduino duemilanove running lights using the BLIP_LEDS_SPI_LPD6803 library, but I'd like to switch to the PRO MICRO 5v (becuase it's smaller) and maybe use xbee for wireless connection. Any how to vids on this?
I have not tried multiple RF transmitters and receivers, but you may be able to transmit to multiple receivers, from just one transmitter. For that you will need to use the virtual wire library.
I don't think Xbees can multi-communicate, but I'm sure RF trans/receivers can.
midascott:
Hey all. I have ten costumes that have LPD6803 smart RGB LEDs on them and I need them to sync up when the program runs and I need them to run wirelessly (they're costumes after all). I was thinking one arduino can run the program for one costume while acting as a master to tell the other 9 arduinos to run the same program so the lights sync up. Is this possible? I already have one costume with an arduino duemilanove running lights using the BLIP_LEDS_SPI_LPD6803 library, but I'd like to switch to the PRO MICRO 5v (becuase it's smaller) and maybe use xbee for wireless connection. Any how to vids on this?
xbee's are capable for achieving this. Each xbee module is capable of sending/receiving simultaneously. You can change the settings of the modules to broadcast (send to all modules on the channel) or to send to a specific ID. What I would do is have a master arduino and several "slaves", load the same program onto all the arduinos but modify them slightly. Perhaps power them all up, then have the master arduino to send out a signal such as the letter "a" when a button is pressed or after a certain amount of time to ensure all arduinos are on. Now on the slaves arduino make it wait until it receives the message and start the program.
As for the modules I would recommend arduino fio's, they have an adapter on the back to directly fit the xbee modules so you wont need any extra shields/adapters/wiring and they also have a JST jack for a lithium ion battery. http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardFio
Only problem I see here is that you were wanting a 5v board, the fio runs at 3.3v but you could potentially power the board from a 7.4v battery, connect all the leds to transistors and power them from the vin pin (voltage input pin) while using the appropriate resistors.
Goodluck.
Thanks guys for the advice!
@rep8 speaking about the slaves, when you say "modify them slightly" what do you mean?
Thanks
midascott:
Thanks guys for the advice!@rep8 speaking about the slaves, when you say "modify them slightly" what do you mean?
Thanks
Modify the arduino code/sketch to run the light sequence once it has received the message from the master. Otherwise it will not be in sync and will start when you turn it on.
Ahhh! Got it. Thanks so much!