We would like to create a wavelight using leds stripes in a way that could be used in differents sports such track and field, track cycling, short/long track skating....
We assume we could do that by using Arduino(s) and a mobile app in order to set up speed, distance and colors but we've seen that there were a lot of different kind of stripes, different wireless / wired connection and we're not really sure on what is the best way to proceed.
Since we want to develop a prototype for at least a 400m track, that's a bit expensive and would be nice to have as much informations and tips as possible to make the best decision possible for our project.
We read that in long distance stripes like 200/400meter or even more, voltage power could be a problem and we thought using arduino(s) with a master & multiples slaves could be a solution ? How many arduinos would be necessary one every 50m ?
And how to make them communicate the more efficient way HC05 bluetooth ? is that really robust and reliable ?
Do we need to supply external power source for every arduinos ?
We want to light up multiples leds ( around 30 leds ) at the same time along a very long stripe ( ~400 meters ) in order to create a visual pace with pre-defined speed.
It would look like 30 leds moving on the stripe as a "wave".
You will need to supply power along the strip regardless of whether you use a single or multiple controllers, with connections to the strip at least every meter.
12000 LEDs fully lit at the same time would need roughly 700 amps, so that would need multiple distributed power supplies. With a maximum of 30 lit at a time, 2 amps would be enough, but you still need large enough wiring to carry that for 400m without a significant voltage drop. Using a higher voltage and multiple regulators along the strip would probably be better.
Driving 12000 addressable LEDs with a single controller would take approximately 1/3 of a second, significantly limiting the speed, but coordinating multiple controllers would also be a challenge.
You will need to supply power along the strip regardless of whether you use a single or multiple controllers, with connections to the strip at least every meter
Why do I need to supply power every meter ? I have seen 10 meters stripes powered by only one source of power and it seemed to be ok ?
12000 LEDs fully lit at the same time would need roughly 700 amps
Indeed, we dont want to fully lit 1200 LEDs at the same time. ( We are thinking about a solution to avoid destroying our components in case we would power all at the same time by mistake)
Driving 12000 addressable LEDs with a single controller would take approximately 1/3 of a second
You mean that the maximum speed would be ~1/3 second right ? How can I calculate this ?
Using a higher voltage and multiple regulators along the strip would probably be better.
That's what we thought about but we don't know much about this. Do you have a scheme, links or something else to help us estimate what we exactly need and how we are going to put them together ?
If you look at the serial protocol for the addressable LEDs, you will see how the individual bits are timed.
Multiply by the number of bits in a frame, and the number of LEDs and you'll arrive at the minimum update time.
