Creating 26 x 46 design using WS2812b and Arduino

chgrlk · May 17, 2021, 3:41pm

Hi,

I am trying to create a 26 x 46 matrix design using arduino and ws2812b. To design the pattern I used a third party software called "Led matrix studio" and using that I was able to create a design with animation, and a frame extracted from the design is shown below.

Using this software I am able to generate a binary file and a .h file,

first few lines extracted from the .h file is as shown below.

"=================================================================
// LED Matrix Studio - (c) Paul A Freshney 2020
//
// www.MaximumOctopus.com
// www.MaximumOctopus.com/electronics/builder.htm
//
// Date : 17/05/2021
//
// -----------------------------------------------------------------
// Original file:
// C:\Users\chgrlk\Documents\Mine\ras\lotus.leds
//
// =================================================================
//
// Animation Frames #1 to #112
// Columns #1 - #46
//
// =================================================================
//
// Source : Columns
// Line : Anim Frame
// Bits : LSB at top
// Order : Left to right
// Scan : Alternate (Down/Up)
// Colour Format: GRB
//
// =================================================================
//

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What I want to know is, how can i drive this ws2812b led strip which is wired to make 26 x 46 by matrix as shown, using this .h or binary code.

Highly appreciate your kind help on this.

Thank you,
CHGRLK

PaulRB · May 17, 2021, 6:31pm

What type of Arduino do you plan to use and what power supply?

What is your level of experience with electronics, coding and Arduino?

Grumpy_Mike · May 17, 2021, 7:40pm

But they all seem to be zero? I would have expected there to be some other values.
Basically to use them you put them onto program memory, and go through that with your software, extracting a frame at a time.

However these data seem to use the $ prefix, before you can use them use the find and replace function of a text editor and change all the instances of $ into 0x.

david_2018 · May 18, 2021, 12:45am

How many frames in the animation? The file you posted mentions 112, that is going to require a lot of storage. Each ws2812b uses three bytes to represent the color, so a single frame would need 26 x 46 x 3 = 3588 bytes, 112 frames is a bit over 392K bytes of memory. You may be able to compress that a bit, for example the picture you posted looks symmetrical, if the entire animation is symmetrical along the vertical axis you would only need to store half of each frame.

chgrlk · May 18, 2021, 2:25am

Hi PaulRB,

I have entry to mid level of experience with related to arduino and electronics. I have carried out some simple projects using sensors, motors and so on, and created a Remote Controlled self balancing robot on my own.

Thank you and Best Regards,
CHGRLK

chgrlk · May 18, 2021, 2:35am

Hi Grumpy,

As you have expected, there are some values when we progress through the generated code.

There are considerable amount of black dots at6 the beginning frames and hope these zero values corresponds to those.

Thank you and Best Regards,
CHGRLK

chgrlk · May 18, 2021, 2:36am

Hi David,

As you have explained in the reply, the design that I posted here is symmetrical. But there could be some not symmetrical designs as well.

Thank you and Best Regards,
CHGRLK

PaulRB · May 18, 2021, 5:31am

Thankyou for answering one of my two questions.

chgrlk · May 18, 2021, 9:59am

Hi PaulRB,

Extremely sorry, I have missed the first question.

I am trying to use Arduino mega and 5v 10A power supply, but planning to buy another power supply if needed.

Thank you and Best Regards,
CHGRLK

PaulRB · May 18, 2021, 12:12pm

Mega is a good choice in some ways. Your code will need to hold an entire frame in RAM memory before sending this to the LEDs. A frame will require almost 4KB for your matrix, as @david_2018 calculated for you, and Mega has 8KB available. However, he also calculated you will need almost 400KB of flash memory to store all 112 frames and Mega has less than 250KB available. So you will need to store the data in some other way, such as an SD card, or compress your data so that it will fit into Mega's flash memory.

I think my recommendation would be, to keep things simple, to use an SD card reader. You can save the files created by Led matrix studio to the SD card without alteration. Your Arduino sketch can then read these files and update the matrix. This means that the limited flash memory of mega will not be a problem and the files will not need any reformatting or compression before they can be used.

Your matrix could need up to 60~65A from your PSU in theory. But that is only if all 26x46 LEDs are set to maximum brightness white. Other colours and reduced brightness will need less current, but I am concerned that 10A will not be enough. If you use the FastLED library, it has a feature which will automatically limit the current requirement to a maximum you specify. If the pattern to be displayed would exceed that maximum, the library will reduce the overall brightness down to keep below the maximum. I suggest you use that function within the library.

Grumpy_Mike · May 18, 2021, 2:07pm

You can also save space if you don’t store the frames as such but only the difference between one frame and the next.