I plan on putting 24 RGB LEDs on my motorcycle. I will document my progress here.
My goals:
Get 24 RGB LEDs animating
Put them on my bike - figure out power source
hook up to a fonera router (or any other router that supports openwrt and has a serial port) to allow people that pass by to change the LEDs with their smartphones and laptops. I go to a bunch of bike shows. It iwll be an interesting social experiment to see if people can connect to the bike and then control the LEDs.
About #3 - I know where is the WiShield. However, I want to make it simple for anyone that passes by. Ad hoc isn't as simple has having an access point with dhcp and automatically routes http to the internal webserver. Then people just need to connect to the access point with their iphone, smartphone, laptop and open a web browser.
I will be using the phpserial class to send commands to the arduino.
what about letting people text a message to the arduino?
You might also want to limit what they can request to some set or sequence of displays. if it's arbitrary text it might only be funny til you're asked to leave the show because of 'your' rude display!
There won't be any text. Just line animation like the video. I have a 4 button remote that I am going to use to control it. One button will be on/off, 1 for color 1, one for color 2, and one for switching animations. The website will basically be the same. But I can have drop downs to select the animation and popup color selectors.
I also plan on having a running light mode. In this mode it can only be activated/deactivated by a switch on the bike. When activates it takes no input from the webserver/remote. Running lights mode will set all LEDs to amber. This should be legal in the states near me.
At some point I would like to have a music mode. I am not sure how I would accomplish that. I am thinking a 3 band filter into three of the analog pins? I don't know much about audio electronics to create the circuit for that.
for the input i didn't really mean "text" just cellphone SMS. It would be easier for people to understand if just sending a text message to your bike would change the display.
You could maybe have the whole thing self contained on the bike.
Yeah, everything is going to be on the bike. For my current bike most of it will be under the tank or in the toolbox. On my next bike it iwll be in the fairing.
The bike isn't going to be connected to the internet or such. The wireless AP is going to be there so it is easy to connect to the bike. I will probably control it with my ipod touch. It will be an open WAP so anyone could connect.
Yeah, mostly ground effect. Will put one on each cylinder and one in the wheel well to light up the chrome. I know there are kits out there and everyone tells me I should get one of those. But where's the fun in that? Plus then I have complete control over the animations. I am looking into adding a SD card so I can just put animation information on that and add any at anytime without reprogramming.
Using a SD card shouldn't be too tricky depending on what kind of data you are going to need to read from the card... You could also have different text files with different code and cycle them depending on time/day etc...
I have to try some different LEDs. I am going to grab a 5050 strip. These super brights are bright but they are tough to mix the colors.
The files will have to have some format to them. Probably first two bytes will be number of frames. The next set of bytes will be frame delay information, then the last part will be the frames.
I will have some built in animations like solid colors and fades as those can be done through logic.
I have to try some different LEDs. I am going to grab a 5050 strip. These super brights are bright but they are tough to mix the colors.
Sounds like a good idea...
The files will have to have some format to them. Probably first two bytes will be number of frames. The next set of bytes will be frame delay information, then the last part will be the frames.
Also sounds good...
I will have some built in animations like solid colors and fades as those can be done through logic.
Ok, I'm looking forward to seeing the shines on the chrome...
I tested the current of the above setup along with the remote I am going to use. The remote, when idle, takes 3ma. So I will use that to turn the system on. I assume a simple flip flop with relay should work?
The setup above measures 85ma max. I was worried about the power and draining the battery. But I estimate after all is said and done with those super bright leds it will take between 250 and 300ma. Considering the bike has a 12v 10AH battery I don;t think I have to worry about the leds being on for a couple of hours.
When I add the wireless I might get a dedicated battery.
You bring up an interesting point. I am going to have a running light mode the system starts up in. Around here only white or amber are allowed for extra lights. In running light mode it will only accept one command, pushing two of the buttons on the remote to take it out of running light mode.
So it is only going to be flashing when the bike is stationary? Why are you only allowed amber or white? In the UK you can have any colour anywhere as long as it is not a white facing backwards or a red facing forwards. Basically there are no laws saying you can't so you can!)
In the US flashing lights are not allowed by federal law except for law enforcement and emergency vehicles. My state law prohibits colors other than white or amber (and only red in the back).
So basically the cool colors and animations will only be on when the bike is parked.
So are you not allowed flashing rear lights? That's probably a good thing as they are really annoying to be following...
Are the regulations different for pedal cyles in the US? I hadn't actually thought of that as I was mostly thinking of pedal cycles. It may also not be allowed in the UK on a motorcycle, I haven't ever looked it up...
Pedal bikes have their own set of rules. A flashing rear light is allowed on those.
There's exceptions and as usual legal speak can be difficult to read. I live in Wisconsin near Minnesota. The laws concerning auxiliary lights on a vehicle are written differently but are basically the same. WI defines what you can have, MN defines what you can't have.
There are exceptions. You can have flashing lights for hazards. Motorcycles can have a flashing brake light - but MN and WI differ in this. One state says the flashing brake has to be a steady flash for 3 seconds then brake is steady. The other state says a steady increase in flashing until a steady light over 3-5 seconds.
I have some questions on powering the LEDs. I bought these. I have an adjustable breadboard power supply. I attached just the red and found a max of 8V before they stop. I attached the blue and I found it stops at 10V. Green could go all the way to 12V.
The description of the item says 12V DC input. Since the strip has resistors on it I was hoping that would have taken care of the different power requirements of each color, but it doesn't seem that way.
Maybe I am not wiring it correctly? I put the power to the common I am tempted to get the controller that seller lists to see what it does.
Pedal bikes have their own set of rules. A flashing rear light is allowed on those.
There's exceptions and as usual legal speak can be difficult to read. I live in Wisconsin near Minnesota. The laws concerning auxiliary lights on a vehicle are written differently but are basically the same. WI defines what you can have, MN defines what you can't have.
There are exceptions. You can have flashing lights for hazards. Motorcycles can have a flashing brake light - but MN and WI differ in this. One state says the flashing brake has to be a steady flash for 3 seconds then brake is steady. The other state says a steady increase in flashing until a steady light over 3-5 seconds.
Ok...
I have some questions on powering the LEDs. I bought these. I have an adjustable breadboard power supply. I attached just the red and found a max of 8V before they stop. I attached the blue and I found it stops at 10V. Green could go all the way to 12V.
Pfwoar... They're not cheap... but they look cool!
What do you mean by they stop? They stop working as in you broke them?
The description of the item says 12V DC input. Since the strip has resistors on it I was hoping that would have taken care of the different power requirements of each color, but it doesn't seem that way.
Maybe I am not wiring it correctly? I put the power to the common I am tempted to get the controller that seller lists to see what it does.
I'm afraid I wouldn't know. See if you can find a datasheet for them...
The question was for anyone reading. For red, once I get above 8.3V the LEDs turn off for about 5 seconds, then slowly flash. Same with blue once you get above 10.2V. So I wonder if the controller does something.
I am trying to track down this led strip. I believe it to be the same as the strip in this article. Then I wouldn't need to go through the trouble of using the tlc5947s.
