I'll start by saying I know nothing about this stuff and I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction. I'm trying to control a bank of ~200 individual LEDs that would be used to light up individual storage slots based on network input.
I have a bank of mail slots where I store different items in each slot. I'm trying to find a way to put an LED in each slot, and have that specific LED illuminate for a certain number of seconds based on network input. Each slot would have its own network command that could be sent from another computer.
So the Arduino would receive a "turn on slot 87" command and the LED in slot 87 would illuminate for 5 seconds and then go off. It would then sit and wait for the next command.
I have a developer on staff that would handle the traffic from our system to the Arduino.
I just need a starting point. Even just a few search terms would help so I can start doing the research. I'm don't even know what would be relevant. I keep reading about WLED and WS2811, but don't want to spend a ton of time reading, if that's not even the correct way to handle the situation.
WS2811 is certainly one way to go. Each LED is addressable, but they usually come on a strand at a fixed spacing which is probably not the same spacing as your storage slots. This means you would have to singulate them and add wiring between each LED. The code would be pretty straight forward and all you would need is an external power supply to supply enough current for however many LEDs could possibly be on at the same time. Each one consumes around 50-60 mA. The WS2811 are RGB so you have more than a single color choice.
Another approach would be to use garden variety LEDs (again, you would have to wire them up) and a series of shift registers, like the 74HC595 to do basically the same thing - shift all the data out to the LEDs.
Welcome There is a new IC by TI that sounds like it will work for. 1 chip will drive 48 LED channels. It is an automotive part so it may not be available for a while. Here is a link:https://www.ti.com/product/TLC69638-Q1 They post sample code as well. Let us know if it works.
I have a project that controlled 48 LEDs (regular LEDs, not WS2812) with 6 daisychained MAX 6968 Driver chips. You can daisychain a virtually unlimited drivers and individually address a virtually unlimited number of LEDs, unless you run out of processor memory (which you might need if you need to keep track of the state of all the LEDs).
I assume the TI chip is "similar" but with more outputs.
WS2811 is a good idea. Already pointed out, there are individual types availabe to be build in into your slots. And the daisychain wiring is easy enough. Regarding the wiring I have my doubts, using this TI IC.
I am using regularly MQTTcommunication to arduinos for simmilar control tasks. Lightweight, reliable, flexible. There might be more direct approaches without a MQTT broker needed.