Edge lit sign with Arduino LED flame effect

Projects General Guidance
1

Well, as the title suggests, I am seeking guidance / input / suggestions regarding making an Edge lit acrylic sign with Arduino LED flame effect.

I'm a beginner, please be gentle :smiley:

Objective

  1. Sign: I'd be hand-etching (dremel) the acrylic with a flame / stencil effect.

  2. Lighting: Edge lit with RGB LED strip, and probably from the side (or both sides) rather than from below.

  3. Arduino control - looking to control individually addressable LED strip to create a flame effect so the sign looks as if the flame is 'burning'.

Assistance sought

  1. I've done my research and am comfortable with the sign side of things; it's the electronics where I need guidance.

  2. What RGB strip should I be looking for - an individually addressable one. Don't need it to be too long, at most two lengths of 30cm each. Probably less.

3a. Circuit - how would I wire this up? This is probably my weak point at this stage.

3b. Controller / programming. I'm NOT expecting anyone to write this for me, but any tips / relevant links to libraries or example code would be appreciated. I'm quite happy (and would be a good learning experience) once I have a starting point to try the coding myself and then come back here for assistance with any coding problems.

Research

Naturally I have been researching (possibly over-researching) and have come to the conclusion that:

  • there are plenty of examples along the lines of that in the tutorials - e.g. a few individual LEDs; but very few for LED strips.
  • where there are LED strip projects these are often just on YouTube and sketches are (generally) frustratingly unavailable.

Here are some examples (for vertical orientation) I am particularly impressed with:

Fire2012: fire simulation for Arduino and LEDs
Fire2012: more info

and


Diody WS2812B RGB Led Arduino Lampa Fire NeoPixel LEDs

and

arduino led strip effects - fire

and this may be an option if lit from below:

If I need to run two strips (one of each side, with identical outputs) is this the way to go about it?

Please note: This fire effect is just a tad TOO realistic and I'd like to avoid it... :wink:

So anyway as I say all advice and thoughts are welcome. Thank you so much !

2

OK so doing some more research, and at least I know what LED strip to go for.
http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=410918.0

Just not sure what density would be needed for best effect (30 or 60 / metre)
I am assume my strips will be approximately 30 cm long (perhaps slightly less) the 30/metre would give me roughly 10 led's in that space, the 60/m obviously around 20 leds.

I think that around 10 led's should be sufficient for the purposes noted?

3

As an aside, I found this as well, which looks really good.

code: arduino-led-matrix/fire at master · giladaya/arduino-led-matrix · GitHub

Not for an edge lit sign, but something else I'll have a go at.

(Does this make me an e-pyromaniac? )

4

Your post was a good resource for ideas on a similar project I'm working on, just wanted to say thanks! Even though the post is a couple years old it's still very much helpful.

5

Arduino
Neopixels

done deal.