HC-06 OR HC-12 +WS2812b - Wireless Analog Output Transmittion

Using Arduino Project Guidance
#1

Ok,
While locked in cold isolation i have devised something to keep myself occupied yet i have reached a snag
That snag is i know nothing of wireless data transmition... So i need someone with some knowledge to assist me.

I have previously build an LED Staff (Something like this) with 30 WS2812b's on each end. Powered off of two 18650 Li-Ion batterys with overcharge circuits and DC-DC buck converter to reach the 5V needed for the LED's. "It worked great i managed to get about 10 Hours run time from it."

Now i followed this "Mega AudioVisualiser Unit" build for the basics of the staff but used a Nano instead of the recommended Mega. The filesize was way to excessive for the poor nano to handle so i stripped all of the AudioVisualising code out "as it was unneeded" to allow a 10% overhead for the nano to breath.

Now my questions are...

A - If i build this main "Mega AudioVisualiser Unit" would it be possible to transmit the data wireless to the "Staff Nano Unit"?

B - Would the spinning of the staff cause disruption to the signal? "Seems silly to ask but a serious concern"

C - Could i keep the majority of the code on the "Mega AudioVisualiser Unit" and have only the data streamed directly into the WS2812b's or a Nano with barebones code to proccess the input? (The Mega will have audio fed in through an aux 3.5mm Jack)

D - I would only really want to use the HC-05 OR HC-12 as their size will fit into a 3cm tube easily with 3D printed housings for the circuitry.
Edit - After a bit more research i have also found some LORA tranceivers that fit the size specifications.
If you know why one would be better or worse please let me know.

Anyone willing to help would be a lifesaver! I've been wanting to build this for a while but have always lacked the required knowledge.

#2

pathogenex:
A - If i build this main "Mega AudioVisualiser Unit" would it be possible to transmit the data wireless to the "Staff Nano Unit"?

B - Would the spinning of the staff cause disruption to the signal? "Seems silly to ask but a serious concern"

C - Could i keep the majority of the code on the "Mega AudioVisualiser Unit" and have only the data streamed directly into the WS2812b's or a Nano with barebones code to proccess the input? (The Mega will have audio fed in through an aux 3.5mm Jack)

D - I would only really want to use the HC-05 OR HC-12 as their size will fit into a 3cm tube easily with 3D printed housings for the circuitry.

A. Yes.

B. Surely not, but it might depend on what the staff is made of

C. I would guess you can keep all the code you have, whatever that might be, and simply add some serial print for the communication.

D. HC-05 is good for 10m which is probably all you need. I believe LORA has greater range.

#3

Nick_Pyner:
A. Yes.

B. Surely not, but it might depend on what the staff is made of

C. I would guess you can keep all the code you have, whatever that might be, and simply add some serial print for the communication.

D. HC-05 is good for 10m which is probably all you need. I believe LORA has greater range.

Do you know what "speed" the data can transfer at?
This wouldn't be practical with a noticable delay in transfer as it is supposted to sink the lights to the audio playing.
I do know that it depends on the material that the signal has to pass through. The staff is going to made of some polycarbonate tubing with some 3d printed PLA/ABS electronic harnesses inside, which i don't see as being a problem for these tranceivers.

I have created a seperate topic explaining largely the circuit designs with some specs.

#4

You have no control over the speed over bluetooth, but I have never heard of anybody saying it is not fast enough. HC-05 can be configured to communicate with Arduino at rates up to 1382400 baud. My guess is that the default rate 9600 will transfer what you need at speed beyond human comprehension, and you won't need to change anything. Having said that, you will need to reconfigure one HC-05 as a master, so you might as well bump the speed up a bit while you are at it. Note however that, if Arduino is 3.3v, 115200 may be too fast.

If you you have the modules in the stick end-to-end, and no metal is involved, I can't see a problem. I was suss about Bluetooth when the module was hidden under an Arduino shield. It was fine when I pulled it out into clear air.

#5

Nick_Pyner:
You have no control over the speed over bluetooth, but I have never heard of anybody saying it is not fast enough. HC-05 can be configured to communicate with Arduino at rates up to 1382400 baud. My guess is that the default rate 9600 will transfer what you need at speed beyond human comprehension, and you won't need to change anything. Having said that, you will need to reconfigure one HC-05 as a master, so you might as well bump the speed up a bit while you are at it. Note however that, if Arduino is 3.3v, 115200 may be too fast.

If you you have the modules in the stick end-to-end, and no metal is involved, I can't see a problem. I was suss about Bluetooth when the module was hidden under an Arduino shield. It was fine when I pulled it out into clear air.

Thanks for the help you made too much sense about Bluetooth speeds... :o

If i can i would really prefer to use the HC-12 just for the extended range as 10meters seems to be borderling my required operating distance... Do you know anything about uk laws and 433.4-473.0MHz transmitting? From what i've found it isn't an allocated frequency range but i'd rather not get thrown in the pit. :stuck_out_tongue:

So I will not need a Nano in the staff to translate the receiver outputs to a usable WS2812b signal?

One thing about the HC-12 i've found is that it operates at 5,000bps? Thats almost half the HC-05...
Would an excess baudrate allow for reduced signal degradation or does it simply impact the quantity of data?

#6

I don't know anything about HC-12 or UK laws. Bluetooth suffices for me and I live in Australia. It was you who raised the HC-06. I raised HC-05 because, if you want two HC-0x, at least one has to be an HC-05. Be aware that you may find a BLE device like HM-10, a better choice as they can have greater range.

I also don't know anything about the WS2812b, but i imagine that the only reason for not having a Nano in the staff is that WS2812b has a serial port and can receive serial data from Bluetooth directly.

I think you need to wise up on the speeds. 5000 bps seems unreasonably slow, and bps only equals baud when a baud has one bit, which is not common these days.

I have now seen the video, I assume the operation of the LEDs is in sync with the music, so I say again that communication speed is not really a problem.

#7

Nick_Pyner:
I don’t know anything about HC-12 or UK laws. Bluetooth suffices for me and I live in Australia. It was you who raised the HC-06. I raised HC-05 because, if you want two HC-0x, at least one has to be an HC-05. Be aware that you may find a BLE device like HM-10, a better choice as they can have greater range.

Why would one have to be an HC-05? From what ive found is HC-12’s are tranceivers? Doesn’t this mean I simply set one as a master and the other as slave?

Nick_Pyner:
I also don’t know anything about the WS2812b, but i imagine that the only reason for not having a Nano in the staff is that WS2812b has a serial port and can receive serial data from Bluetooth directly.

From what ive found here

Data bits representing RGB brightness are fed serially into the Din pin, and the chip strips out the first 24 bits (8 bits each for R,G,B) and sends the remaining bits out the Dout pin. [/color][/quote]
So if i’ve got this right… 24bits x 60 LED’s = 1440bps consumption? I really need to do more research on transfer rates. It facinates me yet I feel alot of it goes way above my head… If you have any good links for helping me self teach some more about these then please do share =)

Nick_Pyner:
I think you need to wise up on the speeds. 5000 bps seems unreasonably slow, and bps only equals baud when a baud has one bit, which is not common these days.

From what i found in the table on the sellers page the 5000bps is at max range of 1km and adjusts as you reduce the distance between the two…

Nick_Pyner:
I have now seen the video, I assume the operation of the LEDs is in sync with the music, so I say again that communication speed is not really a problem.

Thanks, took your first post as a bit hostile but i image answering stupid questions all day gets pretty fustrating…
Thanks again for the help i feel like im closer to grasping what i need to do now. +1 karma

#8

pathogenex:
Doesn’t this mean I simply set one as a master and the other as slave?

Yes. HC-06 is slave only but it is quite OK to use it auto-connect with an appropriately configured HC-05.

From what ive found here

OK, maybe you can dispense with the Nano. I don’t know about them but you will surely find some previous thread on them.

So if i’ve got this right… 24bits x 60 LED’s = 1440bps consumption? I really need to do more research on transfer rates.

Yes, you do, but it probably isn’t that hard, and I don’t think it is a problem.

If you have any good links for helping me self teach some more about these then please do share

For basic Bluetooth, you might find the following background notes useful.

Note particularly the Martyn Currey website. He covers HC-05<>HC-06 auto connect, and also has stuff on BLE, that I don’t deal with at all.

#9

I've taken your advice and bought x2 HM-10's You convinced me with those links.
Thanks again for the links. Will Respond here if/when i sort it out.

#10