LED star cloth project within 10 day's!

Forum 2005-2010 (read only) Hardware Interfacing
1

Hi all,

I have just received a phone call asking if i could make 10 star cloths its for a charity and although not a hard project it is my first large scale and i would need a little help as cost's need to be kept to around the £100 area (already have some parts to hand) so i have a few questions.

Requirements

within the next 10 days
10 separate 1x2 meters cloths between 5 and 10 meters apart each with about 20 led's and 4 channel PWM.

Questions

Would using the tlc5940 be the best solution and if this is then would i need an arduino for each one?

Could i get away with a tlc5940 in each cloth or is 5-10 meters to far for stacking the tlc5940 and controlled by 1 or 2 arduino at the core of it all?

Would power consumption be a issue? (guessing yes)

Would it be better for me to tell them to use christmas lights (cheating but same effect and should be cheap enough) and place them in the cloths?

Thank you and any help will be much appreciated.

2

Simple math: 10 cheap arduino boards à ?14 each = ?140 = your budget is gone and not a single led it lit.

Korman

3

Hi Korman

yeah i did have a look around and the cheapes i can get them for is aprox 10 for £100 but its not out the window as i have all the cable, cloth, tlc5940's and other bits and led's are only about £20 for 200 so just a little over budget (so far).

4

If the thing does the same as a Christmas light chain only at a multiple of the costs, the Christmas light is the better solution.

Korman

5

Could i get away with a tlc5940 in each cloth or is 5-10 meters to far for stacking the tlc5940

Yes it is too far to drive a TLC5940 from an arduino.
However you might want to have the arduino and the TLC5940 on one board and have long wires to the LEDs. Unfortunately that is a lot of wires.

6

Korman,

I can get the lot for £90 but a bit over kill as thats for 100 led's in each cloth & 1000 total
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/10M-100-LED-8-Functions-Fairy-White-Xmas-String-Lights-/280547910873?pt=UK_Home_Garden_Celebrations_Occasions_ET&hash=item4151f564d9#ht_1479wt_902
Suppose i could cut em up but what could i use the extra 800 led's for??? ::slight_smile:

Hi Grumpy_Mike,
i did think of that but then i to realised that it would be a silly amount of cable :slight_smile:

7

It would but have you seen ribbon cable?
Easy to attach to sockets and reasonably flexible?

8

I have but the price is a bit steep it would make it look neat and tidy but also destroy my budget.

9

Are these too expensive? http://www.rapidonline.com/1/1/10568-ribbon-cable-rapid.html

10

2/3 the price of the one's i found but still to costly as i would need 300 meters approx.

I think i am going to put the christmas light idea to them and see what they say.

Thanks for the help. :slight_smile: