Hello all I have an idea to use 2 adafruit mini skinny neopixels 144/m led strips as a combination tail light, brake light, amber turn signals and backup light. I’ve never done any coding but have a couple people that wanna help me out. My question is would it be possible to control this light strip having multiple inputs? Would it be better to run each strip on its own program? Are you able to program which input takes priority over the others? In my head I think it’s very feasible I just don’t know if the controllers are designed for something like this TIA
I would run them all from 1 output. With 'zones' for each light type.
I used 4 strips of WS2812Bs, each on its own output pin, and 6 buttons for the left, right, brake, backup, hazard, and parking lights, with an Uno to control it all. You can definitely control which input has priority over other inputs.
Video here:
Going to need a big supply. Plan for 0.06A/WS2812B when commanded to full bright.
Crossroads that is basically what I’m looking to do. The light strip I wanna do is 55” horizontally flush mounted into a truck tailgate. I would be buying 3-1 meter strips to make 2 that will be one on top of the other. My idea is to use 1/4 of the outer portion of the light for amber turn signals that would sequence from inside to outside. When backup signal is given the middle “1/2” portion would be white and the outer 1/4 sections would function similar to the setup you showed
This particular light is actually separate boards with different colored leds so when say the tailight is on there is voids until turn signals or backup lights are activated. I don’t want that. Hope this makes sense
Well site won’t let me upload the picture I wanted to show as reference
Bodydropped72:
Well site won’t let me upload the picture I wanted to show as reference
Perhaps you had better tell us what site it is and we might be able to find the picture?
Again this light is manufactured with multiple boards with each of the colors having separate boards. If you can get one strip of the adafruit leds to do something similar in fashion as what will be in the link.
So this is what you wish to emulate:
This is more what I’m going for
[OP's pic attached as a .jpg. Moderator]
Scanned Documents.pdf (144 KB)
Well, you just need to decide on the data to send, and then send it.
In my code, I had a bunch of switch:case statements, one for each button combination.
For example, here is the data for when the parking lights were on (dimmer than brake lights).
The for() part sets up the data.
The next line sets the brightness.
The last lines sends the data out to the strips.
With one long strip, you will need similar.
At any one point in time, decide which lights get what color.
Set the brightness.
Send it out.
So you'll have multiple cases:
parking lights on/off
brakes lights on/off
hazard lights on/off
left blinker on/off
right blinker on/off
hazards on/off
Say each one was 1 bit in the variable "lightCollection".
The you can have combinations from 0b00000000 to 0b00111111
and you have the data that goes with the LEDs in each one.
If things are steady, you send out one set of data.
If a blinker is to be on, you alternate between the steady state data and the same data but with blinker on.
Etc.
So,
Work out data for the 63 different states, then work on reading the switches and when to alternate between states.
case 0b00000001: // parking lights on
for (int i = 0; i < NUM_LEDS_PER_STRIP; i++) {
leds[0][i] = CRGB::Red;
leds[1][i] = CRGB::Red;
leds[2][i] = CRGB::Red;
leds[3][i] = CRGB::Red;
}
FastLED.setBrightness( halfBright );
FastLED.show();
break;
I looked up your book, does it explain these variables? I’d be interested in it if so
Going to order a light strip and controller, what controller should I look at getting and is there anything else I’d need to get started
No, my book was written before we knew about WS2812Bs. Look at the FastLED.h library for full usage details.
Controller? You Need a Promini and a power supply, nothing more.
If you have 12V car light control signals, than a cd74HC4050 is good for converting 12V signals down to 5V. Don't forget 0.1uF cap for it's VCC pin.
So the pro mini has no other connections...I need a connection for voltage in as well as a connection to connect to a computer for programming?
Will this work if I get a 5v USB port that I can wire to my vehicle. Do I still need a capacitor if I go this route?
Yes, you need a suitably rated switchmode "buck" converter to regulate the nominal 12 V car supply to the 5 V for both the Pro Mini and LEDs, The USB adapter is used for programming away from the vehicle, but after programming is not needed - that is the simplicity of the Pro Mini,
The capacitor was advised to be used as a bypass to the 74HC4050 used as a protective level converter for all the car inputs to the Pro Mini. You still need series input resistors to that IC, the circuit will require some extra discussion.
The '4050 needs a 0.1uF cap from it's Vcc pin to Gnd. Don't leave it out.
I don't think the 4050 needs any additional resistors. The inputs are spec'ed for up to 15V input.
If the inputs are noiser than that or have spikes, then some series resistance would be good to limit current into the chip.
A 5V regulator like this
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/murata-power-solutions-inc/OKI-78SR-5-1-5-W36-C/2259781
would be good for converting car voltage to 5V.
With 144 LEDs, that could need 8.64A if all were set to full bright, then something with more capacity is needed, such as the 15A regulator here
Ok I can get the first voltage regulator to power the board and the second to power the light. I looked up the 4050 on digi key and honestly don’t know which exact product I’m looking for there. They all start with the same number as posted previously but have different numbers at the end of each product.
Is this more clear?
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/texas-instruments/CD74HC4050E/376792
You could also use this one
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/texas-instruments/CD74HC4049E/376784
It's output goes low when the input goes high.