Any suggestions for controllable RGB LED's to use with the HC-8

[needcrew]

HI All,

Looking for suggestions for Controllable RBG Leds for eyes on a prop and how to control them with the HC-8.

Thanks

Mike

[needcrew]

Would a common anode RGB LED be a good route, or is there something in the DMX world since the board can control DMX things?

[JonnyMac]

The outputs from the HC-8+ are for common-cathode devices. Check www.SuperBrightLEDs.com for a variety of RGB LEDs. For small RGB DMX devices, checkout Dark Light (www.darklightsystem.com)

[needcrew]

Thanks for the links.  Was a pleasure meeting you at Transworld and for all the little tips you provided.

[JonnyMac]

Our pleasure. Another thing to keep in mind -- and something we demoed on Sunday at Transworld -- is that the HC-8+ can be used to control strips of "smart" RGB LEDs.

Our friends at Alliance Studio (Steve Wang's shop) use the HC-8+ in many of their projects. They're always great fun to work with. Checkout the Completed Projects section of the forum to see some of their cool, EFX-TEK powered displays.

[needcrew]

So if I was to use a common anode LED for multiple colors, would it take multiple outputs?  One output for each color (RGB)?  Or can it be controlled with one output.  Looking for eyes for my skull.  The first 4 channels will be servos, and then I will need to trigger the AP-16 sounds and one for ambient color trigger. 

[JonnyMac]

If you want RGB eyes for your skull then I suggest you use a "smart" RGB system. Have a look at the NeoPixels on Adafruit; I have a driver that works for them and will let you control hundreds from a single IO pin.

-- http://www.adafruit.com/products/1312

[needcrew]

Thanks,

Just ordered them. 

[needcrew]

OK, the NeoPixels are here and I am looking for how to incorporate them into my skull for eyes.  The first 4 outputs on the controller are for the servos using vixen.  How can I use the Neopixels.  Do I use vixen to control them?

[JonnyMac]

Let me just be clear... Neopixels are another beast and do not fit into my current streamer/player software scheme -- that's a major upgrade because each Neopixel requires three channels inside Vixen (each color in my NeoPixels driver uses four bytes, so the alignment is mess). All this is to say that there is no off-the-shelf solution -- we're going to have to work on one.

I'll start by porting my NeoPixel demo onto an HC-8+ and will post the code here when it's done.

[JonnyMac]

Sorry, I forgot to post this yesterday. I have a strip of 12 NeoPixels that I connected to TTL P4. The demo creates a scrolling rainbow in the LEDs. Simple, but proves the driver is working.

[needcrew]

Any update on driving the neo pixels with the vixen streamer?

[JonnyMac]

I was waiting for confirmation that you got the NeoPixels working with your HC-8+.

Now that I have a talking skull and have worked with it, I've made the decision to change my streamer program to use the MiniSSC protocol. Using the Generic Serial driver is fine if the serial port is never disconnected, but Vixen closes the port at the end of the show and noise on the serial line can be misinterpreted when using raw data -- using a multi-byte protocol should prevent these issues.

I'm just home from HauntX and have some catching up to do. Will post ASAP.

[needcrew]

HI John,

Just wondering if you were able to come up with anything on this.

Thanks

Mike

[JonnyMac]

You haven't confirmed if you got my basic NeoPixel demo running on your HC-8+.  Well?...  :)

After working with JackMan's talking skull (which if fantastic, btw), I am making some architectural changes to the streamer program to prevent "gotchas" when Vixen shuts of the serial port at the end of a project. When this is done and I know you've got NeoPixels hooked up to your HC-8+, I'll write you a custom version.