Digitally addressable LEDs?

[thagerty]

Old thread, but thought I would add to it in case anyone is looking for ideas.

I just installed addressable LEDS in my virtual pinball cabinet, and boy I would LOVE to see LEDBlinky be able to support them. It would be amazing to be use these strips with arcade and pc games!

Here's some pics and a video to show what it looks like. A game changer for pinball as it offers animations and effects that are triggered by the pinball table itself (via DOF software and Visual Pinball)

The controller I'm using for the addressable LEDS is a Teensy. I also use LED-Wiz to control the other normal RGB LED strips, solenoids, beacon, strobes, and other toys in the cabinet. My control panel LEDS are NOT controlled and just connected to a switch.



















Video demo in Pinball X:

Could you tell us one more time? Exactly like the last times please.

If you are referring to the same post from me in the other "addressable LED" topics.... I pasted it there for anyone who hasn't seen them used this way. Not everyone browses every topic....or  the OP of those other posts may never see what I post else where. I wasn't trying to spam or anything..... in fact I was looking for answers to see if anyone else had used it with LED-Blinky, etc, only to find others had wanted to know the same thing.

I'll promise to put in a few different words next time to change things up, ok?   

[yotsuya]

Holy crap, I thought  Neph Gotta Neph, until I saw exactly what he was talking about. I know you mean well, thagerty, but posting the same exact thing in a bunch of different threads really comes across as spammy....

I think a separate thread with you post would have been a better idea.

[thagerty]

Holy crap, I thought  Neph Gotta Neph, until I saw exactly what he was talking about. I know you mean well, thagerty, but posting the same exact thing in a bunch of different threads really comes across as spammy....

I think a separate thread with you post would have been a better idea.

Roger that! I actually stopped myself at 3 posts because I thought it was looking a bit spammy as well. I guess I was a little too excited for this new feature on my cabinet, and wanted to share. 

[yotsuya]

Holy crap, I thought  Neph Gotta Neph, until I saw exactly what he was talking about. I know you mean well, thagerty, but posting the same exact thing in a bunch of different threads really comes across as spammy....

I think a separate thread with you post would have been a better idea.

Roger that! I actually stopped myself at 3 posts because I thought it was looking a bit spammy as well. I guess I was a little too excited for this new feature on my cabinet, and wanted to share. 

I'd still like a more in - depth thread on the LED matrix.

[RandyT]

I'd still like a more in - depth thread on the LED matrix.

Check out this page, Yots.  Has pretty much everything you need to know.

thagerty, one suggestion I would make to you is, if your power supplies are tweakable for output voltage, turn them down to something which you find acceptable for brightness and still provides enough power to the brains in the LEDs for reliable operation.  One of the drawbacks to this number of LEDs, is that failure of one or more after a time is likely to be inevitable and swapping out bad ones will be no fun.  As each LED in the chain after the one which has failed, will also be non-functional, you probably won't be able to just ignore it .  Heat can also be an issue, so make sure that the strips are located in areas which can breathe.  Running them at a lower voltage than the max rated, will reduce the heat output and quite probably add to the life of LEDs, particularly those which may be marginal.

[yotsuya]

I'd still like a more in - depth thread on the LED matrix.

Check out this page, Yots.  Has pretty much everything you need to know.

thagerty, one suggestion I would make to you is, if your power supplies are tweakable for output voltage, turn them down to something which you find acceptable for brightness and still provides enough power to the brains in the LEDs for reliable operation.  One of the drawbacks to this number of LEDs, is that failure of one or more after a time is likely to be inevitable and swapping out bad ones will be no fun.  Heat can also be an issue, so make sure that the strips are located in areas which can breath.  Running them at a lower voltage than the max rated, will reduce the heat output and quite probably add to the life of LEDs, particularly those which may be marginal.

Sweet,  thanks,  Randy!

[thagerty]

I'd still like a more in - depth thread on the LED matrix.

Check out this page, Yots.  Has pretty much everything you need to know.

thagerty, one suggestion I would make to you is, if your power supplies are tweakable for output voltage, turn them down to something which you find acceptable for brightness and still provides enough power to the brains in the LEDs for reliable operation.  One of the drawbacks to this number of LEDs, is that failure of one or more after a time is likely to be inevitable and swapping out bad ones will be no fun.  As each LED in the chain after the one which has failed, will also be non-functional, you probably won't be able to just ignore it .  Heat can also be an issue, so make sure that the strips are located in areas which can breathe.  Running them at a lower voltage than the max rated, will reduce the heat output and quite probably add to the life of LEDs, particularly those which may be marginal.

Good advice Randy!

There's no need for me to turn down the power supply at all (its a switching 5V 60A psu, and is adjustable), as the software allows you to adjust the max brightness of the side strips, and the back matrix independently to whatever you want.  I just have them nice and bright to show off for the video. I normally have the back matrix brightness lower.

Also, during normal gameplay you don't see the entire back matrix constantly lit up like it is in Pinball X, so the leds aren't running all the time.

Changing the leds aren't a big deal for me, (I replaced more surface mount components than I care to remember), but you are right in that, if one fails it affects the rest, because of the shift register design these employ...and its inconvenient.



Also here is a long thread all about using this for virtual pinball via DOF. Its alot of info over alot of pages.

http://vpuniverse.com/forums/topic/2180-addressable-rgbs/page-21#entry30085

[MTPPC]

Hmmm, was wondering how long this would take... we filed a provisional patent on doing this and have the controller coming soon! LEDs arrive next week.

So you find an off the shelf product on ali-express and then try to patent it for your 'novel' use of it? I love your business model.

[Nephasth]

Hmmm, was wondering how long this would take... we filed a provisional patent on doing this and have the controller coming soon! LEDs arrive next week.

So you find an off the shelf product on ali-express and then try to patent it for your 'novel' use of it? I love your business model.

Necro-quote. I dig your style.

[MTPPC]

Hmmm, was wondering how long this would take... we filed a provisional patent on doing this and have the controller coming soon! LEDs arrive next week.

So you find an off the shelf product on ali-express and then try to patent it for your 'novel' use of it? I love your business model.

Necro-quote. I dig your style.

It just shows how closely I've been following addressable LDE's.