3W Pixies on multiple pins

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crusaderabbit
 
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3W Pixies on multiple pins

Post by crusaderabbit »

My question is about running multiple Pixies on multiple pins. Can I do that in the same way you would using Neo Pixels, naming each strip separately..
strip_n with it's associated pin?
And what about softwareSerial? Will the different strips be able to run simultaneously, or will one softwareSerial command need to finish before the next one can be addressed, even though they are on different pins.

You might also be wondering how many Pixies I plan to run since Pixie draws 1.3A at full white. I am planning to run 4 Pixies on one pin and 2 on another. I am powering the Pixies separately and using a regular 5V Trinket to run data. I have a 7.2V, 8A li-ion battery connected to a 5V, 9A voltage regulator. I never plan to use more than 6 A at any one time. Using the voltage regulator, I can keep the lights and the Trinket all at 5V.
I also changed the time on the Trinket to 16M hz. Does it matter?
Thanks

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: 3W Pixies on multiple pins

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

Yes, it is possible to run multiples on different pins using software serial.

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crusaderabbit
 
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Re: 3W Pixies on multiple pins

Post by crusaderabbit »

Thanks. Could you please expound on that? Would the code for different pixies on different pins be the same as this example from the neo pixel uberguide:

Can I have multiple NeoPixel objects on different pins?Certainly! Each requires its own declaration with a unique name:

Adafruit_NeoPixel strip_a = Adafruit_NeoPixel(16, 5);
Adafruit_NeoPixel strip_b = Adafruit_NeoPixel(16, 6);

Also in your Pixie tutorial you set up the softwareSerial declaration with a -1 for the RX pin. Is there a -1 pin on the Trinket I want to use in my circuit?

SoftwareSerial pixieSerial(-1, PIXIEPIN);

Arduino Reference shows the softwareSerial constructor like this:

#include <SoftwareSerial.h>

const byte rxPin = 2;
const byte txPin = 3;

// set up a new serial object
SoftwareSerial mySerial (rxPin, txPin);

Thank you.

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: 3W Pixies on multiple pins

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

It is similar to the way it is done for Neopixels, DotStars, LPD8806 etc.
The difference is that the Pixies requires a 'stream' parameter such as a hardware or software serial port in the constructor.

The SoftwareSerial constructor takes 2 pins. But since the Pixie is a 'transmit only' interface, there is no need for an Rx pin. So you can use -1.

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