NeoPixel Rings project

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Bohannon29
 
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NeoPixel Rings project

Post by Bohannon29 »

Hello Everyone!

I am planning the build of a bigger project, including 48 "lightballs" mounted on a wall installation that have to be lighted up and controlled by a touchscreen input. The 12-LED NeoPixel Rings would fit my construction and size idea perfectly.
So I am wondering, if and how it would be feasible to power and control so many rings...? I am kindof familiar with Arduino but have never done such bigger builds, so I don't know the limits regarding RAM and power needs in case of 48 NeoPixel Rings.
I'm also searching for the solution to implement the connection to the web-based touch application input from a PC..

I would appreciate any suggestions,
thanks a lot, cheers!

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: NeoPixel Rings project

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

48 rings of 12 pixels each is 576 pixels total. That will require at least 1728 bytes of RAM for RGB pixels, or 2304 bytes for RGBW. Older Arduinos might have trouble with that. But most of the current generation processors have more than enough RAM to easily accommodate that.

Power requirements will depend on how hard you are driving the pixels. The 'worst-case' is with all pixels at full-intensity white. That would be about 34 Amps @5v for RGB and 46 Amps for RGBW. Typical application requirements are substantially less than worst-case. But it is hard to say without a better definition of what you want these light-balls to do.

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Bohannon29
 
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Re: NeoPixel Rings project

Post by Bohannon29 »

Thanks for the fast reply!

Specific numbers of light-balls should glow in different colours, constantly or slowly pulsing, so I need RGBW. Full power white will never be the case.

I got an option to power them with an Enttec Octo pixel controller through ArtNet. Do you have any experiences with that perhaps too?

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: NeoPixel Rings project

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

Specific numbers of light-balls should glow in different colours, constantly or slowly pulsing, so I need RGBW. Full power white will never be the case.
Sounds like your average draw will be 1/3 or less of the 'worst-case'. If you divide the balls into 2 separately powered groups with a 5v@10A supply powering each half, you should have plenty of headroom.

See the uberguide for general information on power and control for Neopixels: https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-neopixel-uberguide

Not familiar with the Enttec product.

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