Which platform and board for wearable 2023 project?

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jpbarna
 
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Which platform and board for wearable 2023 project?

Post by jpbarna »

sorry if this has been asked before, but as today, I'm lost in the options. What I need to do is control a wearable LED string like the NeoPixels (NeoPixel Jewel - 7 x 5050 RGB LED with Integrated Drivers) using wifi or bluetooth (max distance is 30 meters, outdoors, open space). I need to power it by battery, of course, control from a smartphone. I'm creating a game for kids, next step will be to do it 10x (10 different kids wearing the LEDs that I have to change colours on purpose from the phone). I can use Raspberry or Arduino, but I'm lost. Flora, Pico, Nano...

The less parts to add, the better. I'm not too worried about size.

Can anyone guide me? Thanks!

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Which platform and board for wearable 2023 project?

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

Just about any microcontroller can handle the pixels easily. For minimum part count, you probably want to go with one of the WiFi and/or BlueTooth Feather boards. These have integral wireless communication as well as a built-in battery charger:

https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-fea ... i-feathers
https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-fea ... h-feathers

Since you need 10 of these, cost is probably a factor. The ESP8266 is a low-cost WiFi capable board:
https://www.adafruit.com/product/2821
The ESP32-S3 is only a few dollars more and supports both WiFi & Bluetooth Low Energy.
https://www.adafruit.com/product/5323

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jpbarna
 
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Re: Which platform and board for wearable 2023 project?

Post by jpbarna »

Thanks a lot, this is great help!

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michaelmeissner
 
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Re: Which platform and board for wearable 2023 project?

Post by michaelmeissner »

Besides the feathers, I would look at the QT PY boards. These are smaller than the feather boards. There are some ESP32 boards that include wifi and possibly bluetooth:
With the QT PY boards, you have several BFF (shields) that you can attach.
Normally only one BFF can be used. I could imagine if you solder the QT PY to the battery charger using long pins, you can then solder female headers to the 5x5 neopixel matrix, and mount it on the unit. If you need to turn off the QT PY via the switch on the battery BFF, you can just remove the matrix, flip the switch, and put it back on. If you do it this way, it should be self contained (i.e. no wires sticking out).

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