I'll post a video here later tonight of this in action.
I always have a heck of a time trying to capture the awesomeness of these LEDs on video. One thing I've found which helps is to place a sheet of white paper over the LEDs. (Apparently filming the LEDs on the top of an Argentinian mountain also works.)
BTW, Jon, The WS2812s in that video are a mix of B and S versions. The 8x8 matrix and the big ring are B type, the smaller rings and 8 pixel line are S type. They are in separated chains so only B types together and only S types together. When I used your driver, I initially used start_b for the two B type chains and start for the one S type chain. It would work, but a couple of the leds would sort of flicker the wrong colors. Like it was a timing issue. I switched that chain to start_b and the issue went away. I think the "non B" timing is maybe only for 2811s or something?
If you really want to practice SMT soldering, these WS2812B LEDs are a good device to practice on. The four side tabs make these LEDs reasonable easy to solder by hand.
They go down by hand nicely, yes. If you use a hot air station, watch the heat! I run my Aoyue at 250-260°C to avoid melting the housings (I've sold loads of "eeZee RGB" boards based on the WS2812B).
The timing comes from data sheets that I have for the WS2812 and WS2812B. That said, there is a startx() method that allows one to set timing parameters. You might try that and find a sweet spot. That said, some information on the Internate suggests that the pulse-shaping circuitry in the device corrects pulse-width timing, too.
BTW, Jon, The WS2812s in that video are a mix of B and S versions. The 8x8 matrix and the big ring are B type, the smaller rings and 8 pixel line are S type. They are in separated chains so only B types together and only S types together. When I used your driver, I initially used start_b for the two B type chains and start for the one S type chain. It would work, but a couple of the leds would sort of flicker the wrong colors. Like it was a timing issue. I switched that chain to start_b and the issue went away. I think the "non B" timing is maybe only for 2811s or something?
These are in stock in singles and 10-packs. We have only two things to do before you can buy them:
- prepare a web page description, by Daniel
- sort out pricing, so they're cheap enough that you want many and that we want to build the next 15K units we just ordered
They should be ready for sale this week, for certain.
These are in stock in singles and 10-packs. We have only two things to do before you can buy them:
- prepare a web page description, by Daniel
- sort out pricing, so they're cheap enough that you want many and that we want to build the next 15K units we just ordered
They should be ready for sale this week, for certain.
Ken was nice enough to send me some of the new Parallax WS2812B "fun boards" so I could get them working with my C++ version of JonnyMac's driver code. Here is my first attempt at using them on an ActivityBoard.
These are in stock in singles and 10-packs. We have only two things to do before you can buy them:
- prepare a web page description, by Daniel
- sort out pricing, so they're cheap enough that you want many and that we want to build the next 15K units we just ordered
They should be ready for sale this week, for certain.
Ken Gracey
Still not finding them. Is there a secret to search for them?
Jim
we're just making sure our code examples ... are in order.
I did my part!
As someone who has seen these things in action, they're really cool. And BRIGHT! You can't look at these straight on for very long, unless you really dim them down. I can't wait to do some in-depth projects using these things.
As someone who has seen these things in action, they're really cool. And BRIGHT! You can't look at these straight on for very long, unless you really dim them down. I can't wait to do some in-depth projects using these things.
I wrote some C code around JonnyMac's PASM driver but I'm afraid it will need more documentation to be up to Parallax standards. I'll try to add that later tonight.
Comments
I always have a heck of a time trying to capture the awesomeness of these LEDs on video. One thing I've found which helps is to place a sheet of white paper over the LEDs. (Apparently filming the LEDs on the top of an Argentinian mountain also works.)
[video=youtube_share;VcXmpJlVjYI]
Does anyone know if they make these RGB LEDs with tactile switches already on them?
Try increasing the ambient light that you're shooting in; that way the camera will stop down the lens a bit and not be so overwhelmed by the RGB LEDs.
Edit: Not appearing yet in "New Products" so I guess not.
They go down by hand nicely, yes. If you use a hot air station, watch the heat! I run my Aoyue at 250-260°C to avoid melting the housings (I've sold loads of "eeZee RGB" boards based on the WS2812B).
Well, they all worked perfectly with the B timing.
I suspect some strips have leds set to fast and some to slow, unfortunately. I don't think you can tell from the designation alone.
http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php/141061-TACHYON-a-very-fast-and-compact-Forth-SDFS-TELNET-FTP-WEB-servers-EMAIL?p=1298152&viewfull=1#post1298152
- prepare a web page description, by Daniel
- sort out pricing, so they're cheap enough that you want many and that we want to build the next 15K units we just ordered
They should be ready for sale this week, for certain.
Ken Gracey
The 2812s & 2812Bs are locked at the high speed (800Khz) setting.
The second photo is my Activity Board with some WS2812B boards I made a while ago.
With headers added to the individual boards, the boards can be linked together into rows using jumpers.
Maybe Parallax should include an easy way (and reasonably priced way) to purchase extra jumpers to use with these boards?
No news in a week.
[video=youtube_share;bfA6mdAm7Ng]
Jim
By Friday for certain.
Ken Gracey
I did my part!
As someone who has seen these things in action, they're really cool. And BRIGHT! You can't look at these straight on for very long, unless you really dim them down. I can't wait to do some in-depth projects using these things.
http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php/157968-New-Product!-WS2812B-RGB-LED-Module
http://www.parallax.com/product/28086
libws2812.zip
Jim