I am designing a solution where I can control around 20 meters of multicolour LED Strips in room via a PC/Windows or WEB application probably using Arduino.
The application should give the RGB value All the strips and they will light with the same colour. so the whole 20 meters will light with the same colour
Can you please advice me to the best way to do so using any controller in your mind, I prefer if the controller has an API for .Net apps but I am open to any suggestions.
Do you think that I can control the 20 meters LED strips with only one controller or I might need more than one?
Is there specific LED strips that must be used or any type will work fine for the purpose?
Thanks a lot for any help you would provide.
Because of the length (20m) and the fact that you need to control all strips to the same colour I suggest having a look at either analog or digital RGB LED strips. They don't need to be addressable if you need to use the same colour.
Figure out what constraint you have for the installation site (e.g. indoors/outdoors/proximity to power/light intensity/etc.).
In terms of control, you should be able to use an LED Driver or a DMX Dimmer and Controller.
In terms code, doing a search I spotted QuickDMX which should be able to prepare valid DMX packets for a USB DMX Controller. Regarding LED Controllers, my hunch is each manufacturer will use it's own protocol, but hopefully nothing too complicated a specification and Serial library(e.g. System/IO/Ports/SerialPort).
Related
My goal is to write a VST that generates 4 bytes of data based on 3 parameters. So i've made an algorithm that basically turns music into color with ZGameEditorVisualizer VST and 3 parameters (low,mid,high control the hue, lightness and saturation). My problem is that this can only make video (that's what the VST is intended for. However i want to use live, these colors should be projected on my RGB led strip, which will be connected to the arduino. For that i will need to write a VST that can generate RGB data from Hue, Saturation and Lightness. So it generates 4 bytes, (Red,Green,Blue,Alpha) and needs to send it over to the Arduino. Arduino then makes them shine beautifully. What i need help with, is where do i get started? Is it possible to connect a VST to Serial Communication? How can i use these 3 parameters to make RGB? Is there a library for that for C++? Any help will be greatly appreciated.
First of: Thanks for taking the time to help me with my problem. It is much appreciated :)
I am building a natural user interface. I’d like the interface to detect several (up to 40) objects lying on it. The interface should detect if the objects are moved on it’s the canvas. It is not important what the actual object on surface is
e.x. “bottle”
or what color it has – only the shape and the placement of the object is of interest
e.x. “circle” .
So far I’m using a webcam connected to my computer and Processing’s blob functionality to detect the objects on the surface of the interface (see picture 1). This has some major disadvantages to what I am trying to accomplish:
I do not want the user to see the camera or any alternative device because this is detracting the user’s attention. Actually the surface should be completely dark.
Whenever I am reaching with my hand to rearrange the objects on the interface, the blob detection gets very busy and is recognizing objects (my hand) which are not touching the canvas directly. This problem can hardly be tackled using a Kinect, because the depth functionality is not working through glass/acrylic glass – correct me if I am wrong.
It would be nice to install a few LEDs on the canvas controlled by an Arduino. Unfortunately, the light of the LEDs would disturb the blob detection.
Because of the camera’s focal length, the table needs to be unnecessarily high (60 cm / 23 inch).
Do you have any idea on an alternative device/technology to detect the objects? Would be nice if the device would work well with Processing and Arduino.
Thanks in advance! :)
Possibilities:
Use Reflective tinted glass so that the surface would dark or reflective
Illuminate the area, where you place the webcam with array of IR LED's.
I would suggest colour based detection and contouring of the objects.
If you are using colour based detection convert frames to HSV and CrCb colour space. These are much better for segmentation of required area while using colour based detection.
I do recommend you to check out https://github.com/atduskgreg/opencv-processing. This interfaces Open-CV with processing, you will be getting lot functionalities of Open-CV in processing .
One possibility:
Use a webcam with infrared capability (such as a security camera with built-in IR illumination). Apparently some normal webcams can be converted to IR use by removing a filter, I have no idea how common that is.
Make the tabletop out of some material that is IR-transparent, but opaque or nearly so to visible light. (Look at the lens on most any IR remote control for an example.)
This doesn't help much with #2, unfortunately. Perhaps you can be a bit pickier about the size/shape of the blobs you recognize as being your objects?
If you only need a few distinct points of illumination for #3, you could put laser diodes under the table, out of the path of the camera - that should make a visible spot on top, if the tabletop material isn't completely opaque. If you need arbitrary positioning of the lights - perhaps a projector on the ceiling, pointing down?
Look into OpenCV. It's an open source computer vision project.
In addition to existing ideas (which are great), I'd like to suggest trying TUIO Processing.
Once you have the camera setup (with the right field of view/lens/etc. based on your physical constraints) you could probably get away with sticking TUIO markers to the bottom of your objects.
The software will pickup detect the markers and you'll differentiate the objects by ID, but also be able to get position/rotation/etc. and your hands will not be part of that.
I'm working on a project where we want to disable the three infrared LED's built into our Leap Motion controller so we can instead track an external infrared LED. We plan on determining the XYZ coordinates of this LED by applying triangulation to images pulled from our the controller's two sensors. I fear the functionality may be built into the board. Might it be possible to turn these three infared LED's off, while still being able to use the two sensors?
There's no way to turn the illuminator LEDs off through the API, config files or command line parameters. I'm not sure you need to, though. Have you tried seeing how visible your LED is under normal operating conditions? A small circle of retroreflective tape can also be used to create an easily visible dot in the sensor images.
If not, your only recourse might be to disable the LEDs physically. You would want to do that in a reversible manner, though, so that you could still recalibrate the sensors. Sparkfun did a teardown of a Leap Motion device, which shows how you might approach this task.
I have an idea of building a model traffic lights node with Arduino. One node should serve the whole intersection with all the lights from all directions.
I want to use a 1-wire DS2408 to identify the node by its factory set unique id and have its 8 IOs for different lights.
One node should have more lights (for difficult intersections more than 30-40).
I want to use some LED driver like MAX7219 or shift register like 74HC595 to extend these 8 IOs to 64.
Can something like this be done? Can I use DS2408 (1-Wire 8-Channel Addressable Switch) and extend its IOs?
Or what would you suggest?
I want to use this 1-wire protocol for better scalability and easy node addressing, let's say I want to build a model city with 100 intersections..
Thank you.
I have some old relays that controlls an hydraulic motor.
I want to control it with my Arduino. Is this possible?
The relays used are:
DIL 00 52 from klockner moeller.
this is the situation:
I have experience with the arduino but not that much about electrical schemas?
Is there someone that can help me?
Is this equipment functional now?
The part you have pictured looks like it is for an engine lathe, not a pump.
The amount of rust in the box and corrosion on the overloads and relay would make me think that it has run either outdoors, or in a corrosive environment for quite a while with the door open. Why would you run it with the door open?
Because you have to continually reset the overload and or adjust the timer, or tap on the contacts to get them to engage. Either way, this thing is a mess.
The relays you have shown will interface easily with your arduino, but I WOULD NOT replace what's in the cabinet with these.
The set up in this cabinet is for three phase power. The one on top is the main contactor, and the two side by side units are for reversing the motor. Something you don't want to do with a pump.
My advice to you is to find an electrician before going any further with the power end of this project.
it is possible but probably that relay won't fit the load.
You have to be sure to use relay that can sustain at least the same load and spike current (and voltage), or you many bad thing may happen, like melting togheder the relay contact or burn your house down.
i can't see the code on the relay in the second picture, neiter you had given the load information, so i can't help you more.