Comments on: Fnordlicht: RGB mixing LED light

By: Mutant\">

Mutant\"> — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 00:49:25 +0000

Mutant”>

By: a2ron

a2ron — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 17:36:14 +0000

I actually love this project. I am relating the idea to something NASA did regarding greenhouses using only LED lighting systems due to the low power, high intensity and long life of the LED. I would love to expand on this idea to become a larger project. From what I’ve seen regarding LED lighting systems designed for greenhouses, they can get quite expensive (ex/350$US to effectively light a 4×4 area)…

Thanks for this post!

By: Shorty

Shorty — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 00:22:17 +0000

Well the RS485 is not yet DMX512 but if possible we will make it DMX512. The fnordlicht can also be controlled by Infrared RC5 Codec. These Infrared signals can be send by the Etherrape -> http://www.lochraster.org/etherrape. It is also planned for the Eterrape to be able to send DMX512 but there is nothing implemented yet.

By: tyggerjai

tyggerjai — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 05:42:14 +0000

I can't see a good reason for using rs-485 other than DMX-512, so hopefully that's it.

Bhima - rs-485 is used by DMX-512, which is the ubiquitous protocol for controlling lights (and other devices) in theatres, rock concerts, etc. There are cheap USB->rs-485 converters, and every piece of equipment you buy for doing lighting in a theatre (intelligent lights, dimmers, smoke machines) will have a 3 or 5 pin plug designed to carry rs-485-based DMX-512. DMX-512 predates USB, don't ask why it doesn't use rs-232 :)

In other words, if you have a theatre lighting console, you can hopefully just plug these things in and control them like any other theatre light. If not, you may not be the target market.

jai.
.

By: strider_mt2k

strider_mt2k — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 02:19:33 +0000

as always let’s hope something heavy falls on good ol’ steve. :|

By: Michael

Michael — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 12:27:02 +0000

So would the flavor RS-485 this uses be DMX-512? This would make this project very exciting for people interested in building RGB mixing lights for theatre purposes. My German is a bit rusty, but good hack!

By: Bhima

Bhima — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 12:23:33 +0000

Oh this is a fine idea. I really like the use of RS-485 because thats so common. There must be like 6 of those ports on the back of my Mac. Oh wait I’m thinking of USB… Why in the world wouldn’t they just use USB?

By: Jotux

Jotux — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 10:36:44 +0000

#3: This board uses an atmega8…which is the microcontroller on the arduino. The arduino is great and all, but it’s more of a learning/hobby platform. Once you’re used to embedded development you skip the fluff and use the bare chip (which is a lot cheaper than using a development board).

By: andrew

andrew — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 06:42:00 +0000

#3: that’s a bit like saying “why not just use a pic?” it’s personal preference.

By: proteus1935

proteus1935 — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 04:29:28 +0000

Lightning hacks are great! Specially if they got FNORD in their names =D

By: Gh0sTly

Gh0sTly — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 01:04:32 +0000

Steve, I happen to find this to be quite the neat hack. You dont like it, then dont post a comment.

By: YourNameHere

YourNameHere — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 00:13:45 +0000

Why not just use an Arduino?

By: twistedsymphony

twistedsymphony — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 23:56:59 +0000

LED hacks are usually cheap but this one is quite cool. If the circuit manages to compensate for the variations in range and intensity of the different colors to make a smooth blend then I’d call it one of the best RGB LED hacks I’ve seen.

I made a similar device years ago but it needed so much tweaking to balance out the differences in the colors that I disassembled it and went on to something else.

By: steve

steve — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 22:57:23 +0000

leds are rubbish get some decent hacks on this site for god sake