Arduino Project

[chawalang]

I have a some questions about a project that I want to use an arduino for. I want to make a dmx controlled light saber with LED's in it. I am going to use the below video for connecting the LED's to a power supply and the only difference is instead of using the controller in the video I would like to have it DMX controlled through wireless DMX so that the colors can be mixed from a console, RGB and a strobe.

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I would assume I would need to use a DMX shield like the one in the below link to transmit dmx to the language that the arduino speaks.

http://www.dxsoul.com/product/dmx-shield-for-arduino-blue-901419852

My questions is what arduino would be recommended to be between the DMX shield and the LED's for what I want to do? Like I said I am just looking to do RGB and a strobe channel. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[Mac Hosehead]

There are Arduino-compatible microprocessors that have built-in wireless and have been programmed to control pixels with DMX over WiFi.
http://forkineye.com/espixelstick/
I have a feeling, however, that it is more complexity than you need or want.

Since it looks like space is a consideration, how about something like this?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/6A-72W-3-Ch...574825?hash=item5d61e855e9:g:k~YAAOSw8gVX6eYf
It looks like you have to start at DMX 1 and strobing would be with DMX.

To make it wireless, you could add something like this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Wireles...950475?hash=item25afd7e08b:g:68UAAOSw5VFWJkiM
I have used these before and they work pretty well. One board can work as a transmitter or a receiver.

 

[porkchop]

If you're going to use wireless DMX why not just buy a wireless dimmer and be done with it? Why add the additional failure points involved in using an arduino?

 

[n1ist]

If space is an issue, just use an ESP8266 module. You can find both e.131 to DMX and e.131 to LED pixel firmware over on the Christmas lighting boards. They can be programmed in the Arduino environment and are much smaller than an Uno plus shield.

 

[Swade White]

I have a feeling your project is going to be very similar to the 2017 Super Bowl halftime show when the people on the field held those "candles". If I remember right, they were controlled through wireless DMX.

 

[RC4Wireless]

We do a ton of work for the Super Bowl, but not in the half-time this year. In any case, the NFL has the most specific and defined wireless spectrum management rules of any customer we have. It is absolutely disallowed to do anything in the 2.4GHz wireless band at the Super Bowl. The entire 2.4G spectrum is reserved for "patron services" i.e. wide area Cisco WiFi for the people in the seats. And custom content they can feed to your iPad or whatever, live as part of the show, is breathtaking.

So... would love to know more about whatever wireless dimming was used. There are a couple of companies making very cool bracelets, bouncing balls, and other things in large volumes. It's not DMX, it's intended to be very low cost for large quantities; of course there are tradeoffs to deal with. One of those systems use infra-red control to avoid using any RF spectrum.

If you're looking for DMX controlled wireless dimming, that's our world at RC4. We even have a device with an I2C port for use with an Arduino. In that case, you don't need the DMX sheild, our thing receiveS wireless, and makes THE DMX universe available to you like a ROM where each memory address from 0 - 511 always contains the current level of the correllated DMX channel (CH 1 - 512 = ADDR 0 - 511). It's a ROM emulator so you can use common existing drivers to access it effortlessly.

But you really don't need the Arduino at all. A basic wireless dimmer will directly drive the LEDs (and other stuff) in your sabers.

Jim
RC4 Wireless
www.theatrewireless.com (product information)
www.wirelessdimming.com (project portfolio)

 

[Morte615]

Random add in here, Disney uses IR for the Glow with the Show stuff. The ears, wands, hands, ect that change color to match the show that is going on. There are places online where people have figured out the IR codes to most of the settings. The transmitter is a small box that is hung in the area and the receiver is in the item. It can flash changes pretty quickly and you have a large range of options to use. Mix those options and you can make them do just about anything.

 

[chawalang]

Thank you for all of the thoughts everyone, it gives me a good idea about how I can go about doing this. I will post a video when it gets done.