Small, hardy MCU for USB and LED control

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iainduncan
 
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Small, hardy MCU for USB and LED control

Post by iainduncan »

Hi folks, I just got a hold of some aerotech globalls, programmable juggling balls with multi-coloured LEDs in them, which can have a program downloaded over USB. Now I have a hankering to make more programmable LED objects to put in the show. I'm wondering if anyone can comment on which MCU or kit would be most appropriate for:

A) easiest to get started and make some things work that don't need to be small and hardy
or
B) best to make something that fits in a very small form factor where the combination of board, usb plug, leds, and battery could all fit in a space about 1 to 1.5" cubed.

I've programmed in C, C++, and old Microchip Assembly ( 16xxx and 18xxx) but have never anything on the platforms on here.

Thanks!

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adafruit_support_rick
 
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Re: Small, hardy MCU for USB and LED control

Post by adafruit_support_rick »

The FLORA might work for you:
http://www.adafruit.com/category/92

iainduncan
 
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Re: Small, hardy MCU for USB and LED control

Post by iainduncan »

Thanks! The Gemma or Flora look great. Do you know whether it would be suitable to be able to do all of the following:

- power a superbright led or 3
- charge a small battery over the usb plug
- be able to download data into some memory over usb?

thanks for the help!

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adafruit_support_rick
 
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Re: Small, hardy MCU for USB and LED control

Post by adafruit_support_rick »

iainduncan wrote:- power a superbright led or 3
The NeoPixels are pretty bright:
http://www.adafruit.com/products/1260
The FLORA can easily handle three of them.
iainduncan wrote:- charge a small battery over the usb plug
The FLORA does not have a charging circuit. However, we have separate charger boards which can charge a battery from USB power. This one has connections for both the FLORA and a battery. It will automatically switch between charging the battery and allowing the battery to power the FLORA
http://www.adafruit.com/products/259
iainduncan wrote:- be able to download data into some memory over usb?
I'm not sure I understand - download memory from where to where?

iainduncan
 
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Re: Small, hardy MCU for USB and LED control

Post by iainduncan »

Hi Rick, thanks again. Exciting! Ok, what I'm building myself is a programmable prop. The one's I want to copy allow one to download a sequence into the prop over usb. So the firmware for the ball's mcu can interface with an app on an external computer and receive a data file, store it in memory, and then run it. I realize this will be complex coding and will need a driver app coded up on the PC, I'm ok with that as my coding is strong, it's my electronics that are newbie.

I suppose alternately I can embed the data sequence ( lights and delays ) right into the executing code. I haven't mucked about with USB stuff yet so sorry if these are silly questions!

Iain

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adafruit_support_rick
 
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Re: Small, hardy MCU for USB and LED control

Post by adafruit_support_rick »

These mcu's don't have an operating system, and don't have any sort of mass storage system for you to load sequence files into.

The typical approach is your alternate suggestion of embedding the sequence right in the code.

iainduncan
 
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Re: Small, hardy MCU for USB and LED control

Post by iainduncan »

Cool, thanks for the tips!

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