WIFI controlled/Sound reactive LED strips

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pxhandley
 
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WIFI controlled/Sound reactive LED strips

Post by pxhandley »

Hi, I'm beginning work on a project (first one so maybe a bit ambitious!) to combine a couple of Adafruit projects to construct a programmable RGB LED strip, that's sound reactive as well as controllable by Wifi...and battery powered. Where to start...

1. What would the best base module be for this? Arduino or Raspberry?
2. Is Wifi the best connection or would Bluetooth work better?
3. How much power would this require? Looking at 2m of 60/m LED strips...maybe a longer strip in future. Lithium Ion Polymer 1200mAh?
4. Could multiple, separate units be controlled from a single place? Like a phone or website

...is this possible anyway??

As I said, first project but have help with the programming side so it's mainly the electronics that I need to learn!

Cheers! Pete

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Franklin97355
 
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Re: WIFI controlled/Sound reactive LED strips

Post by Franklin97355 »

1. Depending on the actual goal of the project probably using a combination of both would be best.
2. Depends on the distances and the amount of data you need to send (and it's type)
3. Depends on what else you have connected to the battery and how long you want it to run 1200mah is not alot for this type of project.
4 That's possible but it depends on the phone app as to what you can accomplish.
Pete wrote:...is this possible anyway??
Yes it's possible but as a first project it's really ambitious.
If you could give more detail it would help to refine the answers. Have fun, get an Arduino and a RasPi and start small while you learn.

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pxhandley
 
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Re: WIFI controlled/Sound reactive LED strips

Post by pxhandley »

Thanks for the reply! I've been playing around with a Raspberry for a little while, mainly just home entertainment stuff but spreading out now. I realise it's pretty ambitious!
I see it as a combination of:
https://learn.adafruit.com/gemma-powere ... s/overview
and
https://learn.adafruit.com/wifi-control ... anzaa-tree

1. My aim is to illuminate a drumline, so between 6 and 15 separate units, so having them work together would be very advantageous.
2. The data would be anything from basic colour/pulse/brightness settings to potentially a short, pre-defined programme for the lights to work through
3. The battery would have to power the lights and module (so wifi and mic amp)
4. Ideally I'll get a friend to write a little app to control the lights, though a laptop/server or combo would also work well.

Can you think of an existing project that may already have tackled some of these?

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pburgess
 
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Re: WIFI controlled/Sound reactive LED strips

Post by pburgess »

Raspberry Pi + WiFi + FadeCandy! Maybe not the cheapest approach, but all the nastiest engineering parts are then covered, and one can focus on writing the host-side control software (Win/Mac/Android/pretty much anything).

I can't say for certain what the latency would be like...there's a chance they might not be perfectly in sync, but maybe good enough to fool our brains. Maybe test on a small scale first...make 1 or 2 simplified prototypes, put some distance between them, and choke the bandwidth a bit by simultaneously downloading cat videos or something.

Recently added a guide to the Learning System (LED curtain) that includes some steps on setting up the Fadecandy server on Pi. The shutdown button code might also be helpful.

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