eldoradoboy Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 I'm looking at making a custom enclosure and led matrix out of my ribbons and just wondered if anyone has cut their ribbons and spliced them?It looks pretty easy to do..I figured I would use weatherpak connectors to plug my pieces together.Does lor sell additional end caps for the ribbons?Christopher Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davidt Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 Hi Christopher,I'm curious about this as well. I posted the following to one of the guys on the Australian LOR Forum a few days ago..."I'm wondering if you have tried switching on a single CCR pixel (3 x RGB LEDs). I'm curious as to how visible it would be if used behind some sort of diffuser. I think the diffuser would help spread the light a bit, even if it loses a bit of intensity. Looking at some of your videos, it looks like it might be ok if kept away from other bright lights.If it is bright enough my thoughts are to try using a CCR to build a 7 column by 7 row frame, with a diffuser, so that it could be used as a RGB selectable matrix (with one spare pixel left over), as per attached drawing.It would probably be a bit of a mongrel to sequence, using the current LOR S2 Sequence Editor, but might be quite effective.I also put together a concept drawing for a 10 x 10 matrix, using 2 x CCRs, if anyone is interested."Cheers,davidt, Australia Attached files Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eldoradoboy Posted January 21, 2010 Author Share Posted January 21, 2010 thats exactly the type of thing I was considering doing with the ribbons... as for the sequencing of it.. LightShow Pro has a built in matrix animation tool.. its creator made an 8x8 matrix out of D-light fireflies and diffused them.. my thoughts are I would probably use 4 ribbons in a 15x12 matrix which leaves 8 leftover pixels.... it would allow me decent effects... im not sure which way im going yet... I have ordered a matrix curtain by another company also that i'll soon have to play with..-Christopher Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rafter Bar R Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 If I understand how these pixels work. They have to be connected in a electrically series circuit. The controller sees the pixels in one line as in an uncut rope. The pixels need to be inline such as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, on up to 50. The sections would have to be "broken" at the solder points and connected by four wires, one for power, one for ground, and the other two for data. These would have to be connected as if the rope was one piece. At least this is how I understand these, then I could be wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eldoradoboy Posted January 21, 2010 Author Share Posted January 21, 2010 if I were to cut up a ribbon that is what I would do.... however note that the end of a CCR just has the 4 pads left open.. no returns on the circuits.. the IC's are addressable... since the numbers are not on the IC chip i dont know if this is runnong on an I2C or a SPI style bus.. but each IC runs 3 LED's (1 Pixel) so any cuts have to be made at the copper ends of a pixel..... and of course no more than 50 IC's in a single bus or you lose resolution and run the risk voltage drop-Christopher Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rafter Bar R Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 Someone started a topic on cutting up a CCR.http://lightorama.mywowbb.com/forum89/19356.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eldoradoboy Posted February 1, 2010 Author Share Posted February 1, 2010 jeff: yes i shouldve said shift registers instead of addressable because thats my guess how they are run... although they say if you connect 2 ribbons end to end it simply aggregates every 2 pixels together.. with shift registers im not sure how it would know to do that... I wish i knew what IC chip was used in the ribbon so get a better idea of what is being done... I may sniff the data lines and see what is being sent down the pipe just for fun.also there doesnt need to be a "link" from the end of one row to another.. I would simply build the matrix like:1 2 3 4 5 6 714 13 12 11 10 9 815 16 17 18 19 20 21and etc... as for the extra pixel.. I will use a number of ribbons that allows me to get an even grid...right now im tending to think that my ribbons will not be what I use for my matrix elements.. I really like what a ribbon can do in a wreath.. and I'll probably run at least one straight up the center of my mega-tree pole...the only place I might used them in a grid would be in my yard instead of the disco squares I ran for 2009... although thats probably not till 2011 for that...-Christopher Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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