[DIY] Amblight project/guide - Hyperion - WS2801/ WS2812B / APA102 (4 Viewers)

[TheBatfink]

From the image I viewed, the capacitor actually bridges the +/- of the LED strip so isn't 'between' the supply and the strip.. they both (supply and cap) connect directly to the strip +/- input?

Or have I misunderstood?

If I connect more than one +5v to the strip directly from the supply, should I use a cap on each of these connections?

Thanks!

 

[Rick164]

Found the diagrams here the most clear:

http://www.tweaking4all.com/hardware/arduino/arduino-ws2812-led/

They use an 470 Ohm resistor in that example and Adafruit recommends adding an 1000 µF, 6.3V or higher capacitor to the power lines (red/black).
Skipped the capacitor myself and runs without issues though.

 

[TheBatfink]

Do you know what Watt the resistor should be?

 

[Lightning303]

Its a signal wire and therefore not carring any significant current. Standard 1/4W resistor is fine.

 

[TheBatfink]

Looks like it came with one then. It was 4m and has plugs on both ends and a power plug. I'm curious though reading the guide where you tell it how many LEDS are on the vertical and how many horizontal, or doesn't that matter?

 

[Rick164]

You will need to know the amount of leds per side as otherwise it doesn't know which led goes where, they have an tool to create an config which already fills that in correctly for you:

Link: https://github.com/tvdzwan/hyperion/wiki/Configuration
DL: https://raw.github.com/tvdzwan/hypercon/master/deploy/HyperCon.jar

Can also tweak various settings in there as well like delays / color corrections but you can always compare them to the sample configs in the first post and see what works best.

 

[TheBatfink]

Thanks Just installing all the stuff onto the rPI and Arduino. What's your preferred method for powering the rPI. USB or have you rigged it to the 5v power supply on the LEDs and Arduino?

 

[Rick164]

Currently using the usb brick supplied by rPi myself but an powered USB hub would do as well, combining it with the power supply of the leds is possible but you might have a small change of interference I think.

 

[TheBatfink]

OK thanks, will have to get a micro usb cable. And I assume you power the Arduino with the leds? I notice a dc jack on the end of the strip which fits the arduino nicely.

Thanks. I'm trying to avoid three more plugs!

 

[Rick164]

The Arduino is powered by the rPI as an usb cable is already needed to connect those for data input
With the video capture solutions its a bit of a cable mess but without that you would only need to power the rPI and leds + one usb cable for the Arduino and rPI connection.