Package Includes:
* 1000 ft. of Category 5e Ethernet Cable (uncapped)
* 100 pcs. RJ-45 connectors (packed inside cable box)
* RJ-45 Crimper (packed inside cable box)
* RJ-45/BNC tester (packed inside cable box)
This tree is made out of a small tomato cage wrapped with 4 - 150 ct mini light strings. Different colors, Red, Blue, Green and White. The demo rolls through several effects made possible with the Vixen2.0 sequence engine and controlled by the Renard64 Controller. This is the first tree of 5-7. There is a larger version that has 4 300 ct mini string, same color pattern. These will be grouped togeather as part of color effect and motion visual.
Tonight I finished all 3 of the Ledtricks controllers and snapped together the DB25 to RJ45 connector. I don’t yet have any way to test it since I haven’t started building the matrix. I thought about setting something up on the breadboard but I think that would take more time then it is worth! The boards look great.
For some reason I had to reinstall of the arial fonts to c:\windows\fonts\
I zipped up all of the arial fonts from another XP box and reinstalled the missing ones. Vixen worked well after that.
The Ledtricks UI is pretty slick. I still need to play with it for a while. Not sure how to control the Ledtricks sign from the sequence. I may have to learn the Vixen script to do it… Getting excited about this years display, however all the time spent tweaking last year’s setup is still fresh in my mind. Glad I am using some new hardware to get a fresh take on things! There are some great ideas coming out of the DIY Christmas site right now!
wjohn had such an awesome board for the ledtricks controller, I followed up with him on the SSR boards. He has taken the Sean Co-OP board and made it smaller and cheaper.
I was able to get it at $1 a board with minimal shipping from AUS. I placed an order for 50.
Last year I built 8 of these boards with out PCB. I was very time consuming, but they were small and effective. This board from wjohn is also smaller then Sean’s board so I can stick with my prior method of water proofing the boards…
I am starting to get excited about the work I have coming up on the 2007 display!
I placed the order for parts to populate the 3 Ledtricks control boards. Each board not including the chip ordered from King Electronics came in at $21. The MBI chip (from King’s) adds another $1 to it.
Also I ordered the PicKit2 USB Programmer. I have been looking at that for months as noted in a post to the projects blog last year. In addition to that I picked up some extra PIC16F688 chips to play with. This is the chip that is in most of the Renard designs. I would like to breadboard the Renard 8 to get an idea how it works and what I can do with it.
I still need to determine how to get the 2500 LEDs required to populate the matrix for 3 controllers.
I got the 3 PCB boards in the mail today from wjohn. Very high quality. I am excited to work with professional PCB this year rather then my method last year of point to point. Not working with PCBs took HOURs and HOURs, so the extra cost will be well worth the time saved.
The PCBs are sharp! Thanks wjohn.
I built an order list for my Mouser account. Ready to order for this project, however I also need to order a PICKIT2 and parts to make several different size programmer boards. Will be using a part Nuts and Volts article for a guide on creating the programmer sockets. I will need it to get started with the Renard or Firegod style PIC controlled dimmers. Still up in the air in regard to what technology will compliment or replace the Horning 32 channel Dimmer I built last year.
As noted in the document for the Ledtricks constructions, the Allegro A6279EA-T is hard to find in small order lots. Per the suggestion of the doc from wjohn I placed an order with King Electronics for the MBI (GN: P-DIP24-300-2.54) chip rather then Allegro. For 3 boards I only need 9, but the shipping was flat rate of $10 and the parts were $1 each so I picked up 12. I will order the rest of the parts from Mouser sometime this week. I like to source from Jameco, however the build of Materials list is setup for Mouser and the specific parts are known to work… So I am going to go with Mouser.
All parts except for the LEDs are in stock. Again per the doc it is suggested the LEDs come from a web site in Hong Kong in lots of 1000. The LEDs are $20/1000 but shipping is very $$. Hoping to split shipping costs with someone local to help off set. Currently the price can’t be beat and the specific LEDs suggested have been tested with the hardware.
The Ledtricks Project is a 16×48 pixel LED Matrix sign that is parallel port controlled by Vixen 2.0. I am not sure when this project started however I will be getting 3 control boards and enough supplies to build 3 panels. The current system will support 4 panels from a single parallel port.
Details: http://www.christmasinshirley.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=194
I have ordered 3 PCB Control boards from wjohn in Australia. He had a lot of 25 made up based on the V6.0 design. For 3 PCBs with shipping and Paypal costs I am in for $30. Parts to populated the boards are around $70. About 2500 LEDs will be $60-80. Per a dive club friend a similar size commercial board starts at $3500.
I have not yet figured out the total size of the sign. I may only build two of the panels and save the 3rd for later.
I am in for 40 PCBs that have 4 SSR channels. These boards will be compatiable with either Renard or Firegod controllers. Last year I built SSR boards from scratch using proto board and point to point wiring. Looking forward to doing it the easy way. Based on the number of boards being ordered, the cost may be as low as $1.30/ board. The cost to populate each board is around $10 using Mouser parts. I think I can source it cheaper with Jameco. I will have to figure that out once the boards get here.
I hope to have 128 channels this year, so 32 boards will cover that, with an extra 8 for something else. Also I still have my SSR boards from last year as well. They were very stable. The new boards are bigger so they won’t fit into my wire proof junction boxes. Not sure yet how I will water proof the new ones.