Teensy 4.1 E1.31 receiver/controller

I'm interested in this @brianamos. If you're making more, please count me in. I like the idea of keeping the power distribution separate from the logic.
 
gregfaust said:
I'm interested in this @brianamos. If you're making more, please count me in. I like the idea of keeping the power distribution separate from the logic.
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Sorry for being MIA for a while. I haven't been getting update notifications, besides the busyness of life. I have had quite a few requests for this board from the PJRC forums, so I put them on tindie it'll be in stock soon, I'm just waiting for the package to arrive from china (it's in the air somewhere over the ocean right now).

I've also come up with an easy way to connect the signal and power to each individual strip. I have a few of these available, and an "improved" version coming with onboard fuses. Also on tindie. Once I get more of the adapter boards in i'll set up a way to buy the adapter and the splitter boards simultaneously to combine the shipping.

Brian
 
I also made this project as a backup for a Pixlite 16mk2 but with the Teensy I am already struggling to get 4 universes running smoothly. When I use the sketch with 32 ports and 680 pixels(each port) it only updates once every 0.5 seconds and the red led on top is blinking, I think because the Ethernet connection cannot handle the amount of data? but that's an Arduino library. Any thoughts? or people having the same problems?
 
UPdate: it also works with maximum amount of pins and leds 32x680=21.760pixels running TouchDesigner on 60 fps
Thanks @brianamos for writing this patch and making it open source
[video]https://www.facebook.com/100001564027310/videos/pcb.1929870587208391/1339023486628566[/video]
winfrednak said:
That certainly helps, still have to try with 32x680 pixels but will update here. For now it's running 5.440 pixels(=8x680) fine and without problems.

Thanks.
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Can someone answer a few questions for me? I recently received my teensy 4.1 with the added ethernet kit a few months ago to use on my holiday display.

1) How do I incorporate sACN Compatability in the code for teensy to receive pixel data via the attached w5500(J1B1211CCD)? The software I was planning to use is Vixen.

2) Now I understand the teensy 4.1 is supposed to be able to control a large number of pixels, but I hear a lot of talk about using that across all the supplied pins the board has. What if I wanted to control upwards of 1800 pixels on one pin in one long stretch of ws2815s? Is there a limitation to that number, and is that why there is talk of utilizing all the other pins? I know there is the octoboard which is where the OctoWs2811 library comes into play.

The plan in summary:
Play a vixen sequence on my pc in a bedroom, send data via ethernet port by cat5e cable to a switch, switch back out over another cable to teensy/ethernet adapter combo, teensy < than 1m to those 1800 pixels with power supplies at beginnings of all the strips.

Eventually though, I would like to add more pins to control strings close by the teensy. But idk how much wire distance I can get between the teensy and strips assuming it needs to be short.
 
bran97 said:
Can someone answer a few questions for me? I recently received my teensy 4.1 with the added ethernet kit a few months ago to use on my holiday display.

1) How do I incorporate sACN Compatability in the code for teensy to receive pixel data via the attached w5500(J1B1211CCD)? The software I was planning to use is Vixen.

2) Now I understand the teensy 4.1 is supposed to be able to control a large number of pixels, but I hear a lot of talk about using that across all the supplied pins the board has. What if I wanted to control upwards of 1800 pixels on one pin in one long stretch of ws2815s? Is there a limitation to that number, and is that why there is talk of utilizing all the other pins? I know there is the octoboard which is where the OctoWs2811 library comes into play.

The plan in summary:
Play a vixen sequence on my pc in a bedroom, send data via ethernet port by cat5e cable to a switch, switch back out over another cable to teensy/ethernet adapter combo, teensy < than 1m to those 1800 pixels with power supplies at beginnings of all the strips.

Eventually though, I would like to add more pins to control strings close by the teensy. But idk how much wire distance I can get between the teensy and strips assuming it needs to be short.
Click to expand...
When discussing string length, the conversation is all about refresh rate. A wS281x based protocol string can have an infinite number of pixels. However, the data rate on the WS281x pixels is 800Kbps. I like to use a 25ms refresh rate (aka Real Motion to your eye). At 25ms you can refresh about 780 pixels in 25ms. I like to limit that to 600 because the delay between the first pixel getting updated and the last pixel in the string getting updated is visible to the eye when the pixels are in close proximity.

The next most popular refresh rate id 50ms. This means you can refresh a string of 1560 pixels and get reasonable performance but you cannot get smooth motion and the delay between first pixel updated and last pixel updated is very visible if the two are near each other (or I am just too picky). So yes you can get to your 1800 pixels in a string but you pay for it in the refresh rate and visual smoothness of the string.
 
Thanks for your reply! So maybe a teensy 4.1 isn't in my best interest for cost savings that is. Then again, they are only about $45 a piece. So, maybe instead try to split that up into 3 controllers along the length of led strips to keep the refresh smooth which is priority for me.

But as for the code, is the code Brian amos supplied earlier in this forum the best option for my display over ethernet using sacn/e131? If so, I just need to learn to use it because I haven't gotten it to work for my setup yet. I am by no means an expert in coding but trying to learn. Thankful there is a community out there that is willing to work together with these fun projects!
 
ESPixelstick V4 supports up to 6 ports over WiFi or Ethernet. It also supports playing from a local SD card so you can significantly reduce network traffic and network latency. An ESP32 D1 Mini such as that from QuinLed would do what you need and stay at a lower price per port than you mentioned.
 
I typically recommend that every GPIO pin has a buffer within 10cm. A data buffer will regenerate the tll signal to get you 5m between the buffer and the first pixel.
 
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