Glad to be here
- Thread starter beckyas
- Start date
Welcome! It is a crazy hobby for those just starting and those who go all out. I like the technical challenges and tinker more than do. Find what makes you happy and just do as much of that as you can.
I would skip the common arduinos (Uno, Mega, etc) if I was starting. It almost always ends up with mechanical relays and those don't fair well over all. If want something similar, do a ESP32. It is fairly powerful micro and can be programmed much like a arduino if that is why you are starting there. The ESP32 can drive some relays (go with SSRs that are not zero cross if you go relay style) but also excels at running pixels. Vixen has a builtin visualizer so you can see the sequence run on the screen. Download it and start to play!
On the https://auschristmaslighting.com site, you can find what is called the 101 manual. It has lots of "getting started" info and is an excellent resource to get up to speed on various aspects of the hobby.
I would skip the common arduinos (Uno, Mega, etc) if I was starting. It almost always ends up with mechanical relays and those don't fair well over all. If want something similar, do a ESP32. It is fairly powerful micro and can be programmed much like a arduino if that is why you are starting there. The ESP32 can drive some relays (go with SSRs that are not zero cross if you go relay style) but also excels at running pixels. Vixen has a builtin visualizer so you can see the sequence run on the screen. Download it and start to play!
On the https://auschristmaslighting.com site, you can find what is called the 101 manual. It has lots of "getting started" info and is an excellent resource to get up to speed on various aspects of the hobby.
In addition to Vixen be sure to have a look at xLights.
Regarding hardware also have a look at Scott Hanson's DIY controllers. They are BBB and Raspberry PI based Linux controllers (not Arduino) that can drive small or large displays.
github.com
Regarding hardware also have a look at Scott Hanson's DIY controllers. They are BBB and Raspberry PI based Linux controllers (not Arduino) that can drive small or large displays.
GitHub - computergeek1507/PB_16: Open source FPP PB16 Pixel Controller
Open source FPP PB16 Pixel Controller. Contribute to computergeek1507/PB_16 development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com