WS2811 on Steroids

[@erwinredl6454]

It's an absolute pleasure and honor working with Leo...

[@inotoff]

love the simplicity of the design and its complexity at the same time. Thank you for sharing.

[@keithcroshaw]

Cool! I've been looking into making my own individually addressable bollard lights to place throughout the yard.

[@leyasep5919]

A simulation and link to the circuit on www.falstad.com/circuit/circuitjs.html would be awesome :-)

[@Dukey8668]

I'm very glad to have found your channel - you have some of the best actual engineering work I have seen on youtube.

[@imdbtruth]

I really enjoyed the video! I love LEDs and tinkering with addressable, but I only wish I understood these things 1/10th as good as you! But hey, at least I'll watch it several times and pick up what I'm able... I also subscribed to your channel because I want to try to learn more. Your talents are admirable. PS - For a chip that's higher than 8-Bit and better dimming effects, maybe the GS8208 with 12-Bit Gamma Correction would've been more seamless? UCS even came out with a 16-Bit chip called the UCS8903, but I think it was only released a year or two ago.

[@qwaqwa1960]

Lovely project. Though you never explain the advantage of using that LED controller chip. Cuz it's pennies? Could've used a µC with a higher-res PWM and saved, what, up to 1/2 W heat dissipation? I know...always a million ways to do stuff like this...

[@Morbuto]

Thank you for taking the time to document the project and the beautiful circuit design, it was a joy to watch and learn 😄

[@martintatak8851]

Very clever use of the chip! Always fascinates me when someone thinks outside of a box and use parts in a new way. Good job!

[@zaprodk]

Seems like a lot of work to "hack" the WS2811 to do the job when a microntroller could have done the same and cost the same. And then run all devices on RS485 alone.

[@leosbagoftricks3732]

That requires 344 RS-485 nodes, which is really pushing the bus loading limits.

[@FRobot-rx4kz]

This is brilliant, thank you for sharing. I wonder whether it would also be possible to just use the voltage to current approach, but just mix two PWM ouputs ( like in a dac with weighted resitors) 🤔. Also why did you choose the bc807 as a output transistor? (I assume the relatively high collector current?)

[@ElectraFlarefire]

Brilliant! Love the simplicity of this. Been building a system based around these chips and RS485 transceivers for a few thousand LED project. This will fit in very well with that community art project. I've going to try making a Warm White/Cold White dual channel module based on your ideas and see how they play out. Love using standard protocols like this as it means you can use off the shelf lighting control systems and hand that side over to the artists. :)

[@Enigma758]

6:04 "Prameter"

[@FielVal]

Thanks I need your brain though

[@donkuruppu4799]

Thanks

[@SaftTechnologies]

Thank you for the incredibly detailed video It gives me a lot of inspiration. I'm curious about something. It seems like choosing to use a bite for duty cycle and another bite for current is over the complicated. Did you consider using all three bites for the duty cycle and performing some sort of gamma correction and software? Thank you for the time you've invested in this wonderful video.

[@leofernekes343]

The only way that might work is to add another PWM generator to get finer timing resolution, no savings in complexity there, that would be far more complex.

[@relephonus]

where is the funy wensheng

[@arduinosynod1571]

Great voice and narration

[@robstorms]

Thanks !!

[@juliannesermon8057]

It's amazing that you share your trade secrets like that, but also very much appreciated

[@perwestermark8920]

Curious - why the digging for the wires? Where I live, lots of cables are quickly plowed into the ground. Quicker, cheaper and the grass is almost not affected. Was there lots of stones in the ground blocking the use of cable plows?

[@lebasson]

Fascinating explanation. For me there's a lot to unpack here but your explanation is an excellent guide to me. Thanks for taking the time. For what it's worth, this style of video is much appreciated!

[@thecasualengineer99]

Just looking though the comments below, lot of wifi fans. Radio based systems bring their own issues, including permits for anything not WiFI and of course, what EMI might be present that made a radio based choice unreliable with the timings you needed? I am an old radio tech and can vouch for the radios not always being 100% and no clash management other than peoples discipline with the radio transmitter. @leosbagoftricks - although not mentioned, did you do an RF survey of the area?

[@TravelRoads]

Awesomeness. Well done, Leo. Fantastic video. The installation is so beautiful :)

[@logansmith4168]

How do you individually address each unique fixture?

[@leosbagoftricks3732]

Each Wave Generator has a unique address- set via dipswitch

[@gustavohdz.m.8048]

This just motivates me to keep learning electronics. I loved this! From 0 to completion of a project, the detailed explanation of the circuit, the pace of the video. Gosh, I didn't even feel it like 14 minutes!

[@surenbono6063]

..how do I implants these chips to make each solar cells more efficient in serial connections..? Hopefully it could handle heat ...

[@RoyvanLierop]

You have a very easy to follow and clear talking voice. You seem to take the time and don't rush the words out.

[@yuxuanhuang3523]

WOW. I was just wondering how to use this chip to drive higher currents, thanks

[@VEC7ORlt]

Its one of those projects where if you have a few of something its just boring, but when you have a hundred or more you can do amazing things with it.

[@ПавелАндреев-р7х]

А легкий газ? - Охладитель - радиатор. Мощность возрастет многократно.

[@ludditetechnologies]

Transition to brightest in the cycle evokes physical sensation in me.

[@StubbyPhillips]

Life is too short to still be putting up with 8 bits of anything.

[@Protoex]

@9:59 I don't fully understood how R3 and D1 was able to turn Q1 off. I would expect at most 11.2 V at Q1 base, therefore producing around 20mA at output (Assuming max duty for OUTR). I also checked some basic simulation, and no successes turning Q1 off. Can you help me shed some light on it, please?

[@leosbagoftricks3732]

Assume you have 2.9 Volts over C1, (max duty cycle) which sets Q2s base at 9.1V. Q2's emitter will be ~ 600mv more = 9.7V. The diode D1 is chosen for its very low Vf, about 200 mV @ 2 mA. Thus the current through R3, D1, R6 = (12- (9.7 +.2) = 2.1V over 680 ohms, or about 3.08 mA. Now consider Q1s Vbe, (120 ohms @ 3.08 mA plus the diodes 200 mv) = 570 mV, not high enough to turn Q1 on.

[@Protoex]

@@leosbagoftricks3732 thank you. I would like to see more in depth material about your analog circuit design techniques. This diode reminds me about a voltage zeroing feature on the Tank Friend. Very creative.

[@q12x]

Very nice project !

[@stevenbliss989]

There was another channel that did something like this. Was there a multi vendor "quoting" round for this stuff????

[@CesarAnton]

thanks for the tips!

[@jakubtrzpis2595]

Impressive design

[@wader669]

wouldn't art-net through WiFi with a ESP8266 or ESP32 be enough for the data transfer?

[@leosbagoftricks3732]

Imagine trying to keep this artwork functioning for 5 years at a remote site. Simple old school reliability.

[@wader669]

@@leosbagoftricks3732 fair enough. Thought it's a mobile setup

[@lambda7652]

Very Elegant and optimized solution!

[@lambda7652]

But maybe to Elegant? I would have used a 16ch 10-50mA chip with 7-8 digital global current control and 16bit PWM. Just parallel them an YOLO.

[@leosbagoftricks3732]

The wiring on the trees gets messy with a multi channel LED driver chip- the 3-wire data and power bus scheme keeps it simple and clean.

[@lambda7652]

@@leosbagoftricks3732 I meant one 16ch chip per segment with all its channels paralleled. in this case it would be power data and clock. one wire more or if you would use symmetric lines 2 wires more.

[@llibressal]

Holy crap that was a lot of work reinventing the wheel. You could have just built a wireless DMX system to talk to DMX-ws2811 nodes. It's all of-the shelf, plug and play gear. Programming time would be about 6 minutes with a professional lighting controller talking to a DMX recorder. Easy peasy.

[@ugetridofit]

Though a clever use of the IC, i have to say it was a total waste of time. There are 8 pin IC's dedicated for doing this very thing.

[@leosbagoftricks3732]

Please share the part number!

[@thomasvnl]

Nice for F-ing up the local eco system

[@marklimbrick]

It's such a shame when really clever guys work together as a team, solve problems creatively. Some of the Redl lights are so well thought out and executed. But the end project here is only a vanity exercise in consumer waste. I mean so much of the world has no reliable lighting at all, yet here a massive expenditure and effort produce some wonky candy bars wrapped around ornamental trees. Like oil dynasties and celebrities with their gold-plated baths and doorknobs.

[@Morbuto]

That’s like saying “finish your plate there’s starving children in Africa”. Not building this art project doesn’t give light somewhere else. Arguably the wide adoption of LED lighting everywhere has made solar powered cheap lighting setups now widely used in the third world possible.

[@marklimbrick]

@@Morbuto ok, finish your plate there's starving children in Africa. Your waste is their catastrophe. LED lights are part of a growing consumption of product and energy.

[@plainedgedsaw1694]

@@marklimbrick because they're being made unreliable, on purpose. Also, true intellectuals would silver plate their stuff, for the Antibacterial properties...

[@perwestermark8920]

If you are a wood worker and get a request for a fence or a carport - does that mean that you failed to give someone in a third world country a home? Building that fence gives you an income to feed you and your family.

[@CocktaiLMolotovX]

you participate to destroy butterfly and moth, by using artficial light, same as the city made, by disturbing their false perception of daylight. Nice electronic project, but artist view is not alaways compatible with nature respect.