3³ LED Cube

[justDIY]

Seeing as how the end of the year is almost here, and my blog has been idle since July, I felt I needed to write something before 2008.

Inspired by a project on Make a few months ago, I whipped up a little led cube matrix toy thingy.



Check out the rest of the entry here http://projects.dimension-x.net/archives/114 ... there's even some videos

[minster9]

 :)That's kinda neat. Always liked any project that shows investment of time,ability,and an artistic touch. Wish I knew about controllers & how to use them.

[jlforester]

That's cool...have you seen this website?

http://www.hypnocube.com/

I bought their 4x4x4 RGB cube kit last year.  Very cool stuff.  They've got some other projects going too.

[justDIY]

one of the guys who designed the hypnocube is/was a member on these boards... I think he posted maybe 2 or 3 times

the hypnocube is nice, but it pales in comparison to this:

http://www.nw.com/nw/projects/brc/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDTWe_Q9b2U

brc specs:
The total power required if everything is at maximum brightness is around 4500W.

A 240v/30A circuit is required to operate the BRC. This is converted to 10vdc at 400A by 4 power supplies.

there is also something called the BorgCube on youtube, very impressive

[jlforester]

The NW guys were selling strings of the lights like they use in the BRC, calling them 'Triklits'.  Apparently, they had some manufacturing problems and stopped selling them until they can get a new batch made.  That was probably a year ago.  Their website is interesting as they give all the details how the lights work, now to hack them, and some insight on some other things they're working on.

Video of Triklits: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8zmgBIiB2I
Triklits website: http://nw.com/nw/triklits/

240V @30A to run LEDs.  Heh... my clothes dryer is on a circuit like that.

[minimum]

I just recently inquired them about the Triklits. Unfortunately, they still have problems.

[BVnursery]

Triklites according to some of the statements made on their website is a legal action just waiting to happen.

[justDIY]

$100 for a 20 count string of rgb lights?  That doesn't make any sense!  Is it the novelty of their proprietary 1-wire protocol, which isn't the same as the "1-Wire Protocol TM Dallas Semiconductor"?  Is it the ping pong ball glued on the end?

I recently purchased 50 rgb leds off a popular online auction site for $20 including shipping, I don't know about using the 1 wire protocol, but RS485 is simple enough and only takes 2 wires.  Dedicating a microcontroller to each led seems like overkill too,  I guess it was chosen to keep the amount of wire used to a minimum.  Even grouping the leds in pairs would shave the costs down a lot, without adding a huge mess of wiring - a 14 pin uC costs less than two eight pin.