jelledebock 0 Posted December 19, 2014 Share Posted December 19, 2014 Hi I want to make a network controlled WiFi strip and was looking for solutions. I ran across the classical "Mosfet RGB trick" and so on. I also saw that Pololu provided a more a less plug and play solution for these led strips. https://github.com/pololu/pololu-led-strip-arduino . I downloaded the source and just tried "compile" in Energia, of course it was complaining ;-). It complained about <EEPROM.h> which I changed by the MspFlash library, then it complained it couldn't find the _enable_irq() and _disable_irq() methods which I changed by _enable_interrupt() and _disable_interrupt(). I also did the following includes. #include "Energia.h" #include <msp430.h> #include <legacymsp430.h> So basically after some trial and error, basically including the right libraries and changing some names I compiled and got a success message. But since I'm not owning one of these strips I couldn't really test it. So I wonder if my modifications make the library really work? I provided the source code, so if anybody could take a look I'd be more than happy. PololuLedStrip.tar.gz Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rickta59 589 Posted December 19, 2014 Share Posted December 19, 2014 It looks like the PololuLedStrip.h contains a bunch of atmel avr specific asm code. Did you change that? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jelledebock 0 Posted December 19, 2014 Author Share Posted December 19, 2014 No I didn't. But I thought the asm code was for the Ledstrip itself which is being driven by a Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rickta59 589 Posted December 19, 2014 Share Posted December 19, 2014 The MSP430 probably isn't the best chip to use for something that is meant to use WIFI. Those Pololu led strips are just WS2812b chips. There is a lot of msp430 code for driving the WS2812b check in the code vault here. The problem would be getting WIFI going on the msp430. cubeberg 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
spirilis 1,265 Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 Use a CC3100 and it's no problem! Sent from my Galaxy Note II with Tapatalk 4 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jelledebock 0 Posted December 21, 2014 Author Share Posted December 21, 2014 I'll "cheat" a bit and use an ESP8266 . It's a rx - tx uart communication. The disadvantage is that a second microcontroller is involved (more power consumption, ...). But about the MSP430 and the WS2812 again ;-) . The energia site is linking to a library, but in description it's saying it's for Stellaris or Tiva C Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Lgbeno 189 Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 I really recommend trying out Electric Imp for this. You'll be up and running at least 4 times faster! The problem with wifi devices is that the solution requires knowledge of some web programming as well, imp's cloud takes care of a lot of this for you. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Lgbeno 189 Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 I did get my hands on a esp8266, looks like a very cool Device cost wise but have not tackled getting it running yet Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Lgbeno 189 Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 Sample code https://github.com/electricimp/reference/tree/master/hardware/ws2812 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jelledebock 0 Posted January 3, 2015 Author Share Posted January 3, 2015 Nice. Actually I'm only a hobbyist. I'm studying applied computer science (nearly finished), so web programming is fine for me. I'll struggle more to get the wiring and hardware setup right . My stuff hasn't arrived yet, getting impatient now. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Lgbeno 189 Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 Nice. Actually I'm only a hobbyist. I'm studying applied computer science (nearly finished), so web programming is fine for me. I'll struggle more to get the wiring and hardware setup right . My stuff hasn't arrived yet, getting impatient now. That's a field of study which will reward you well throughout your career! I would say with determination, you will get it up and running with any approach. You'll find that part selection is pretty critical to success. I'm an EE with about 7 years experience and became a hobbyist about 4yrs ago . I still remember my first hobbyist project. I thought that I could build my own quad copter from scratch. From the BLDC drives to the wireless controller. I got done with my first hardware design and then hit the wall from a programming perspective. It was just too complex for a first project. Like 100x too complex... Yours isn't that complex but still with the components that you are thinking, it will be a healthy challenge. For those just getting into the hobby, I try to help identify a clear and easy path to complete the project because that's what really gets you hooked on it long term. Starting with a platform that makes a project a 1 month job instead of a 6 month job is a big deal IMO. I'm still mastering this myself but it allows you to complete more projects with less time. As I see it you have 1) Get rgb led strip talking to uC 2) Get wifi up and running 3) Define wifi protocol to interface to code in step 1 4) Write web interface to talk to code in step 3 5) Improve system reliability, wifi robustness at all steps 6) maybe setup some mini-server to host the web app With the Lauchpad + esp8266 you will definitely feel each one of these steps, steps 2 and 3 will likely be the most difficult. With cc3200 steps 2 and 3 become easier with Energia and the pre written libraries. With Electric Imp steps 2-6 are practically done for you and integrated into a single environment. Step 1 is straight forward too with the example code. In any case 43oh is a great community with really smart people who always help out. It's also the most project oriented community forum I know as well. jelledebock 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jelledebock 0 Posted January 3, 2015 Author Share Posted January 3, 2015 I think I'll use MQTT to talk with the ledstrip. I think this is the way to go, because it's lightweight. For the server side I'll try to thinker around with nodejs. If a manage to create a REST API in node, the possibilities are more a less endless (web app, android app, iOS app). As you've mentioned above I will get stuck every now and then at steps 2 and 3. But I've already discovered that this community is a great way to get help! I'll try to document my adventure and make a nice post on my blog about it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Lgbeno 189 Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 Documenting your journey would be awesome, I would suggest blogging short, informal updates on a regular interval. Strangely people are more apt to read 10 separate 500 word blog posts than one 5000 word blog post. Even if the 5000 word post is written 100x more eloquently. NodeJS is awesome and so is MQTT. MQTT might be overkill for this application but a good skill to have none the less. Here's a bare bones example for the imp using just a parameter in the HTTPS request, it's about as easy as it gets: https://electricimp.com/docs/gettingstarted/3-agents/ Make the "led" parameter into "r" "g" and "b" and your off to the races. Imp uses squirrel which is nodejs-ish. It's a little obscure but parallel enough. Would be interesting to try it both ways. Maybe I'll buy one of these led strips too. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Lgbeno 189 Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 By the way around Halloween time I saw on Twitter that someone did this with a pumpkin: http://www.paulschow.com/2014/10/rgb-internet-pumpkin.html?m=1 jelledebock 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.