Blog - All Comments

RE: Natasha's NeoPixel LED Bike

DAB — Tue, 18 Jun 2024 19:53:52 GMT

Very good finish.

You did an awesome job with your series of blogs in showing how simple it is to light up the world around you.

Well done.

RE: Natasha's NeoPixel LED Bike

beacon_dave — Tue, 18 Jun 2024 19:16:17 GMT

This project series has been great !

Nice end result. The attention to detail with the LED spacing has paid off as it is really effective when viewed from a distance.

The Larson scanner, comet and CMYK sparkles animations work really well.

RE: Natasha's NeoPixel LED Bike

dougw — Tue, 18 Jun 2024 01:44:41 GMT

I know it is a big stretch from your awesome rig, but the persistence of vision effect in the spokes suggests displaying text or graphics in the spokes using persistence of vision.

RE: NeoPixels: Durability and Weatherproofing

DAB — Sat, 18 May 2024 20:09:08 GMT

Good practical advise.

Well Done.

RE: NeoPixels: Durability and Weatherproofing

beacon_dave — Sat, 18 May 2024 09:57:45 GMT

Looking good.

There is glue-lined heatshrink which could give you waterproofing and strain relief in one. If you press it as it is cooling you can usually get good adhesion and sealing onto different shaped surfaces. It's a bit thicker as a result so may need to factor that in.

(Might not be so good if you want to put it over NeoPixels as well, but for the connections it might work well.)

If you are willing to sacrifice the end NeoPixel on your strip you end up with a large tab to act as a strain relief to secure your wires to. Hot glue might work well for this. If you don't want to sacrifice that optical goodness, then perhaps glue a 2" / 50mm tab onto the back of the NeoPixel strip with half of it on the strip and half of it beyond the pixel strip to glue your wires onto, before heatshrinking over to seal the deal. The tab spreads the strain over a much larger area than just relying on the pads alone. If you don't want to glue the cable ends you can also cut holes or notches in the tab to take small cable ties similar to the Phoenix style terminal connectors. (Some of the tie-on cable markers might be a good match for this - just cut them in half and you have one end prepped for a cable tie and the other for gluing onto the back of the pixel strip).

If you are making the micro:bit removable, might want to consider using markers on the cables to indicate which strip on the bicycle they should be connected with. If you are in a club then perhaps it could invest in an assortment box of numbers and letters as individuals will only require a small number of them and the often come in 100's.

RE: NeoPixels: Building A Project From Scratch

DAB — Sun, 12 May 2024 19:26:55 GMT

Nice overview of the current LED offerings.

When LEDs first came out we had just low power red ones.

RE: NeoPixels: Building A Project From Scratch

beacon_dave — Sat, 11 May 2024 14:22:45 GMT

Nice selection covered there.

Discrete through-hole NeoPixels may be worth a mention, especially for those wanting to make a custom PCB or stripboard layout but not wanting to attempt SMD. Also potential for dipping into cast resin moulds for creating custom shapes.

I'm quite interested in seeing what people have managed to come up with mounting arrangements. Has there ben any interesting 3D printing of clips, support brackets, channels, etc. going on to give a seamless appearance once installed on the bicycle ?

RE: Syncing NeoPixel Animations Over Radio * 07 *

DAB — Sun, 05 May 2024 19:47:42 GMT

Nice update.

Good explanation of how the radio can work between the micro:bits.

RE: Syncing NeoPixel Animations Over Radio * 07 *

beacon_dave — Sat, 04 May 2024 15:02:09 GMT

With your large group rides, have you encountered any issues with agreeing on radio groups or messages within radio groups ?

Have you looked at creating any protocols so that two micro:bits running different programs will respond to messages in a similar way ? e.g. colour change, direction, speed, effect pattern ?

RE: Animate NeoPixels in Make Code for micro:bit * 05 *

DAB — Sat, 20 Apr 2024 19:01:20 GMT

Very good explanation of the software and introduction into more complex programming.

RE: Animate NeoPixels in Make Code for micro:bit * 05 *

beacon_dave — Sat, 20 Apr 2024 10:03:02 GMT

Nice.

Have you found any good resources on different pixel LED strip animation effects ?

I've had a search but nothing really jumping out that shows the effect and then discusses the algorithm that was used to create it.

I'm surprised that there doesn't appear to be some sort of a "1001 Pixel Effects and their design" type reference given the popularity of NeoPixels.

RE: How to Set Up NeoPixels In MakeCode for micro:bit * 04 *

beacon_dave — Sat, 20 Apr 2024 09:39:09 GMT

This series is progressing nicely.

RE: How to Set Up NeoPixels In MakeCode for micro:bit * 04 *

DAB — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 20:48:50 GMT

Nice clear instructions.

Well done.

RE: How to Set Up NeoPixels In MakeCode for micro:bit * 04 *

tej_gaonk — Sun, 14 Apr 2024 03:48:14 GMT

great

RE: How to Set Up NeoPixels In MakeCode for micro:bit * 04 *

TechnoChic — Sat, 13 Apr 2024 19:51:09 GMT

Here's the link to the Getting Started with MakeCode and NeoPixels video: https://youtu.be/c03qGQsoNjY?si=xK0WsBGGPPoOoY_M