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Building BobLight ....
 
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[Solved] Building BobLight ...

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 Hans
(@hans)
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Joined: 11 years ago
Posts: 2660
Topic starter  

Oh and before I forget: You're running Boblight on XBMC with Windows ...?


   
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(@baseofdrum)
Active Member
Joined: 10 years ago
Posts: 9
 

Hi Hans ,

yes running under Windows.

i don't why the config file need to be so - but as you know whe tried it t figure it out ( isaid you ii gonna try to copy each line to see what happen)

my confi is : (sorry can't take a foto all cables are allready packed )

looking at the back

8 bottom right

9 right 

16 top

9 left

8 bottom left.

Maybe the problem that some pixels are dead ?? i need to buy new one. 

Thank you 4 ur help.

Matthias.


   
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 Hans
(@hans)
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Dead pixels could cause a shift I suppose - you should be able to see that right away when you look behind your TV.

If you run the test video, and pause when the 4 large blocks are shown.
Look behind your TV and see how they line up (you will see a shift in your case), it might give you an idea where things go wrong.

(I did write an article about mysetup, if you're interested, although it will probably not solve your issue)


   
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(@baseofdrum)
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Joined: 10 years ago
Posts: 9
 

so the only thing for me is now to sit down and check all the h and vscan to see where should be the led. 

i need to start the 4 blocks and write down the numbers that should be in the color and try to change somehow the conf file.
ok thank you Hans. 
and really great job with the article 
Matthias

   
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(@baseofdrum)
Active Member
Joined: 10 years ago
Posts: 9
 

i made the test and yes dead pixels really affecting the whole adressing. So i had to get down actually from 150 channels into 111 (yeah bit to much dead, but changng soon.)
But now is finally everything working like it should 
going to watch a movie , have a nice day/night and thank you. 


   
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 Hans
(@hans)
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Joined: 11 years ago
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Topic starter  

When you look at the back of your TV: do you see dead LEDs when looking at the demo video?
I'm not sure if you will see dead LEDs, but you will most certainly be able to guess if the blocks (vertical and horizontal) indeed line up and correctly change color in the middle of the TV screen (which in your case is probably not the case).

If I look at your setup, would the attached image be correct?

I think the orientation/direction is correct, but for some reason your LED count is shifted (ie. a color starts too late in the strip).

Thanks for the compliment on the article ...


   
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 Hans
(@hans)
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Topic starter  

Sorry Matthias, didn't see you reply haha ... OK, so you're up and running, minus a few dead LEDs ... bummer, but I'm glad that's figured out.

I'm still confused about the decimal point (weather it respects locale settings or not), but that's for another day - enjoy your movie ...


   
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 Hans
(@hans)
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I had some question about the aluminium strips I used.
I bought them at a hardware store and they were sold as finish strips for counter tops.

Attached a picture, the strip is 2cm wide and 0.5cm heigh.


   
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 dba2
(@dba2)
Active Member
Joined: 10 years ago
Posts: 8
 

Hey Hans, it's been a while so I just wanted to touch base and see if you had run into any problems so far or have played around with the gamma settings at all.  I've been in the process of moving so I haven't even touched anything or used the lights in almost a month now, but I'm hoping to have things set back up within the week and continue tweaking some stuff to hopefully get some better color and response time. I'm also thinking about redoing my mount before I have everything setup and I may look into those aluminum strips.


   
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 Hans
(@hans)
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Topic starter  

So far my setup is running smooth ... although the last LEDs are a little more yellow than the first ones when it's supposed to be white but during regular use it's not obvious. Mount is still solid and hanging on two screws  ...
So far a happy camper. 

Based on a comment (link) by Nils, I've tried these settings and they actually work pretty good (settings in the XBMC Boblight add-on):

speed: 65
autospeed: 0
saturation: 2.5
value: 4
thresthold: 10

Right now I'm using a 5% border width, but I'm considering testing even lower % ... but just didn't get to it yet (trying to cram out an article every now and then, and coming up with a topic and translating it takes a little time) ... Maybe I'll give it a shot this weekend.


   
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(@rmilyard)
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Joined: 9 years ago
Posts: 1
 

Well I found the forum!  Here is the run down.  I have an Asus ChromeBox running current version of OpenELEC.  It has 4 USB 3.0 ports.  I built my Arduino Uno R3+ with 250 WS2812B LEDs.  It all tested out fine and no issues. I was using 2  LightPacks each with 10 channels and 30 LEDs so had total of 20 channels with 60 LEDs.  I found it a little small for my 65" Samsung 4k TV so I wanted to make something and I did.  Your docs show to use /dev/ttyACM0 which doesn't work for me.  I did find that looks like when I plug into USB port I have /dev/ttyUSB0.  Right now when it runs there is like a 1/4 to 1/2 sec delay in colors.  I have tried with your test video and watching movies.  The delay is enough that is driving my wife crazy and wants me to remove lights.  (oh noes!)  I am not sure what is causing this.  When using the LIghtPacks I didn't have this delay.  However with them I had to change the boblight config file to type lightpack and use the address and bus to get them working.  With this new Arduino using BAUD the only setting I get working is 115200. I am not sure if this is what might be causing the lag?  However when I change to anything higher system doesn't work.
Here are files of what using right now.  Any help would be GREAT!  I really like having 250 LEDs over the 60!  Help me so wife doesn't make me remove it.


   
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 Hans
(@hans)
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Joined: 11 years ago
Posts: 2660
Topic starter  

Hi Milyard!

Welcome to the forum (it's still in it's infancy, but I hope it will grow over time).

Didn't you test this with a regular Arduino Uno? The R+ is probably a clone? (not that it should matter much)
I've read folks using baudrates up to 500,000 which seems to work with the original Arduino Uno R3.

I have also seen folks switch to Hyperion, since it's so much more efficient and faster than Boblight.
As soon as I have my gear available again, I will do some testing and write an article for Hyperion use as well.

Another point you'd want to checkout: disable all plugins in Kodi/XBMC and see if it brings any improvements. Except the Boblight plugin of course.
I've found that certain plugins really chew resources like you wouldn't believe, slowing down Boblight.

Strange thing is that it seemed to worked fine with LightPaks, with basically the only difference being the number of LEDs.


   
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(@chrisk2305)
New Member
Joined: 9 years ago
Posts: 2
 

Hi,

I just finished my Ambilight according to your great tutorial. I have two questions left:

I am using a Meanwell Power Supply that is alway on. When I turn off Kodi the leds are left in "strange" state and don't go out neither turn white again.

Another issue is the power supply to the leds. At the beginning of the strand they are bright white but after about 30% they get kind of orange or pink. I read that this is a power issue, so I hooked two more cables from the PSU (5V) to the strand (in the upper two edges) but it doesn't make a difference in color. 

Can you help me?

Thanks, Christian


   
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 Hans
(@hans)
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Joined: 11 years ago
Posts: 2660
Topic starter  

Hi Christian,

As for the "strange state" of the LEDs, this is how I solved it,... The power supply takes its power from a smart power strip, which uses one outlet as the master to which I connected my TV. If the power drain on this "master" goes above a certain Amps (TV switched on) the "slave" connectors power on (HTPC, Home Theatre System for sound, and ... the power brick of the LEDs). So when I switch the TV OFF, all these devices get switched off as well. This is the strip I used for that at Amazon.

As an alternative, you could utilize one of those power outlets that can be toggled On/Off with a remote - this is something a friend of mine uses. He connected all his media related devices to this outlet and uses a remote to turn everything ON of OFF.

But there is a 3rd option ... which you might be able to work with.
You could use a relay on your Arduino to switch the Power Supply ON as soon as the Arduino gets powered ON.

As for the brightness issue: Yes that's a power supply issue.
Option 1 you have already implemented (connect +5 and GND on both ends of the strands).
If that doesn't help, you'll need a more powerful power supply.

Hope this helps 


   
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(@chrisk2305)
New Member
Joined: 9 years ago
Posts: 2
 

Hi Hans,

Thanks for your quick reply. Ok, that is what I thought. I will use a Master Slave Power Outlet to solve that problem. But I am curious...how would that relay on the arduino work?

For the brightness: I was stupid. I connected 5v at two other points but not ground - Issue solved.

Thanks a lot man!


   
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