Forgot to mention;

I used HandBrake to recompress your video, it's a fast and free tool to recompress videos. With it's default setting I brought your file back to 46Mb. Increasing the compression (RF - more details on optimizing can be found here, it's my go-to tool for video conversion) to 30 brought the file back to 6 Mb! 
Could be useful for future posting of videos. 

Hi Hans, once again thanks for you help on this 

An added problem is, to reduce the risk of volt drop/power issues with each strip, I've used system of wiring (don't think its practiced in Europe) called a "ring main". Its as simple as it sounds but it also means that I can reduce the size of the power cables, reducing cost, and distributing the leds load across the entire circuit. So that's why changing the code would be better. Also as an added bonus I can use any random code I find. Like yours  

Its quite ironic (but typical) that after writing my reply to you I did a little digging and found this Fire Mirror code ... It needs "tweaking" (lol ) but I think that its workable. I will play with your code to as it may be better.  

I really do need to start learing C++... Although I "sort of" understand the byte and round function you used 

byte t192 = round((temperature/255.0)*191);

can you explain the t192??  is it a variable (as I suspect) or a memory address?

I came up with a similar idea to your about defining the led strips in number form too (and I'll be playing with the code later tonight). 

#define STRING1 66
#define STRING2 144
#define STRING3 71
#define STRING4 90
#define STRING5 128

I like this idea as it will make things easier to do later if (as I plan) I do something really basic for Halloween (plus add the fire).

That said I do like the idea of speeding it all up a bit. Its a shame but the video doesn't really show the effects very well. If you look at the code of DemoReel100 it actually runs the rainbow pattern then adds a sparkle effect(rainbowwithglitter). It works quite well but in the video it does seem to drag on a bit. Obviously I used the DemoReel just to get things working but as I think we both agree some effects just wont work in such a long string of leds.

 <span style="text-align: initial;">I first tried to upload the original 1.1 GIG video, my phone converted it to 100meg... not a bad conversion but it has lost a lot of the detail (glitter flash) of the original file. I have though downloaded the HandBrake tool and will use it if I need to upload any more videos (as I'm sure I will. </span>

Now I need food and sleep as I've been up since 3am 

Now look at the typos in that... 

Hi Hans,

After sorting out the fire routine, I was wondering if you could look at this...

Its something I've been playing with this week, I got it working (sort of) but for some reason It just wont work anymore when I upload the sketch. I added the serial prints to see where it gets up to but it actually locks up regulary reporting "Startup r" and not "Startup running..."

My idea was to make the leds look like dumb leds for a few seconds, fizzle out, then have your Meteor rain sequence to look like a fuse before igniting the Fire sequence (not added yet)

I managed to get it to work about 3 times then it locks up... I can run any other code over the leds (DemoReel) but mine just locks up. Last night the leds just went nuts and very random even though I changed nothing major.

Its not tidy so if you can look at it and suggest whats going on it would be great.

I added the serial.println routines just so I could see where it was locking up.

#include "FastLED.h"
#include "SoftwareSerial.h"
#define NUM_LEDS 75 
CRGB leds[NUM_LEDS];
#define PIN 3 
#define Brightness 40
// strip lengths
#define S1   10   //66
#define S2   15   //142
#define S3   15   //71
#define S4   5    //91
#define S5   25   //128
int RunOnce = true ; 
void setup()
{
  FastLED.addLeds<WS2812B, PIN, GRB>(leds, NUM_LEDS).setCorrection( TypicalLEDStrip );
  FastLED.setBrightness(Brightness);
int S2a = S1+S2   ;
int S3a = S2a+S3  ;
int S4a = S3a+S4  ;
//  mySoftwareSerial.begin(9600);
  Serial.begin(115200);
  Serial.println("Startup running...");
//randomSeed(analogRead(0));
}
//  REPLACE FROM HERE 
void loop() { 
  Serial.println(("Main code running"));
  if (RunOnce == true ){
    RunOnce = false ;
// rgb(1st colour), delay, rgb (2nd Colour), how many times (3000x3)
    SolidFill( 255 , 0, 0, 3000, 0, 255, 0 , 3 );
    Serial.println(F("SolidFill Complete...")); 
// Fizzle (red, green, blue), count, speed delay, only one twinkle (true/false) 
    Fizzle(0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 300, 1, true);
    Serial.println(("Fizzle Complete..."));
//    Fuse(); //fade in Fuse
//    FastLED.setBrightness(Brightness);
  }
//  Move MeteorRain to below fuse in real life
//  meteorRain - Color (red, green, blue), meteor size, trail decay, random trail decay (true/false), speed delay 
     MeteorRain(0xff,0xff,0xff,2, 200, true, 50);
     Serial.println(("MeteorRain Complete..."));    
  
}
void SolidFill (int r, int g, int b, int Wait, int r1, int g1, int b1, int Times){
Serial.println(("Start SolidFill..."));
 for (int x = 0 ; x <= 10 ; x++){
  if (Wait >=2)
   for ( int i = 0 ; i <= Times; i++){
    fill_solid (leds, S1, CRGB( r, g, b));
    fill_solid (leds+S1, S2, CRGB( r1, g1, b1));
    fill_solid (leds+(S1+S2), S3, CRGB( r, g,b));
    fill_solid (leds+(S1+S2+S3), S4, CRGB( r1, g1, b1));
    fill_solid (leds+(S1+S2+S3+S4), NUM_LEDS, CRGB( r, g, b));
    showStrip();
    delay (Wait);
    fill_solid (leds, S1, CRGB( r1, g1, b1));
    fill_solid (leds+S1, S2, CRGB( r, g, b));
    fill_solid (leds+(S1+S2), S3, CRGB( r1, g1, b1));
    fill_solid (leds+(S1+S2+S3), S4, CRGB( r, g, b));
    fill_solid (leds+(S1+S2+S3+S4), NUM_LEDS, CRGB( r1, g1, b1));
    showStrip();
    delay (Wait);
    }
 if (Wait <=1000)
//  Wait1 = Wait/2;
Wait = Wait/2;
  else
  Wait = Wait - 1000;
  }
}
void MeteorRain(byte red, byte green, byte blue, byte meteorSize, byte meteorTrailDecay, boolean meteorRandomDecay, int SpeedDelay) {  
//  setAll(0,0,0);
  Serial.println(("MeteorRain Started..."));
  for(int i = 0; i < NUM_LEDS+NUM_LEDS; i++) {
    
    
    // fade brightness all LEDs one step
    for(int j=0; j<NUM_LEDS; j++) {
      if( (!meteorRandomDecay) || (random(10)>5) ) {
        fadeToBlack(j, meteorTrailDecay );        
      }
    }
    
    // draw meteor
    for(int j = 0; j < meteorSize; j++) {
      if( ( i-j <NUM_LEDS) && (i-j>=0) ) {
        setPixel(i-j, red, green, blue);
      } 
    }
   
    showStrip();
    delay(SpeedDelay);
  }
}
// used by meteorrain
void fadeToBlack(int ledNo, byte fadeValue) {
   leds[ledNo].fadeToBlackBy( fadeValue );
}
void Fizzle(byte red, byte green, byte blue, int Count, int SpeedDelay, boolean OnlyOne) {
 /* setAll (0,0,0);
  delay (1000);
  setAll(255,255,255);
  delay (1000);
  setAll(0,0,0);
 */ 
  for (int i=0; i<Count; i++) {
     setPixel(random(NUM_LEDS),red,green,blue);
     showStrip();
     delay(SpeedDelay);
     if(OnlyOne) { 
       setAll(0,0,0); 
     }
   }
}
  
void Fuse() {
  for ( int r = 0 ; r <= 10 ; r++){
    FastLED.setBrightness(r);
      fill_solid (leds, NUM_LEDS, CRGB( 155 , 57, 15));
    showStrip();
  delay (200);
  }
  delay (3000);
}
// FastLED main sequences
//  REPLACE TO HERE 
void showStrip() {
   FastLED.show();
}
void setPixel(int Pixel, byte red, byte green, byte blue) {
   leds[Pixel].r = red;
   leds[Pixel].g = green;
   leds[Pixel].b = blue;
}
void setAll(byte red, byte green, byte blue) {
  for(int i = 0; i < NUM_LEDS; i++ ) {
    setPixel(i, red, green, blue); 
  }
  showStrip();
}

Many thanks 

Phil

Hey Phil!

Sorry for the radio silence the past few days - I've been working on a project. If I only could make a living out of running my website .

First thing I noticed, is that you include "SoftwareSerial.h" - I have no idea what this library does, but maybe that's locking up your sketch. It seems to be a library for serial communication, which may interfere with the standard serial functions?

Hi Hans,

Hehehe I fully understand what you mean, in my (lot) younger days I used to run a BBS system (Pre-Internet) on a dial-up system and the HOURS I used to spend updating the scripts, ANSI code for the screens, routing and all the other rubbish... Then along came internet gateways and finally email and the WWW and well... Here we are today! 

I still appreciate being able to talk to someone as all I get at work in blank looks whenever I discuss my little project and (especially) the coding issues I have  

I removed the extra serial library (I thought I had to use it but obviously not), it actually made no difference. 

I remembered seeing a guy saying that he had to run an old version of the IDE otherwise the sketch he wrote hangs...(YouTube) and I've now installed 2 versions, (1.8.6 and 1.6.5) and its quite interesting (I will ask the question on the Arduino forum later)  but the code I wrote  compiles slightly bigger (21% compared to 18% of memory) and also appears to work "better".

1.8.6 - code still seems to hang and it freezes at "Starting r"

1.6.5 - code runs reporting "Startup running" but then seems to print garbage and not what I've asked of it... 

I've yet to test the code with LEDs as the wife is hanging about today but is due to go out very soon so I should be able to test if there is a difference if I run the same code on BOTH IDEs (before I go to work). I'll report back (ASAP) what the result is.

Phil

Hi Phil,

that's awesome! Me and a buddy used to run a BBS (FidoNet) as well ... back in the day on an Atari ST, with 2 9600 baud modems hahah. When a 20Mb hardisk cost $1400 hahah ... not to mention mind blowing phone bills ... Those where the days!

I agree; it's more fun to chat with like minded folks - at least they understand the frustrations and the kick one gets out of getting it to work anyway .
Back in the day we used to have computer clubs, every 2nd Saturday, hauling our computers to an event, where we'd meet folks that were like minded. These events have become extinct unfortunately. Good thing with the Internet though; you get to chat with folks that are thousands of miles apart that share a similar interest.

Back to the issue at hand;
Sounds like you found a bug in the most recent IDE. Or beter said: the most recent compiler.
Curious what your findings will be ...