Bullet Pixel Matrix with WLED and xLights
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- Опубликовано: 1 авг 2024
- #WLED #xlights #matrix #pixel
The bullet pixel matrix! It's the key to any home light show.
While props and house outlines are valuable in a light show, having a matrix or mulitple matrices makes a huge impact in what you can do.
In our past shows, the Matrix has been the centerpiece to our show. It allows us to tell stories by adding:
-) singing faces,
-) animated images,
-) and a bunch of other fun visual patterns.
One thing that held us back in previous shows is that our first matrix only had 884 pixels.
While we are able to do a lot of things with this matrix, we could only use low resolution images or pull tricks by moving higher resolution images over a path to give the illusion it was supporting a higher resolution image.
We’ve just finished putting together our 2365 pixel matrix using bullet pixels. Here’s how we built it!
If you're interested in using the WT32-ETH01 for your project, make sure to check out how to program at: • How to Flash WLED to y...
If you want more details on connecting WLED to xLights, check out: • How To Connect WLED, F...
Netting
www.homedepot.com/p/Tenax-3-f...
Amazon affiliate links: The following links are materials I've used in my projects. They are Amazon affiliate links, and BytesOfPi does get a commission if you purchase materials from this link. The links do not add to the cost of the items online. We use a large portion of the earnings to purchase materials for future videos so thanks for your support!
Electronics
-) JacobsParts WT32-ETH01 ESP32 Board - amzn.to/3vkNzDA
-) Programmer for the ETH01 (USB 2.0 to TTL) - amzn.to/3EbRruC
-) Logic Level converters - kno.wled.ge/basics/compatible...
-) NE555 Delay Timer Relay - amzn.to/3jG2EKu
Cable Connectors / Glands
-) RJ45 Waterproof Connector, Female to Female - amzn.to/3EbRNBs
-) Cable Gland PG11 Plastic Waterproof Adjustable 5-10mm (for Power cables) - amzn.to/36iAB0Q
-) Cable Gland PG9 Plastic Waterproof for 4mm-8mm Cable (for Data cables) - amzn.to/3KKKnHN
Cables
-) Cat6 Gigabit Patch Cable Right-Angle - amzn.to/3rsE0S6
-) Cat5e Patch Cable 75 Feet - amzn.to/3KM6fTs
-) 18AWG Low Voltage LED Cable, 2 Conductor - amzn.to/3LZ4ulQ
-) 18AWG Low Voltage LED Cable 3 - amzn.to/3KKrwN4
Box Hardware
-) 12 Positions Dual Row 600V 15A Screw Terminal Strip Blocks - amzn.to/38EhkaL
-) 12 AWG In-Line Fuse Holder - amzn.to/3jAKeec
-) MTM ACR7-18 Ammo Crate Box - amzn.to/3uEAFkS
-) Lead Free solder - amzn.to/3jFZ6Ia
Table of Contents
00:00 - Intro
01:00 - Why choose bullet pixels?
02:57 - Build the frame
04:23 - Electronics
09:55 - xLights and WLED 
Хобби
Really cool stuff! I have a suggestion that may make your life easier: inside the husky waterproof bin on the side of the matrix you have that yellow Ethernet cable. Infinite Cables in canada makes these super small, 6 inch patch cables that would save you a ton of space in there as a replacement. here is the product name: Cat6 UTP Micro-Thin Molded Patch Cable - 32AWG - Riser CMR - Black - 6 inch
Good eyes! At the time, that was the smallest Ethernet cable I had. I was eager to put a bow on the project so I crammed it in there. I'll check out your suggestion. Ultimately I want to get a crimper and heads so I can cut the excess cable I've collected over the years to custom size.
How did you connect your pixel lights to the Home Depot netting? I was getting ready to purchase HolidayCoro matrix when I saw this video and noticed the HD netting was cheaper and readily available! You've got some great content on your channel. Thank you so much for sharing to help newbies like me!
Thanks! I'm all about finding ways to stretching money so you can do more with less.
I saw a few videos of vendor created netting for bullet pixels and thought there has got to be a cheaper way to do it. The vendor based Matrix stuff is at a fixed length so you got to know how much you want to space it. I figured a grid gives you the ability to place a matrix at whatever spacing you want. Most of the plastic chicken fence is diagonal pattern with holes just a little too big for pixels, but the grid style fences are just big enough.
Two things I'll caution you. First is to be gentle because the squares are snug. It is plastic and if you try and force it too much the square will snap. Secondly my 2365 pixel matrix is very heavy. You'll get that with any solution probably so If you have a really dense matrix it'll try to sag in the middle. I would suggest having one or two braces in the middle of your frame to support the weight
One time back in 2021 I had a sound reactive dev version of wled when configured to 2D worked with xlights. Since that version, I have never got wled 2d to work with xlights. Exactly the same x-y and mirrored situation as your showing. I have tried every wled version up to 14. I have the version I believe to have worked on my PC. soundReactive_WLED_0.12.0_dev_0614_ESP32 . I don't know if it is available for download any more? And I haven't played around with it since then. I don't know that much about code, but I thought some day I would fool around with that branch and see if I could figure out what the difference was in that branch. This has always interested me, because I know wled 2D worked with xlights at one time.
The beautiful thing about GitHub is you can go back to any commit point in the past and pull down the code at that time and build it with VSCode. I did this back with the scrolling text video when they broke the ESP8266 build in main but the changelog.md pointed to an unbroken build commit point with the feature I wanted.
You don’t even have to build it, the previous release binaries are in the releases section.
according to quin-led esp32 is only good for 400 pixels per channel at higher fps (42 I think) you need to split the matrix into multiple outputs for better performance. I'm building a 1200 matrix this weekend and planning on 3 channels of 400 each for this reason.
Quindor is probably correct for the canned WLED 2D patterns despite WLED's own site kno.wled.ge/features/multi-strip/#esp32 stating up to 800 per pin for "very good performance". It's probably the level of mathematics the chip has to calculate for some of the more complex 2D patterns.
However, I've been running my 800 per pin matrix since the beginning of October from xLights using 40 fps DDP packets and I've not detected any lag. WLED also has an issue displaying DDP packets when configured as 2D.
Right now I'm content on leaving my WLED matrix configured as 1D and using it primarily with my xLights show. It's pretty awesome so far. You can see the performance of my new 2365 matrix on the one new song I've put out on RUclips. It's the matrix on the left. You can definitely tell the higher definition is much better.
ruclips.net/video/_ELnKMytj_s/видео.html
I Just tested with 1000 leds per output. Still got 34fps. My maximum is 500 pixels per output. For 60 fps.😊
@@TheHaubke Congrats! Sounds like your matrix is running like a champ. Are you just using the canned WLED matrix patterns or using it with DMX data?
I have the same issue with a 2d WLED matrix and xlights...
Regarding your performance issues... have you considered breaking your one large strip (array) into smaller panels with each panel being driven by a separate pin from the controller. I have found that this improves the rendering performance of WLED...not sure why though.
I think I see what you are suggesting, instead of having one long serpentine pattern driven from 3 pins like it is now to have 4 pins drive 4 "panels or sections". With each pin starting in the corner of a panel instead of mid string like today may make the math simpler for the processor.
It might be worth considering trying, but to be honest I'm still stuck with 1D configuration because of the main issue with E1.31 DDP data. I primarily use my matrix in conjunction with xLights sequence light shows and the WLED 2D configuration inverts incoming show data. I've modded WLED code before and thought I'd dig in to see how to fix this issue.
Something to consider trying though if the 2D config issue can get addressed
@@BytesOfPi Have you reported the WLED 2D issue to the xLights developers? It would be nice if they could look at the issue...
@@kertjans8794 That's a good question, and the short answer is no, I've not reported the issue. I documented it in my video, but haven't reported it in GitHub yet.
Longer answer is that as a software developer who has already written my own FastLED project and modified WLED code on occasion, I wanted to dig into the code to figure out where the issue was and possibly fix it myself. If I could fix it, I could give AirCookie the problem and solution all at once. I've been dragging my feet with other projects so I haven't looked at it yet...
the 3d / 1d and xlights flip was driving me up the wall..... now I know
Yeah, there probably is an easy fix in code to possibly change the internal configuration when it's receiving E1.31 packets... May be a new video idea when I get a chance to dig into the code.