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Hello Everyone,
I am interested in controlling an external LED array with my procyon avs.
Are there any on the market that you might suggest?
Looking for high power to be used both open eye and closed eye reflected off 16 ft wide x 10 ft high parabolic screen viewed at a dist. of between 3 ft to 20 ft.
Can one be built easily, or should I say inexpensively?
:cheers: here in Mexico we say "Salud" instead of "Cheers". This meens to "Good Health". Una cervesa porfavor.
Hello Everyone,
Any electronics wizards in the house?
Found these two items on the net.
USB to DMX converter http://www.usbdmx.com/schematic.html
DMX controled RGB LED array http://www.progearwarehouse.com/Chau...2&category=148
Will they work with the Procyon AVS controller ?
Thanks for the Help
:cheers:
You would need something that takes a few volts or milliamps and convert it to DMX. There are 0-10v to DMX converters (for old lighting equipment) but they are rare. One that takes the voltages that the Procyon puts out and converts them to DMX would have to be custom-made most likely.
Sorry I couldn't be more help.
-Andy.
Andy,
Can you please send me schematics or diagram of the mini USB out of the procyon AVS controller. (Where the glasses connect)
Thanks
It's not a mini-usb connection, but the pin-out for the raw connector that you can buy from MP is below. You can now buy the raw cables with the Procyon connector from MindPlace.
see: http://www.mindplacesupport.com/foru...read.php?t=583
Don't ask me why the colors don't match the wires, that's just the way it is! :dontknow:
-Andy.
thanks for the diagram, what is the output? volts, watts etc.
The output would be a few volts, maybe 2 or 3 (I guess I'd have to measure it to see) at about 18ma. It's enough to drive the LEDs in the glasses.
-Andy.
Greetings!
We've actually built a few prototypes, which emit over 1,000 lumens of RGB light. It did require a custom power supply and cooling fan; the array we are using is from Lamina Ceramics, see for example:
http://www.laminaceramics.com/Produc...ies/Titan.aspx
The raw array is available from Mouser and Digikey, about $80 each. Once the project engineer finishes building his house, he'll build up a small batch of these, which we'll offer on our website.
We're also working on a smaller version, which we expect to put into production sometime soon.
DMX controllers are attractive, but they limit the maximum strobe frequency to roughly 10 hz, since they are used mainly for dance lighting, where higher frequencies can sort out those dancers with epilepsy.
There are various LED stepup power supplies on the market, which you could use to homebrew a system for yourself--just google something like "rgb led power supply".
Hope this helps!
Robert
Andy--
Thanks (from me) for the connector reference and the information. I am also interested in this (and I happen to be an electronics wiz to boot!). It looks like the mindplace.com site doesn't list the actual connectors yet, so I'll try the e-mail provided in the reference above.
Robert--
The Titan looks awesome! I just downloaded the product sheet--great looking document!
Cheers,
--Scott
At first I didnt like the design so much but after reading through everything it actualy looks quite nice. Homogenous mixing I see, mmm quite nice! This overcomes my resoning for using the parabolic screen as a mixing board for open eye sessions.
ONLY ONE PROBLEM, I am not an "electronics wiz"!
Hey Electron guy "hook a cracker up man, I meen put me down bro. Wutz up?"
I have plans and photos of Left/ Right speaker configuration/ placement for headphone free binaurals/ paraliminals ect. Low cost easy to build. Off the shelf parts. GREAT PERFORMANCE! Other designs/plans/photos and such including Lightweight folding Zero-Gravity chair with memory foam.
Thanks everyone for all the help. God bless and:cheers:
Andy, et al.
I just contacted Janice to order two of the Procyon lightframe adapters and wanted to clarify one issue regarding the output of the Procyon.
To control the current through each LED, I'm making an assumption that the Procyon uses Pulse-Width Modulation of the full 3V/18 mA (whatever it is) drive signal in order to control the "average" current through each LED. This is opposed to using a digitally-controlled current source output for each channel.
If PWM is used, then I'm guessing that any external control circuitry should be fast enough to keep up with the switching rate and control the external brightness proportionally. Perhaps a simple interface would be to pass the Procyon output into an RC averaging filter and then run that into the DAC input of a microcontroller for further use--for example, to adjust color balance between channels for large color-wash effects or to mitigate the different power/thermal requirements of the large output arrays.
Thanks,
--Scott
My inclination would be to use an opto-isolator on each channel to protect the Procyon from any misadventure and just use FET drivers (or even bipolar high speed switching transistors) to provide the required drive current. A pot to adjust the FET drive should provide ample colour balance tuning. The PWM output of the Procyon shouldn't need any further conditioning. Obviously a seperate power supply will be required on the LED array side of the opto-isolators.
Cheers,
Craig
Craig, thanks for the info. I think the optoisolator approach is the best way to go, so that's what I'll implement.
I have a number of solid-state relays, but I don't think they're quite fast enough. I'll have to review the specs. Also, the ones I have on-hand have zero-cross detectors in them, so I don't know how that would affect the overall timing/control if I used a 60 Hz AC line.
I'll likely stick to DC only.
Best,
--Scott
Good choice! I suspect solid state relays are a bit overkill anyway. I don't know what sort of current you're after, but I'm very fond of ULN2801 octal darlington driver chips - cheap and convenient.
Cheers,
Craig
Hi--Just a quick update before I have to get to my homework :)
My current plans to interface to the Procyon are as follows:
OPTION #1
========
1. Use a high-speed optocoupler
2. Create an output voltage proportional to PWM input
3. Scale voltage and trim as necessary
4. Pass analog signal into RCD-24 LED driver
OPTION #2
========
1. Use a high-speed optocoupler
2. Scale PWM
3. Drive PWM input of RCD-24 LED driver directly with isolated PWM
4. Provide analog dimming/current control as necessary to adjust levels
I'm still unclear as to the exact LED arrays I'm going to use. The Titan looks great but may be way too much for my needs. Any ideas on cheap low-ish power LED spots/linear washes to hide behind a speaker array?
Here's a picture:
http://ganz.blueelectronlabs.com/stereo.jpg
Thanks again,
--Scott
I just placed and order for six RCD-24-0.5 LED constant-current drivers and two HL16-RGB light engines. The light engines fit in a standard MR16 fixture, which is ideal for my situation.
I will design and build an interface to the LED drivers and spotlight outputs that will allow me to control via the Procyon, DMX, color organ, sound, etc. This will likely have a microcontroller, 16x2 character display for info/programming, etc.
To get started, though, I'm going to just have a prototype with the RCD-24's and some terminal blocks to output to the RGB lights.
The HL16's were available from Newark for $53+ each and I got the RCD-24's from Allied Electronics for about $16/ea.
I still plan to use optoisolators and vactrols (for analog voltages) for the real-world interfacing.
I'm hoping for results mid-December.
BTW, the overall goal of this project was so that I could "open" my eyes and get a better color representation with the light reflected off a white surface (so I don't blind myself). With my eyes closed, I mostly see red colors with the Procyon and I would like to better enjoy some yellows/blues/greens.
--Scott
Very cool!
Keep us updated on the progress. This is a very interesting project.
-Andy.
[edit: PCB artwork is here! Jump a couple of posts down for the .zip file]
Hello forum,
This is just a quick note to let you know that I'm creating some very general artwork for a PCB that will interface with the Procyon. For reference, this is the most basic switched current source using a linear regulator, so unfortunately it dissipates a bit of wasted heat and power but is the simplest and cheapest.
Also, when I stopped development of my prior circuitry, I was relying on some misinformation that I found regarding the Procyon's output--ultimately, my problem here lies in not having a schematic and a dead oscilloscope, but I recently purchased a cheap USB 'scope and have verified that the LED outputs seem to be open-collector, which accounts for the "noise" that I noted in a prior post when I used an IR LED (from an optocoupler) as the input load. Because the IR LED was not forward biased when the output of the Procyon was "off" there was an observed noise.
For those who have made prior circuits, simply place a resistor, say 620 ohms, in parallel across each optocoupler input. I will update the "cheap" schematic and will include these pull-up resistors in the circuit board to come.
I have created a full circuit board with constant-current DC-DC converters but their PWM frequency is about 200 Hz and it looks like the Procyon is around 26 kHz for its PWM frequency. As a test, I'm writing a quick program in an Arduino microcontroller board (using a Mega right now) that will scale the 26 kHz PWM output of the Procyon to a lower-frequency (but same 8-bit resolution) PWM. It is expected that there will be a one-sample latency between what the Procyon outputs and the modified PWM output to the external high-powered LED driver--this is necessary because I have to determine the "average" duty cycle over this period.
Over time, I will make an interface that behaves as quickly as the linear circuit but has some of the power-saving features of a switched-mode power supply.
I am not charging any money to make these circuits available and will see what the best methods are for posting and answering questions that would otherwise be outside the scope of this forum. If any administrators would like to contact me, please feel free to leave me some ideas so that the members who are interested in this can benefit.
I still love my Procyon and use it often--especially when I can't sleep because I have too much on my mind. It's quite fun to watch the Procyon sessions with high-power external LEDs being shown on a wall (more of a color organ feature, I suppose).
Thanks for your patience,
--Scott Thompson
This is all VERY cool! :headbang:
Did you ever get to making the circuit boards?
-Andy.
Update:
Started to draw a fully linear circuit board but had a hard time (1) keeping the size of the heatsinks to something reasonable that would account for possible power supplies (e.g., 12V battery), and (2) being "okay" with a significant waste of power.
While exploring switched power supplies in the simulator, I wasn't getting the fidelity of what could be had with a linear solution. I keep track of some of the latest LED drivers and finding a 350 mA-750 mA driver that utilizes PWM dimming at ultrasonic frequencies is near impossible. Unfortunately, I just haven't had *that* much time to devote to creating a PWM driver that operates at 30 kHz max.
For your reference, some of my design goals are to use components that are readily available to most just by going to their local electronics hobby shop (e.g., Radio Shack, Frys Electronics, and their variants). If I begin to specify obscure and hard to find parts, there are a couple of problems: (1) they are likely going to be surface-mount devices (convenient to reduce the size of a project but difficult for novices to use / difficult to prototype), and (2) they will be expensive.
The main drawback with a linear only system is the heat dissipation. I may force some of the design issues, such as limiting the output to 1 W devices and hard-specifying the power supply so the wasted power is reduced. Another option is to use a high-efficiency buck (step-down) converter as the front-end to a linear system. This will likely be the best compromise.
One other option is to utilize a small microcontroller and RGB LED driver "backpack" called a "Rainbowduino" (see rainbowduino.seeedstudio.com). It is an 8x8 RGB matrix that could be interfaced with the Procyon--not as powerful to display on a wall, though, but very fun.
I have an existing circuit board that uses constant-current DC-DC converters but the PWM frequency is limited to 200 Hz. For anyone interested in this design, I will happily provide you with the circuit board artwork and bill of materials. I have a number of microcontrollers and over the next couple of weeks before my fall semester (my last one!) I will program one with a simple program that will down-convert the ultrasonic PWM frequency from the Procyon unit to the 200 Hz maximum PWM that the Recon converters use. I do not know what the lower PWM frequency will mean in terms of actual entrainment. The expected latency would be one 200 Hz PWM period (i.e., 1/200 s).
I'll try to get a photo out of the current circuit board working with a Procyon unit via a small microcontroller that converts the signals. The output is a 2" PAR-16 RGB 1W LED light.
--Scott
Hi Scott,
Your idea looks intriguing :eusa_clap: I was wondering how you are getting on developing the design?
Mike
Design coming along great! Have decided to use a pre-regulator (LM2596) followed by a ultra-fast low-dropout linear device (LM1897)--don't quote me on the exact parts--I'm going off the top of my head as to what they are. Now, the heatsink requirements have been mitigated significantly and I don't need to have large smokestacks in order to play with the lights :)
This semester is a real drain on my time (robot dynamics, senior capstone design, and a bunch of other stuff), but I'm whittling away at this as time permits and a design will be ready before long...
Ciao,
--Scott
Good to hear progress Scott. Looking forward to updates :eusa_dance:
After hours of searching for "just the right" switching pre-regulator, I've given up with saving power and decided to give you all what I've been promising for years (?).
Please find attached a .zip archive that contains the PCB artwork, as well as the schematic and Gerber files (should someone want to have the boards made at a PCB shop). I have tried to annotate the PCB and schematic as much as possible, and the included bill of materials lists the heatsinks that I was picking from.
Please note that this circuit board is quite large due to my attempt at handling various user requirements and power supply options. My last portion of the PCB was to include a fuse for each of the channels, but that meant that I had to dig through my packed boxes (moving) to find the fuse holder that I used in order to draw the device on the board. All someone has to do is connect a fuse inline between each R/G/B channel's output and the 1W LED, though, so I decided to get everyone the PCB.
Fortunately for me, I have finished my electrical engineering degree (yeah!). However, I'm now in the middle of a move to Vancouver Island near Victoria, BC.
I have a much more complicated version of this that is currently in use, but it doesn't handle the 26 kHz switching frequency like this linear design uses. I will provide additional circuits and PCBs when I get a less power-hungry driver created.
Again, please know that the goal with this project was to (1) provide a proof-of-concept Procyon interface, and (2) use readily-available parts (read: through-hole or DIP parts) so that most hobbyists could make this PCB.
For those who cannot download the attached .zip file, I have posted it on my FTP site as well for your convenience. I'd recommend that you download it soon as I don't know if my domain will transfer with me to Canada.
The URL to my FTP location is: http://ganz.blueelectronlabs.com/procyonIO_linear.zip
I'm going to flash my Procyon with the latest firmware now to reduce the buzzing noise and go strobe myself into bliss.
Enjoy with my best wishes,
--Scott Thompson
Hi, Electronguy--
What a great project, and thanks a bunch for posting it here! Looks like it would make a good DIY kit... wonder if Sparkfun would be interested... it would be hard to change the PWM rate, as it's part of the audio interrupt service interrupt & would need to be moved to a separate one. Also, a higher sample rate makes for more accurate construction of the sine, pulse and triangle wave outputs.
Good luck with your next phase, and if you happen to be in the San Juan islands, do look us up! We can see Vancouver Island from where we are, on Orcas Island.
-Robert
Hello,
Anyone successfully finished this project and can share the experience, please?
Thank you!
Ted
The info was in another thread, so I merged them to this thread. See above.Quote:
Originally Posted by ted
Thank you for quick response! I saw Scott's DIY project and it's really great but it works with 1W LED only. PandoraStar/Ajna is 10W LEDs I believe and for me personally stronger light worked better than Limina's. The only problem with Pandora :) - it is very expensive!Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy
Can this DIY project be recalculated for 10W LED? Is it going to be compatible with Limina / Kashina?
I am not an "electronics wiz" and would't mind to compensate time.
I tried to order MELs, but unfortunately they wrote they don't make them any more and no information about it not available.
Do you have any other information how it can be done by any chance?
I'm not a tech person but have just basic knowledge and idea how it works and was thinking using
Relay Module with Optocoupler Isolation Support like this one:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07K5D7XNW...ing=UTF8&psc=1
Any other suggestion or info you have and can share please?
Thank you!
Old thread. I don't know if this is correct but isn't it possible to drive other LED's with it as well? I would imagine that one has to adjust the powersource accordingly if needed, recalculate the led resistor and maybe choose elektrolytcapacitors with a bit larger capacity. I am an absolute novicebut everything before the mosfet should be exactly the same shouldn't it?
With the correct modifications to the circuit I expect it can drive anything!