Beacon4

From Hackstrich
Revision as of 15:12, 22 May 2012 by SarahEmm (talk | contribs) (Enclosure idea)

Beacon4 will be the fourth incarnation of the flagpole beacon, for Burning Man 2012. This year the plan is to take a different approach, and light the entire scaffold tower rather than just a beacon on top of the flagpole.

Project Status

  • 2012-04-30: Started planning the power architecture for the project.
  • 2012-04-29: Work continuing on IO-DMX module.
  • 2012-04-24: Permission received!
  • 2012-04-23: Requested permission from NeonBunny to attach LEDs to the tower.
  • 2012-04-22: Started putting together idea.

Outstanding Issues

  • Software we were thinking of using was QLC (but it only supports 4 universes) or MagicQ (but it's x86-only which means more power draw)
    • If we go x86, the fit-PC might be a good choice, it's a 6-8W x86 box in a small metal enclosure

Ideas/Plans

  • Main idea is to cover most of the scaffold tower in addressable LED strips, driven by multiple StrichLux modules
  • Art-Net will be used between the controller and the StrichLux box
    • Backup plan is to have a USB hub and one OpenDMX USB interface per universe, driving the StrichLux boxes via IO-DMX input modules
    • IO-DMX input module could be brought along either way and swapped to manually control the "display"
  • BeagleBone is being looked at to control the whole display
    • <1W idle, 1.75W full load
    • Comes with onboard Ethernet
  • Need to find a fanless very low power 4 or 5 port Ethernet switch
    • Allied Telesis AT-FS705LE V5 might work, it's rugged, low power, and cheap

System Components

  • BeagleBone (controller)
  • 4-port fanless Ethernet switch
  • 1 or 2 StrichLux boxes (transform engine/protocol converter)
  • Many LED strips (need to work out dimensions)
  • Power setup (need to work out power details)
  • Debugging terminal (XO-1?)

Power Details

  • Power requirements (peak)
    • BeagleBone - 1.75W
    • Ethernet Switch - 1.7W (assuming AT-FS705LE V5)
    • StrichLux box(es) - ???
    • LEDs - 10W/m (need to measure to confirm)

Power Architecture

http://www.asciiflow.com/#4007824742034929919/13747898[YOB-2]
                                                                              +--------------+
                                                                         +--->| LED Strip  0 |
                                                                         |    +--------------+
                                                                         |
                                                                         |    +--------------+
                                                       +---------------+ | +->| LED Strip  1 |
                                +--------------+       |               +-+ |  +--------------+
                                |              |       |   StrichLux   +---+
                                |     Dome     |    +->| Controller A  +---+  +--------------+
                                |   Lighting   |    |  |               +-+ +->| LED Strip  2 |
                                |              |    |  +---------------+ |    +--------------+
                                +--------------+    |                    |
                                        ^           |                    |    +--------------+
                                        |           |                    +--->| LED Strip  3 |
                             +----------+---------+ |                         +--------------+
                             |                    | |
                             |                    | |                         +--------------+
                             |                    +-+                    +--->| LED Strip  4 |
                             |                    |                      |    +--------------+
                             |                    |                      |
                             |                    |                      |    +--------------+
                             |                    |    +---------------+ | +->| LED Strip  5 |
    +---------------+        |                    |    |               +-+ |  +--------------+
    |               |        |    Distribution    |    |   StrichLux   +---+
    |    Battery    +=======>|                    +--->| Controller B  +---+  +--------------+
    |               |        |        Box         |    |               +-+ +->| LED Strip  6 |
    +---------------+        |                    |    +---------------+ |    +--------------+
                             |                    |                      |
                             |                    |                      |    +--------------+
                             |                    |                      +--->| LED Strip  7 |
                             |                    |                           +--------------+
                             |                    +-+
                             |                    | |                         +--------------+
                             +--+-------+---------+ |                    +--->| LED Strip  8 |
                                |       |           |                    |    +--------------+
                      +---------+       |           |                    |
                      v                 v           |                    |    +--------------+
              +--------------+   +--------------+   |  +---------------+ | +->| LED Strip  9 |
              |              |   |              |   |  |               +-+ |  +--------------+
              | Convienience |   |    System    |   |  |   StrichLux   +---+
              |   Outlets    |   |  Controller  |   +->| Controller C  +---+  +--------------+
              |              |   |              |      |               |   +->| LED Strip 10 |
              +--------------+   +--------------+      +---------------+      +--------------+

LED Details

  • Length required (very roughly until I get real numbers from Skibit)
    • Main vertical bars: 4 * 20ft = 80ft
    • Ladder vertical bars: 10 * 3ft = 30ft (but 2 of those are near ground level)
    • Rigid guys: 4 * 6ft = 24ft
    • Ladder rungs: 8 * 4 * 1.5ft = 36ft
    • Total: 170ft (plus probably want a bit extra just in case, so 11 strips or 180ft)
    • That's 1760 LEDs and 550W peak!

StrichLux Enclosures

  • Each StrichLux controller with its 4 output modules, 1 input module, and 1 power module will need an enclosure of some kind.
    • Pelican case? Could do one larger one with all 3 controllers in it, or 3 smaller ones
    • Assuming each StrichLux box has its own enclosure, would need a bunch of connections made through it:
      • Power - 2x12V @ 20A each - 4 20A power pins
      • Ethernet input - RJ45 - 1 RJ45
      • Strip outputs - SPI+5V - 2 signal pins, 2 10A power pins each x 4