Looney Labs Icehouse Mailing list Archive

RE: [Icehouse] Volcano preference question

  • FromScott Sulzer <ssulzer@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • DateSat, 28 Jan 2006 23:00:10 -0800
First off, thanks for the information from your experiences.


That said, I like the idea of having the LEDs display colors
for set up. Since most people favor a random layout, having a
circuit that displays a "random" pattern for set-up followed by
an all white illuminating mode would be super-cool.

While this sounds really cool, there are several problems that I can see
with it.

First of all, you are going to need 2-3 different LED's for each space.
White, tri-color, and one more, or two different tri-colors if you can
find them in the right color selections.  That's 50-75 LED's for a
single board.  That's not too bad, considering that you're going to need
25 for the white light board, and 25 more for the pattern, just don't
know the cost difference between a tri-color and a single color LED.

You need to either wire every single LED directly to the controller, or
have them wired to a switch that can determine which LED is lit to which
color.  This is much more complex than simply wiring the LED's in
parallel or series in one large circuit.

The simple setup I proposed would only require a three position switch
(off, on, setup)  While the randomizer would need the switch, a
randomizer, a timer, and some way of making certain that there are only
5 of each color displayed.  More complex of a circuit than I feel like
designing right now, and you will also have to add in the cost of the
chips.  I suppose you could just try and use a programmable chip, but
those are costly too, and you have to have the right equipment to
program them.

Besides, the people who would want to use a random start pattern are the
ones already addicted to Icehouse. :)  Don't need to attract their
attention with shiny things anymore.

Scott Sulzer

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