Is anyone of you selling those nifty contraptions for dmx lighting? If not, what’s the cheapest solution on the market so a noob can get started straight away?
Cheers and keep up the good work it looks insane.
I’m interested too, at least with the Arduino part
I found this: https://note.mu/htosaki/n/nd10ce1da59b1
I think he read this article to get inspired, it’s some kind of tutorial.
Unfortunately, it is only in Japanese, with Google translate seems almost readable, but I think he also solders some parts
Worth mentioning: for Neopixels (and probably all the other strips) to work, you have to buy an external 5V 2A power supply – the current from Arduino pins won’t be enough . Adafruit links to one from product description, and I’m waiting for mine now.
How do you find out whether the Z recognized Arduino properly?
My setup is:
- Arduino NANO
- A noname powered usb-c hub.
- 60-LED NeoPixel strip.
The blinking exercise from the NeoPixel guide works fine, but that’s all. Connecting to op-z with Perry Naseck’s code onboard doesn’t show any good signs. Couple of blinks from the arduino TX/RX LEDs is the best I could get.
With Nucleum it seems to work! Kudos to all the commenters above.
Is there a crowdsourced list of op-z compatible devices yet? Not the one from the official guide.
TIL, https://www.amazon.de/dp/B01J4BO0X8/ this one appears to work. It isn’t cheaper than Nucleum, but thinner. Same as Nucleum, it has only 2 USB ports
I’ve been trying to get this to work for a couple days now with no luck. My setup:
OP-Z to Nucleum to an Arduino Nano to a 144 LED strip. I’ve got the LED strip separately powered by a 5V power supply.
I’ve uploaded the software properly with both the DMXUSB.h and FastLED.h and I only get the following message:
In file included from C:\Users\matt\Documents\Arduino\DMXUSB_FastLED\DMXUSB_FastLED.ino:26:0:
C:\Users\matt\Documents\Arduino\libraries\FastLED-master/FastLED.h:14:21: note: #pragma message: FastLED version 3.003.002
pragma message “FastLED version 3.003.002”
^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I’ve got the OP-Z on and working, but nothing come on on the LED strip. No arduino TX/RX LEDs blinks. Any ideas what i may be doing wrong? Thanks in advance for any help.
I should add that I think i may have a bad Nucleum. It emits a high pitched noise when it’s plugged in and turned on and the blink test does not work on it. The blink test does work when i use a typical Apple USB C to USB adapter.
Hi . Thanks to @lazenbleep 's posts (and others) I’ve got my Arduino Nano + 48 neopixels +5Vdc power+ nucleum hub +OP-Z working.
I’m not an expert and don’t know what your errors are but step 1 was getting the Nano and LEDs working with library and demo code: WS2812FX by Harm Aldick thru the Arduino IDE
PS… BTW those error message pragma FastLED etc etc happen anyway when I upload to my Nano…But it still works fine from the Z.
PPS - as others have said, the Nano can be directly connected to the OP-Z with a USB-C to USB-Mini for a test (probably the battery will drain fast and I would definetly follow advice about protecting the Nano with 1000uF cap and 330Ohm resistor https://www.eerkmans.nl/powering-lots-of-leds-from-arduino/
Thanks for your response. I managed to get it working. My error was the arduino nano i was using was not legitimate and didnt have a ftdi chip. Once i got the arduino nano it works, but i have the same errors as others that the opz stops giving power to the nano intermittently. And i have a defective nucleum.
Im trying to get it working with a serial chip and a teensy to see if i can power a large string of lights now. I want to see what it can do with the dotstrips.
It’s been a while, are there any updates on this project ? I would love some tips on the process
Update : I managed to make it work ( i had to change bootloaders) but i can only get 25 leds total even with some of the fixes mentionned in this thread. Anybody has done some improvements on their build ?
i’m using WS2812B leds + 5v power + arduino nano
Hey guys,
I started to experiment with DMX and the OP-Z recently.
Therefore i build a LED setup with an arduino nano.
I stumbled over the “strobe” channel in the default dmx.json configuration.
It is not documented in the manual. Does it exist, or is the defualt dmx.json config wrong?
Cheers
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Hey all,
Just wanted to chime in and thank @Multi_Sensor for thinking of this cool hack! I’ve been busy building something really cool that I’d like to share with you https://github.com/MateSteinforth/OP-Z-Cube
A beautiful light object driven by the OP-Z! For now this is a prototype, yet I uploaded the Arduino Nano Sourcecode to GitHub so you guys can have fun. How does it work?
The list of numbers in the beginning of the source code are the LED IDs that you want to be played per one of the 16 OP-Z channels. So if you connect your LEDs via WS2818 or similar controller, each LED will have a number. Just put any combination of numbers in here you want. So for example, if you have 160 LED and you want 10 to light up for each channel, just put 0,1,…10 in the first row, 11,12…20 in the second and so on.
The upside of using this is that you’re completely flexible, so that way I was able to do this cool mapping to the diagonals of the cube you see in the video.
The only other parameters you need to set are MAXLED which is the channel with the most LEDs you have, and DATA_PIN which is the Pin on your Arduino you use to connect to your LEDs.
And yes, you will need a powered and compatible USB Hub or you can just provide your LEDs with external power, whichever you like.
I will probably also upload the hardware design files so you can make your own cube!
I’m also thinking of making pre-built ones with beautiful black PCBs like the Teenage Engineering Pocket Operators have. If you’d be interested in this, LMK.
Cheers 
::mate::
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That’s beyond amazing!!! I’d love to buy a completed one should that ever be an option
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thanks so much for the kinds words! I will make sure there will be an option 
sorry, was on my phone earlier and couldn’t write very much but- its a great idea to have an accessory which can use the dmx messages from the op-z right away, plug and play! i love the diagonal mapping you have in the video, and the stand for the cube is also a great detail. really appreciate this project!!!
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