DIY DMX USB adapter for the Z

JunkoBugley · November 27, 2019, 5:57pm

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/

othersfollow · November 27, 2019, 9:19pm

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.

GARL · April 1, 2020, 2:30pm

It’s been a while, are there any updates on this project ? I would love some tips on the process

GARL · April 3, 2020, 6:49pm

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

Tobias · April 23, 2020, 7:03pm

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

matesteinforth · May 17, 2020, 10:36am

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::

instantjuggler · May 17, 2020, 11:50am

That’s beyond amazing!!! I’d love to buy a completed one should that ever be an option

joeyfivecents · May 17, 2020, 3:11pm

matesteinforth · May 17, 2020, 5:01pm

thanks so much for the kinds words! I will make sure there will be an option

instantjuggler · May 17, 2020, 6:22pm

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!!!

HOLY · May 17, 2020, 11:08pm

INTERESTED!!! for sure

whoisrobmay · May 20, 2020, 4:21pm

This is brilliant, would definitely be interested in a prebuilt, but adding to my list of projects anyway!

GARL · June 2, 2020, 10:50am

Very nice creation, i’m still working on mine. Juste to be sure, you’re using an arduino nano and managed to get 100+ leds working ? I will have a look at your project but this seems to resolve my issue

matesteinforth · June 2, 2020, 11:27am

Hi Garl,

I am running 150 LEDs but bumping against RAM ceiling. Next step will be optimizing further and looking into FastLED lib to see what parts I need because I want to build the next Cube with 216 LEDs

GARL · June 2, 2020, 11:46am

Would you consider a project where you control more than one cube over usb with op-z ? I thought about it but am really new to soldering and electronics. Anyways good luck with your next projects, keep us updated and thanks for your input

aeonsumo · July 2, 2020, 6:54pm

I can get 256 LEDs working on the Arduino Nano with some optimization. I would have liked to get all 300 LEDs on my strip going but 16 blocks of 16 seems to be the best I can while still stable.

I tried to use Teensy 4.0 with FTDI chip and could get 288 (18 blocks of 16) but the colors seemed inverted for no reason.

JohnnyEgo · July 2, 2020, 7:48pm

would you mind to share your code?

aeonsumo · July 2, 2020, 7:56pm

Sure! DaAwesomeP assisted me with some of the optimization so I can’t take all the credit but here it is. Let me know how it works.

github.com

nickbec10/dmxusb/blob/master/examples/DMXUSB_FastLED/DMXUSB_FastLED_ArduinoNano.ino

/* DMXUSB_FastLED.ino
 * Originally created 11/25/2017 by Perry Naseck (DaAwesomeP)
 * This is an example sketch for the DMXUSB Arduino/Teensy library to drive adressable LEDs with the FastLED library.
 * https://github.com/DaAwesomeP/dmxusb/
 *
 * Copyright 2017-present Perry Naseck (DaAwesomeP)
 *
 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 * limitations under the License.
 */

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johann · August 6, 2020, 5:13pm

Super helpful, thanks a lot for this code!

I’ve tried it on a Arduino Nano with a strip of 60 leds and while it mostly work, the first pattern (1) and some effects (ramp up/down) crash the Arduino at which point I need to unplug and replug it. My guess is that it’s tapping into a LED address that does not exists but I’m not sure how to debug it since I can’t monitor the output when connected directly to the OPZ. Any ideas/suggestions?

Thanks a lot again for the great work on this!

HOLY · May 22, 2021, 4:07am

Hello people!

I am desperately trying to get DMX to work, but I am struggling and would appreciate any help

What I am using:

Kingston Nucleum
Arduino Nano Clone https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B08SM5LYWN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
WS2812B LED Tape Light https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B088JTMSYY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

For now I can light up the LED strip using some example sketches like WS2812FX, when connected to the computer…but when it comes to the DMX sketches and connecting it to the OP-Z I can’t seem to get it to work. I have used most of the above sketches and tried them, but at most I get 3 random lights lighting up at (it’s always the same 3 lights, same colors. no matter what happens on the OP-Z). These 3 lights seem to light up as soon as I connect a USB-C power cable to the Kingston hub.

Is it the Arduino clone that is the problem, or is there something else I might be missing?