ajfisher/node-pixel

Library for using addressable LEDs (such as NeoPixels/WS2812) with Firmata and JohnnyFive

ajfisher

@ajfisher

Then on the Node side you're pretty much doing the same thing with a new method eg: strip.range(m, n).colour(rrggbb)

If you note the above you can see I've added a range intermediary there because I think API wise there's a bunch of things we could do on a range for example shifting and cycling across a range of pixels as you sort of do on a Strip already

but don't worry too much about that at this point, it's just pre-planning on the design

KronKraken

@KronKraken_twitter

So I got something working

But I've been having some difficulties implementing it in a way where the rest of the API can relate to

like to use .range().shift()

Also didn't get why you want to add a second value to the colors

So for now I think it'd be better if I don't submit a pull request

ajfisher

@ajfisher

Have you got it in a branch and I can have a look?

The rationale for the second color value was so you can interpolate between the start and end pixel across the values - eg make a rainbow in one line of code or just gradient blend between points etc.

But start with simple single colour applied to all the pixels in the range and that will be awesome - much of that stuff was so it's documented so we can go back to it as well.

Eric Brearley

@ebrearley

I just spent the weekend installing LED bling into my kitchen. Maybe a little bit to the dismay of fiancé - but hey she knew that this was part of the deal when she met me :p! ANYWAY!

The setup is a strip of approximately 300 SK6812 RGBW LEDS, controlled by an Arduino MEGA (so i wouldn’t have to worry about memory constraints).

It already looks pretty good (native Adafruit RGBW test sketch)!
http://imgur.com/Ezx08bs

I’m a web dev by day, which means i have grand plans for controlling the setup remotely. Web control, native app, wifi switches - the works. And it turns out that there’s a bit of groundwork to do.

node-pixel needs me (or someone) to:

Add support for the SK6812 protocol (ajfisher/node-pixel#73)
Add RGBW to the supported colourspaces (ajfisher/node-pixel#64)

And while i’m at it, add back the interchange configuration option (ajfisher/node-pixel#93) - I have a MEGA, what even is small memory capacity? ;)

I’m a newbie (one day into it now) to the world of microcontrollers, interchange, backpacks, loading firmware. Send me your un-newbie-ifying reading recommendations please! In saying that, I won’t be doing anything quickly, and I will be asking for help.

So, hI! And be speaking to you guys soon!

Eric Brearley

@ebrearley

First step is done, I have flashed my arduino with the node-pixel firmata and written a simple test app in node. The RGBW SK6812 strip lights up and it's showing a sequence of what looks like W, RGB and WR. the leading pixel is green.

(oh i'm showing full white, 255,255,255)

I can address each pixel individually, win!

Eric Brearley

@ebrearley

I'm assuming that this will be resolved with the addition of the RGBW colourspace

I also want to be able to address 300 pixels on a single data line, so adding that to the list too

ajfisher

@ajfisher

Apologies for tardiness on reply - I did see this yesterday but we're mid cut-over week on site launch! Love the gif and reflection in the mirror.

So I don't have any of those LEDs to play with but if you change the byte order in nodepixel config did that fix it for you?

ajfisher

@ajfisher

nvm you probably can't fix that until you pad out the white channel. You could potentially hack that in the firmware to simply pad that byte with a zero for the moment.

In theory if you bump this to 4 it should pad out the last byte as well.

https://github.com/ajfisher/node-pixel/blob/master/firmware/src/libs/ws2812/ws2812.cpp#L15

Eric Brearley

@ebrearley

No probs! I'm enjoying it! I'll try to implement it nicely tonight if I have time (instead of hacking it in) and send you a pull request. But i might resort to the hack on account of not really understanding a great deal of what I'm doing.

I was thinking of comparing the latest adafruit library and porting across node-pixel again to update it. I wouldn't mind the setBrightness() method. Although I'm sure it's not included already for a good reason.

Eric Brearley

@ebrearley

Okay I was a touch ambitious, but making progress non the less. I need to find out how to do a few basic things, like get a log out from the formata to see the args as they flow through. What I do have is blue and green led's lighting up, but nothing else exciting. I'll push what I've done so you can have a looksie.

Eric Brearley

@ebrearley

Okay here's my start ajfisher/node-pixel#101

Jordana

@JordanaHarrison

Hello, does anyone know of a way to animate through pixel brightness with this library? I don't see any built-in thing in the docs. I'd like to do a pulsing animation, but want to see if there's a way beyond just decrementing the RGB values. Thanks!

Luis Montes

@monteslu

@ajfisher the Melbourne event isnt on the nodebotsday repo

possumus

@possumus

@ajfisher Can I use an Adafruit Trinket as the I2C backpack?

ajfisher

@ajfisher

@possumus sort of - you can give it a go but debugging is hard on a trinket. I actually started with the trinket as my backpack but lack of serial port for debugging just made it really, really hard.

Also because they aren't really designed for any serial interfaces they use this weird thing called USI which means your I2C comms can get a bit iffy. My suggestion is that if you have time just order a cheap Nano or Pro Mini from ebay for a few $$ and you'll get something very useful in a tiny form factor.

possumus

@possumus

@ajfisher Thanks a lot for getting back to me! I had a Trinket lying around and thought it would be a quick hack. I just ordered Nano! Will keep you posted and thanks again for the great library :)

possumus

@possumus

@ajfisher Hi again! So I got my hands on a nano and followed the "I2C Backpack Installation" by installing the Arduino IDE, then uploading the backpack.ino (found in nedo-pixel/firmware/build/backpack). Then I ran the johnnyfive-i2c.js from the examples folder. Here is what I get:
1502418425559 Available /dev/ttyUSB0
1502418425611 Connected /dev/ttyUSB0
1502418435621 Device or Firmware Error A timeout occurred while connecting to the Board.

Please check that you've properly flashed the board with the correct firmware.
See: https://github.com/rwaldron/johnny-five/wiki/Getting-Started#trouble-shooting

If connecting to a Leonardo or Leonardo clone, press the 'Reset' button on the board, wait approximately 11 seconds for complete reset, then run your program again.
events.js:165
throw err;
^

Error: Uncaught, unspecified "error" event. ([object Object])
at Board.emit (events.js:163:17)
at Board.log (/home/pi/Workspace/neoPixelTest/node-pixel/node_modules/johnny-five/lib/board.js:635:8)
at Board.(anonymous function) [as error] (/home/pi/Workspace/neoPixelTest/node-pixel/node_modules/johnny-five/lib/board.js:646:14)
at Board.<anonymous> (/home/pi/Workspace/neoPixelTest/node-pixel/node_modules/johnny-five/lib/board.js:390:14)
at ontimeout (timers.js:386:14)
at tryOnTimeout (timers.js:250:5)
at Timer.listOnTimeout (timers.js:214:5)

I found a similar post in the issue list which dealing with the Frimata on an Uno and not the backpack. Could you please help us?

Rajesh

@Rajesh_YRe_twitter

@ajfisher / all I am using the rainbow-dynamic.js example. I have exported the symbols and am invoking these functions from another js instance. This works fine. I can run the rainbow program but when I invoke a strip.off() or using strip.pixel(x).color it doesn't work till the previous color pattern is completed.

is there any way to immediately stop the pattern

@possumus I too have the same problem. This means that the board is not able communicate with pixel. Try to load a blank loop from the Arduino ide. After that retry the interchange step. It is a bit of struggle.

ajfisher

@ajfisher

@possumus So don't forget a backpack is to connect to another device over I2C. See this doc / diagram for some additional info: https://github.com/ajfisher/node-pixel/blob/master/docs/johnnyfive-i2c.md

@Rajesh_YRe_twitter Can you show me some code that you're trying to run here? That dynamic rainbow uses an interval to update the colour cycle. All you should need to do is stop the interval from running and then send the strip.off() command

Rajesh

@Rajesh_YRe_twitter

Below is the code

var strip_off = function()
{
console.log("[J5]:Led Stop called");
var led_counter = 0;

  if(rainbow_timer != null) { 
     stop_loop = "true"; 
     clearInterval(rainbow_timer); 
     rainbow_timer.unref();
  }
  for (;led_counter < LED_COUNT; ++led_counter)
      strip.pixel(led_counter).color("#000000");

  //strip.off();
  strip.show();
  board.io.reset();

}
function dynamicRainbow( delay ){
console.log( 'dynamicRainbow' );

    var showColor;
    var cwi = 0; // colour wheel index (current position on colour wheel)
    rainbow_timer = setInterval(function(){
    console.log("Changing now!");
    if (++cwi > 255) {
          cwi = 0;
    }
    for(var i = 0; i < strip.length; i++) {
        showColor = colorWheel( ( cwi+i ) & 255 );
       strip.pixel( i ).color( showColor );
    }
    strip.show();
}, 1000/delay);

}

// Input a value 0 to 255 to get a color value.
// The colors are a transition r - g - b - back to r.

function colorWheel( WheelPos ){
var r,g,b;
WheelPos = 255 - WheelPos;

    if ( WheelPos < 85 ) {
        r = 255 - WheelPos * 3;
        g = 0;
        b = WheelPos * 3;
    } else if (WheelPos < 170) {
        WheelPos -= 85;
        r = 0;
        g = WheelPos * 3;
        b = 255 - WheelPos * 3;
    } else {
        WheelPos -= 170;
        r = WheelPos * 3;
        g = 255 - WheelPos * 3;
        b = 0;
    }
    // returns a string with the rgb value to be used as the parameter
    return "rgb(" + r +"," + g + "," + b + ")";

}
var strip_off = function()
{
console.log("[J5]:Led Stop called");
var led_counter = 0;

  if(rainbow_timer != null) { 
     stop_loop = "true"; 
     clearInterval(rainbow_timer); 
     rainbow_timer.unref();
  }
  for (;led_counter < LED_COUNT; ++led_counter)
      strip.pixel(led_counter).color("#000000");

  //strip.off();
  strip.show();
  board.io.reset();

}
function dynamicRainbow( delay ){
console.log( 'dynamicRainbow' );

    var showColor;
    var cwi = 0; // colour wheel index (current position on colour wheel)
    rainbow_timer = setInterval(function(){
    console.log("Changing now!");
    if (++cwi > 255) {
          cwi = 0;
    }
    for(var i = 0; i < strip.length; i++) {
        showColor = colorWheel( ( cwi+i ) & 255 );
       strip.pixel( i ).color( showColor );
    }
    strip.show();
}, 1000/delay);

}

// Input a value 0 to 255 to get a color value.
// The colors are a transition r - g - b - back to r.

function colorWheel( WheelPos ){
var r,g,b;
WheelPos = 255 - WheelPos;

    if ( WheelPos < 85 ) {
        r = 255 - WheelPos * 3;
        g = 0;
        b = WheelPos * 3;
    } else if (WheelPos < 170) {
        WheelPos -= 85;
        r = 0;
        g = WheelPos * 3;
        b = 255 - WheelPos * 3;
    } else {
        WheelPos -= 170;
        r = WheelPos * 3;
        g = 255 - WheelPos * 3;
        b = 0;
    }
    // returns a string with the rgb value to be used as the parameter
    return "rgb(" + r +"," + g + "," + b + ")";

}
board.on("ready", function() {

console.log("Board ready, lets add light");

strip = new pixel.Strip({
data: 6,
length: LED_COUNT,
color_order: pixel.COLOR_ORDER.GRB,
board: this,
controller: "FIRMATA",
});

strip.on("ready", function() {

    console.log("Strip ready, let's go");

    var colors = ["red", "green", "blue", "yellow", "cyan", "magenta", "white"];
    //var current_colors = [0,1,2,3,4];
    var current_pos = [0,1,2,3,4];

    current_pos.forEach((pos) => {
        strip.pixel(pos).color(colors[pos]);
    });
    strip.show();


    /*current_pos.forEach((pos) => {
        strip.pixel(pos).color("#000

000");
});
strip.show();

    var blinker = setInterval(function() {

        strip.shift(1, pixel.FORWARD, true);

        strip.show();
    }, 1000/fps);*/
});
this.repl.inject({
         strip: strip
});

});

exports.strip=strip;
exports.board=board;
exports.strip_on=strip_on;
exports.strip_off=strip_off;
exports.dynamicRainbow=dynamicRainbow;

I invoke dynamicRainbow, strip_off and strip_on from repl or otherwise

Rajesh

@Rajesh_YRe_twitter

from another script

Rajesh

@Rajesh_YRe_twitter

Also just wondering will a 144 led WS2812B strip be supported in firmata mode? Or should I switch to I2Cbackpack

Rajesh

@Rajesh_YRe_twitter

Tried the basic johnnyfive.js example also with the blinker if I leave it running for a few secs the whole Raspberry Pi hangs :worried:

ajfisher

@ajfisher

@Rajesh_YRe_twitter if you're on an RPi have you updated the I2C sync boot directive?

That code is a bit hard to follow due to the formatting from gitter. can you pop it in a Gist or Pastebin or something?

will a 144 led WS2812B strip be supported in firmata mode

Yes - you can have about 200 pixels

Jean-Philippe Côté

@djipco

Hey guys! Quick question: does node-pixel support RGBW Neopixels?

Jean-Philippe Côté

@djipco

On a related note, Adafruit says the following about the 60 LEDs ring: "May ship with either WS2812B or SK6812-based LEDs." Will it work with node-pixel if I receive the SK6812 ?

Jean-Philippe Côté

@djipco

I got my answer regarding RGBW Neopixels. They do not work. Are there any plans to support them? I see there is a PR (ajfisher/node-pixel#101) but work seems to have stopped...

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