geekhack
geekhack Projects => Making Stuff Together! => Topic started by: adventurepoop on Fri, 27 June 2014, 15:46:43
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If I use these to back light my keyboard, will the colors be out of sync with each other? If not I will do it, but I want the whole keyboard to change color at the same time and not have each key changing randomly on its own. Will I have to hook them up anyway special to keep them in sync??
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11448 (https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11448)
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I'm not sure how it was done but is this what you are talking about? I's like to know how to do this too.
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That's just awesome. Someone else posted very similar that he did on a Kinesis Advantage. I like it and would like to have on my keyboard in the future. Very fun.
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If I use these to back light my keyboard, will the colors be out of sync with each other? If not I will do it, but I want the whole keyboard to change color at the same time and not have each key changing randomly on its own. Will I have to hook them up anyway special to keep them in sync??
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11448 (https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11448)
I remember reading somewhere that the timing was sometimes inconsistent and that after a moment the LEDs will indeed be out of sync. I'll see if I can find back the thread.
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I'm not sure how it was done but is this what you are talking about? I's like to know how to do this too.
Not really, I want the whole keyboard to change as one and not each section on its own.
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The post I referenced that the work was come to a Kinesis... The guy used Arduino so any type of patterns can be done.
Über-coolio
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Look up how you would control an RGB LED cube with an Arduino Uno and shift registering LED drivers.
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Those cycling RGB LEDs have only two leads, do you mean it would be possible to control them just like other RBG LEDs with 4 leads?
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Those cycling RGB LEDs have only two leads, do you mean it would be possible to control them just like other RBG LEDs with 4 leads?
No I mean if I had a bunch hooked up normal would they get out of sync?
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No I mean if I had a bunch hooked up normal would they get out of sync?
Depends on how well regulated the color changing is. The only way to know for sure is to try. Buy a 5 or so and put them in parallel and see what happens.
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No I mean if I had a bunch hooked up normal would they get out of sync?
As I said:
I remember reading somewhere that the timing was sometimes inconsistent and that after a moment the LEDs will indeed be out of sync. I'll see if I can find back the thread.
If you search for "rgb cycling led out of sync", you'll see that it is a common issue with those LEDs.
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If I use these to back light my keyboard, will the colors be out of sync with each other? If not I will do it, but I want the whole keyboard to change color at the same time and not have each key changing randomly on its own. Will I have to hook them up anyway special to keep them in sync??
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11448 (https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11448)
Yes, they will go out of sync, probably fairly quickly, too. If their cycles are not too different in speeds and they don't store their last position in the cycle, you could try hooking the power for the LED's to a microcontroller and briefly interrupting power to them at an appropriate interval (time how long a full cycle takes up and use that as an interval). That should reset them to start the cycle again at the same time. You will probably notice the "blink" when they reset, though, unless they start their cycle dark and there is another point in the cycle that is dark that you can use as a reset point. You can experiment with how long they need to stay off to reset the cycle.
AFAIK, there is no way to send them some kind of timing signal to keep them in sync otherwise.
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If I use these to back light my keyboard, will the colors be out of sync with each other? If not I will do it, but I want the whole keyboard to change color at the same time and not have each key changing randomly on its own. Will I have to hook them up anyway special to keep them in sync??
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11448 (https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11448)
Yes, they will go out of sync, probably fairly quickly, too. If their cycles are not too different in speeds and they don't store their last position in the cycle, you could try hooking the power for the LED's to a microcontroller and briefly interrupting power to them at an appropriate interval (time how long a full cycle takes up and use that as an interval). That should reset them to start the cycle again at the same time. You will probably notice the "blink" when they reset, though, unless they start their cycle dark and there is another point in the cycle that is dark that you can use as a reset point. You can experiment with how long they need to stay off to reset the cycle.
AFAIK, there is no way to send them some kind of timing signal to keep them in sync otherwise.
Alright, I'll order some and experiment. Maybe like have half reset every cycle or something, I dunno. Hopefully theylee stay somewhat in time for 2 cycles.
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Yes, they will go out of sync, probably fairly quickly, too. If their cycles are not too different in speeds and they don't store their last position in the cycle, you could try hooking the power for the LED's to a microcontroller and briefly interrupting power to them at an appropriate interval (time how long a full cycle takes up and use that as an interval). That should reset them to start the cycle again at the same time. You will probably notice the "blink" when they reset, though, unless they start their cycle dark and there is another point in the cycle that is dark that you can use as a reset point. You can experiment with how long they need to stay off to reset the cycle.
AFAIK, there is no way to send them some kind of timing signal to keep them in sync otherwise.
I agree on all this.
Just a suggestion: if you have enough space to put two leds instead of one, you can always solder two of them everywhere in opposite directions. Only one will lit. By changing the polarity on a regular interval (inverting VCC and GND), you'll trigger a cycle for the other set of diods. This way, you can probably have a very stable cycle (just set the inversion at an interval equal in length with the cycle) and no blink/black state.
(just check before that they can be put in reverse, like any other diods, that may be different for this kind of diods with electronics inside)