Hey there!
I came up with a project that I’ve been working on printing with my 3d printer for around a month now, and am finally getting to the LED stages of it and I’m realizing I have 0 zero idea what I’m doing.
My current build idea is a 16x16 cube for a Festival Totem (only 5 sides have lights) made from 3d printed panels of Multiboard with custom clips to hold in each strand of LEDs. According to my count, I’m currently looking at around 1600 LEDs to cover the 5 sides. I’ve already purchased multiple strands of the APA102/SK9822 LEDs, a Pixelblaze, Sensor Expander, and the Output Expander (just bought it all lol)
I’m a bit confused on how to power everything and wiring all the strands together. Do I need to buy a 5v Power Supply to sit inside the totem? How many hours of power will I get? Help me Obi Wan, I’m confused as f***.
Hi Fish.
Welcome to the forum. I don’t have any experience with 3D cubes, but what I do know is that if you could view all of the forum build guides regarding cubes, you may find some of your questions answered. Watching how other people have built something similar to what you want to build will let you decide whether to build a copy of another cube or something uniquely yours.
Power supplies are personal decisions, some are happy with transformers and cords, but, because Pixelblaze is wifi based, I prefer wireless. Your proposed load would be 1600 X .3W, or 480W with every diode powered displaying white. Probably overkill, but 50% of that would be a reasonable starting point. I make my own 12V Lithium battery packs and 12V-5V converters. AliExpress has many good choices, choose a higher capacity than you think you need, aluminum case and heat dissipating fins leave you with one less worry about how your cube will work and for how long.
I don’t know anything about 3D mapping, but this forum contains tons of info if you look for it.
Come up with some proposals and post them here for discussion and I’m sure you’ll get some assistance.
Good luck, you’ve chosen the right controller for the job.