Has anyone done an installation where a pattern is triggered by some kind of motion sensor (security light style)? I’d love to pick someone’s brains for how best to achieve it. I’m guessing I don’t need a sensor board, but do need a standard, not a pico (considering just taking a waterproof security light, removing the bulb/light assembly, and housing the pixelblaze, usb power, and the resistors(?) required to convert the input voltage).
And if I wanted 2-5 sensors, would be possible in a sync group? Build 2-5 of these, each with the sensor wired to IO33-39. Or, is it only the leader that transfers its sensor data to the rest of the group (in which case the leader has to be separate from the sensors, but that’s still very much achievable, just more wires and less wifi)
Also seconding my interest in this topic. It seems distance sensing is something a lot of folks working on installations would love to leverage in their work. Guidance, including wiring & code examples, are most welcome. I’ve used a VL53L1X STEMMA-QT with CircuitPython and it’s been wonderful, but would obviously love to benefit from the PixelBlaze’s superior animation & electronics.
Not sure if you want a motion sensor to just turn on the animation or a distance sensor for controlling different pattern parameters.
In the first case, a simple solution is to get a USB IR sensor from Amazon. It simply powers on whatever is plugged into it (in this case the PB) when motion is detected. There will be a few seconds delay since the PB has to start up, but I’ve tried it and it works. Different IR sensors have different auto-shutoff timers and settings.