Arduino Star Sky Project: LED vs. fiber optics

Thread Starter

papperlapub

Joined Nov 19, 2017
2
Hi Everyone,

I am new to this forum and hope you´re all doing well.

I have a question regarding a project I am about to start on and would like to ask you for advice for the very initial start. I hope to find some good advice regarding what basic overall system I should use for this project.

General Info on the project:

- I want to build a star sky for my kids for christmas, where I can control which stars are on/off and the brightness of the stars with an arduino.
- The result should look something like this, albeit not that big: http://www.instructables.com/id/Arduino-Star-Map/
- This uses a fiber optics as basis, where I cannot control each star individually.
- I thought that using LEDs would allow me to address each one individually for example using DotStar LEDs
- Using LEDs (probably a few hundred) puts of course strong emphasise on safety and the circuit. I am an old mechanical engineer and I had training in basics electronics, but I have to be honest and say that it is a loong time ago. So I need to refresh this.
- I live in continental Europe so power outtake here is 240V, 50Hz

Where do I need help:
- I am not so worried about the programming of the arduino, but I need help to figure out the circuit and the basic components. So my question is: Do you recommend using LEDs or optical fibers, are there any new technical devices that would allow me using optical fibers where I can address each star separately? So I know it is a very basic question and I am sorry, if this is a too open question for this forum, but I would be very thankful for any tip in what direction I should start the journey of this project.

All the best and thank you very much!!
 

Thread Starter

papperlapub

Joined Nov 19, 2017
2
Maybe something like this.
.
Dear DNA Robotics. Thank you very much!! This looks really promising and it seems to make the whole circuit much easier. If I can work with an Arduino with this (I will contact the manufacturer) then I’m going to start working on the circuit design.

Thanks again for the help!
 
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