My Brother and I started a project about a week ago. It is a beer pong table with leds embedded in it. This is by far the most complex led project i've worked on.The table has about 1200 leds and 3 or 4 different functions/modes for the leds to light up to.

First there are 20 rings of leds, each ring containing 16 leds. 10 rings on each side of the table. I would like to set it up so the leds rotate sequentially around the rings. The 10 rings should rotate at the same frequency which may or may not be the same as the other 10 rings on the other side of the table. I figure the since the rotation is the same for the 10 rings on one side on the table the leds in the same position on each ring can be wire together in series, so i would need a controller that can turn on 10 leds at a time and then turn on the next set of 10 leds and do this 16 times over sequentially to get the effect i'm looking for.

Next I have a line of 128 leds on each side of the totaling 256 leds. I would like to have these act like a audio vu meter like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JIpJSvbPHU only instead of 16 leds it has to control 128 for each side.

Next there is a ring of 156 lights that also needs to light up sequentially similar to the rings.

Last there is 414 leds that just need to be switched on and off.

I know I'm asking alot but any info no matter how little is greatly appreciated. Also on a side note if anyone has any questions about residential/commercial wiring dont hesitate to ask, I'm a junior electrical engineer for my firm here in new jersey and I can help you with any residential/commercial wiring questions you might have.

 

You would probably be better off using flip-flops to turn every other one on while every other one is off. This will give a visual effect that they are rotating. Oddly, some people see them going clockwise and some going counter clockwise.

I hope you are using PWM for these, else you are gonna have one huge power draw.. on the order of 2.4A And, you are using current limiting resistors, right?

Do you have a schematic of each "ring" that you can post?

You may want to build the rings as separate circuits or modules then use a common clock source to time all of them.

Bill_Marsden (a member here) has a blog that has many led projects, including LED chasers.
http://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/blog.php?u=19834

 

Here's a pic of the LED layout http://i806.photobucket.com/albums/yy341/turkish_photos/Pong/pongtableFINISED-Model.jpg?t=1274070539

 

We cross-posted, re-read my post.

And wow, livers must be getting bigger through evolution. When I played, years ago, we only used 6 cups per side.

Are you going to keep score on the table by turning off the rings for the cups that were taken out of play?

 

lol, yea I normally play 6 cups but regulation rules there are 10 cups. I thought about setting it up so the rings would go off after nocking a cup out but i thought it my be to hard especially if linked with the other cups.

 

UMMM... Have you looked at you layout? You passed "hard" a LONG time ago.

Are you making this a one-off or are you going to build many of these?

 

Oh,
I realize i went strait past hard and went right to extremely ridiculously hard and yes this is a one-off table I dont want to ever do this again. lol

 

Then I would build a "led video wall" so after the beer pong phase passes, you can have a pretty cool video wall. Anything you can draw on the computer, in flash, video, whatever, can be displayed on it.

I guess it all depends on when you want it done.

 

that looks expensive its a 30" x 96" table how much do you think it would cost?

 

.....alot.....

At 1 LED an inch, you would need 2,880.

You can probably pick them up for a few cents a piece. So figure on $40 a thousand.
You will need around 3000, Buy them at once. Leds can change brightness and even color a little from batch to batch, even led to led. So get 3000 and mix them together. $120.. You may even get a discount for over 2500.

Then its just your time. If you and your brother do 100 each a day
200 total a day / 2800
14 days (2 weeks)

for a lifetime of awesome!

Well, it is actually a lot harder than that.You need to wire all these to drivers and multiplexers.. then a uC to control the video.

 

wait its only 120$ thats not bad at all, do you have any link or pic of what it would look like?

 

Do a search for LED video wall.

You will see thousands.

Yours will only be 1 color, (Unless you dish out for the RGB leds..)

but you can see what it looks like...basically bad a$$

 

Just a basic idea for the LEDs in the circles...

You could use some shift registers, such as a 74HC194 or 74HC299, and a clock source (like perhaps a 555 timer) to sequence them.

Just a rough schematic is attached. The yellow bar at the upper right simply allows easy display of logic outputs. I wired the shift registers to load a pattern on power-up (1110 0111 0011 1000) and then start shifting it.

If the outputs were connected to driver IC's (such as ULN2803A's) they could sink current from your LEDs.

You could use switches or a uC to set the initial load pattern.

You could turn the lights on sequentially by opening up the right/left shift loop somewhere, and feeding a logic 1 to the shift input - or several of them, for that matter. You could also turn them off sequentially by feeding a logic 0 to the shift input.

Lots of possibilities - but it still would be much easier to use a microcontroller.

 

ok, I've decided to stick with the original design and take it one step at a time starting with the row of 128 led's on the side that acts as a vu meter. I've been looking around and all I can find is boards that can only handel up to 16 led's. Anybody know where i can find one that can handel 128 led's?

 

It's time for you to consider veroboard/stripboard.

Either that, or make your own PCB's.

If you want a VU-meter type display, you can use a couple of LM3915 log dot-bar display drivers in series. See the National Semiconductor datasheet for ideas. The LM3915 can be used to drive transistors to supply additional current to all of the LEDs that you are going to have wired up.

 

I'm really looking for something thats just plug n play. It would be nice if i could just buy the board and just have to wire in the led's. I'd rather not make the whole board too.

 

In that case, you will likely have a lot of searching to do.

 

Yeah, the only way would be to have someone design the layout, then have a PCB manufacturer make the boards. then it would be soldering...a lot of soldering.
"Custom" and "Plug & Play" just dont happen together.

 

ok can i use this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JIpJSvbPHU&feature=related and instead of having 1 led hooked up to each lead, i would hook up 8 in parallel or series to each lead I think I'd get the same type of effect. also it would get me to the number of led's i have(128).

This is how he describes it:
"Audio VU meter 16 LED - 4 program PIC microcontroller + Electret Microphone.
This VU meter indicates the audio signal level.
PIC Microcontroller - PIC16F684.
Input signal - Electret Microphone (included).
Gain control - Trimmer.
16 Red LED's - diffused, 5mm, 1560mCd, 60*.
4 programs:
Program 1 - from right to left.
Program 2 - from left to right.
Program 3 - from the end to the middle.
Program 4 - from the middle to the end.
Button - choice program.
Power supply - DC 8 to 14V.
Memory - remember last selected program. "

Would it be able to light 8 up at a time?
Would series or parallel do in this situation? does it matter?

 

The board would not be capable of driving more than 1 LED per output (total 16) at a time without using driver transistors or MOSFETs.

He used a single current limiting resistor per PIC output to the anode of each LED, and the cathode of each LED is grounded.

The existing LEDs could be removed, and 16 transistors or power MOSFETs take their place.

You would need to provide current regulation for the additional LEDs you wish to drive.