Does anyone here understand the requirement?

I think so. It's a completely integrated universal control and display system for all types of emergency vehicle light bars. A set of tri-color light bars can be commanded to be any color and flash in any sequence provided for in the programming. eh?

 

I think so. It's a completely integrated universal control and display system for all types of emergency vehicle light bars. A set of tri-color light bars can be commanded to be any color and flash in any sequence provided for in the programming. eh?

aha

I got the lightbar bit but the requirement details seem to change with every post and something else gets added.

Since the details are a bit vague, the most versatile and I/O efficient approach to this would be to drive the LEDs as a 7x8 or 8x8 mulitplexed matrix.

Fairly heavy programming for a beginner, though.

 

Does anyone here understand the requirement?

I am completely lost

I'm trying to understand it, but it's a bit vague. It sounds like he wants to control about 30 led modules. But it seems the modules contain 3 led's (red green and blue) which seems like it may need to control 90 led's individually.

 

the diffrent coloured leds are physically separated and a physical switch placed to change all leds over a large distance is hard for me to map seems like a lot of wires but i have some ideas
ill have it drawn out better later i apologize im running of 0 sleep from lastnight,

 

im thinking about scrapping the entire colour change led thing untill i have all the basics worked out first

 

Will the front and back led bars always flash the same pattern at the same time, or do they need to be able to flash different patterns at the same time?
Same ? for the 2 sides?

If they always do the same patterns you can reduce the number of required outputs almost in half.

 

im thinking about scrapping the entire colour change led thing untill i have all the basics worked out first

Good idea, the whole thing is an increasingly expanding mindf"*k

 

I think so. It's a completely integrated universal control and display system for all types of emergency vehicle light bars. A set of tri-color light bars can be commanded to be any color and flash in any sequence provided for in the programming. eh?

that is correct so you dont have to have 3 different bars on the same vehicle

 

to keep it simple i figured i would break it down part by part rather then having a MASSIVE amomunt of information at once , i knnow how i will wire the swithing mechinisim, ill just simply attach a wire to each ground, and then use that to chage which ground is being used and leave the others open. about the pattern yes they will have to flash diffrently while the front might be flashing left right fast. the bac might have to do a slow go right arrow pattern.

 

so i have the bais for the pysical part but now the programing ... great this will be fun

 

so i have the bais for the pysical part but now the programing ... great this will be fun

Sorry but NO!, you still have WAY more to do on the physical (hardware) part. You have hardly even begun.

1. You need to define how the user interface will work, how many switches you will need and what indicators you will need on the control panel. This is a major part of the design.

2. how many outputs you will need for all the lights.

3. What controller you will need (one that has enough I/O for what you want to control). Since you have already worked with Arduino I suggest you use one for this.

4. Come up with a finalized circuit, match all the inputs and outputs you will need to a controller (Arduino?) that has enough I/O to do the job.

5. Build a prototype board to test your code on.

 

I know how I will wire the switching mechanism, I'll attach a wire to each ground, and then use that to change which ground is being used and leave the others open.

I believe you will find it much more in keeping with standard practices to switch the power and leave the grounding to the chassis connection(s).

A different idea: Create a module for each light bar that contains several "standard" patterns and use the primary controller to tell each light bar module which standard pattern (sub-routine) to run. Your wiring will thus consist of a power wire, a ground wire, and a command wire. (Investigate, "CANN BUSS" as a command method. Assuming I spelled that wrong.)

With more sophisticated programming, you might still command each individual LED from the primary controller, but minimize the wires by sending these more specific instructions through your one (1) command wire and having a module in each light bar interpret the commands.

Summary: More brains, less copper.

 

ahhhh souds good to mee! just what will i use for each "pattern unit" ill call it? just a pic? from what i csn tell is your basicly telling me to use a digital signal to send a code to each unit to tell it what to do, forexample, code 1 = pattern 1, code 2 =pattern two ut sent though a single line. What can i use to recive it? can-buss? i would be a simple as preprogramming the pattern trigger on to the hilll then running a com wire to it right?

 

Like I said, look up the I2C bus, there's loads of material on it, just google it

 

thanks anything specific for my needs? or just read it all?

 

Take a look at the 24LC08, that's what I'd use if I were you

 

I'm not convinced that a bus system is really necessary for this application and this is why it's essential to define the functions, the quantity of LEDs, the method by which the LEDs will be driven and the number of outputs required; It looks like these issues have still not been addressed.

 

Sorry, wrong chip, 24LC08 is an EEPROM.

I meant something like the PCF8574

 

I'm not convinced that a bus system is really necessary for this application and this is why it's essential to define the functions, the quantity of LEDs, the method by which the LEDs will be driven and the number of outputs required; It looks like these issues have still not been addressed.

Since he requires so many LED clusters and so many different colours, I'm thinking the output system could be treat like an addressable RGB LED strip. He has a main controller that writes to the I2C bus, from that 2 data lines and 2 power connect linearly to each light unit. It'll save on a shed load of wire and allot of mess and confusion.

 

Since he requires so many LED clusters and so many different colours, I'm thinking the output system could be treat like an addressable RGB LED strip. He has a main controller that writes to the I2C bus, from that 2 data lines and 2 power connect linearly to each light unit. It'll save on a shed load of wire and allot of mess and confusion.

But, exactly how many LEDs and outputs does he need?