Well as I mentioned in my prior post, there’s been a few family issues pop up that had side tracked any progress on my Christmas display. Since then, things have slowly begun to go back to normal and I have resumed my interest in getting a few things done in order to put on a show at all. It appears that I will just be lucky to get the hardware and show pieces complete, so I’m not anticipating having any time to sequence. As much as I hate to do it, I think I will have to adapt sequences that have been done by others to my show for this year in order to get anything put out at all. Naturally I will attribute anyone whose sequences I adapt to my show.
Since my last real post, I haven’t accomplished a whole lot. I’ve been playing a bit more with Vixen, learning some more of the ins and outs. I have three of the four DMX to Renard wiring boards installed and tested. The wireless PCBs and parts have came and been assembled. For the most part the wireless works flawlessly. One of my RX modules, however isn’t cooperating. It flickers constantly whenever a signal is being sent. With the help of RJ at DLA, I’ve narrowed it down to the PIC, which means it needs replaced. Not too expensive of an item, but when you throw shipping on top of that, I just don’t have the money right now to be doing a Mouse order. I do need some other stuff though, namely parts to get my FM transmitter working.
I don’t think I’ve mentioned about the FM transmitter. Someone on DIYC was able to get ahold of some of the Vastelec ones which is ultimately what I wanted anyhow because they were like $11, but now I need some parts to make the connections to the board. I could just solder to it, but it would be nice to make it modular in case it ever needs replaced.
I’ve decided to put a few of the pixels that I have assembled into some ceramic pumpkins that we put out for Halloween. I laminated some tissue paper and put it over the openings of the pumpkin to diffuse the light from the pixels. I made up a module of 2 pixels and put it into a food storage container to keep them waterproof. The container then goes into the pumpkin. The effect is very nice. I will try to get some video once I put them out. I hope to get the FM transmitter working by Halloween and perhaps synchronize the pumpkins to something spooky. I may even make up some more modules and put them in the pumpkins that my wife and kids carve rather than candles.
Posted in Miscellaneous |
