LED tube build

[o865324]

Inspired by other threads on building these tubes I'm going to have a go at building my own. They'll be used in a weekend hobby rock and roll band, where the emphasis is on quick setup and tear down.

Here is where I am so far with design considerations.

I've ordered the LED strips which will take a couple of months to get here, and also a tube.

Any comments much appreciated. I'm sure I'm missing lots of things.

Mechanical

Requirement	Solution	Comments
Tube	https://www.ledspace.co.uk/products/2m-64mm-wide-mount-profile-base-pmma-diffuser	I wanted easy to stack and transport, and good heat dissipation. These will hopefully be ideal. I can cut them down from 2m if I need to. They were also not very expensive.
LED layout	Undecided	I expect it will be 3 strips wide by approx 100 LEDs (2 universes). I will see if 6 strips wide by 100 LEDs (4 Universes) if this fits in the fixture.
LED strip mounting	Undecided	I'm not sure if the tape on the back of the LEDs will be sticky enough for the aluminium fixture. So possibly combined with hotmelt glue gun.
Base	Undecided	Probably a painted OSB3 or plywood base. With levelling legs like Jack has! Needs to safely incorporate the PSU, wifi AP, and LED controller.
Mechanical fixing between tube and base	Undecided	The tube is long, so it needs some mechanical reinforcement I think between it and the base. Not sure how to do this yet. Alternatively I wonder if I could attach magnetic plates to the edge of the tube and the base rather than a proper fixing.

Electrical

LED Strips	https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1m-5m-WS2812B-Smart-led-pixel-strip-Black-White-PCB-30-60-144leds-m-pixel-WS2811IC/32725540374.html	5m, white backing, 60 LEDs per metre, IP30.
Mains voltage (240V) connectors	IEC c13 c14	Standard "kettle" leads. I want to be able to plug one tube into the next, so the fixture will have an in and out IEC connector, like DMX lights.
WiFi	Mikrotik hAP ac lite	I want to have wifi capability with cable backup. I also want to be able to plug one tube into the next, so need at least 3 ethernet ports. One for network in, one for network out, one for the LED controller. I also want the wifi to operate on 5GHz as 2.4 can get congested. I don't want changes in wifi standards to make the LED controller obsolete, so the wifi device will be separate from the LED controller. I use Mikrotik switches and routers in the rest of my house.
LED Power distribution	Undecided	Will start by testing single 5v power feed at bottom of tube for each of the 3 strips. If I get colour or brightness problems at the top of the tube, then I'll run solidcore 2.5mm power cable (UK house wiring standard) up to the top of the tube and power the strips there as well.
LED Controller	Undecided	I'm looking at either http://smartshow.lighting/netws-340/ or the 4 universe equivalent or the https://dmxking.com/led-pixel-control/ledmx4-pro. Needs to be Ethernet, and probably sACN.
Low voltage (5V + data) connectors	Undecided	I use Anderson Powerpole for other hobbies, which are stackable so they would be my default. Speakon is an alternative from Jack's thread but very expensive.
PSU	Undecided	Power requirement is either 100W or 200W depending on number LEDs. Probably use a 5V Meanwell PSU.
Battery	Undecided	For minimum setup time it would be nice to have battery power. Assume 50W average load for 3 hours for a live band set. So that means a 150wH usable capacity battery. That suggests at least a  15cell 18650 pack. Alternatively I do have a few Makita 18v 5Ah tool packs which gives me 90Wh, so if the average load was less then I could possibly use these. Something to test when I've built one.
Fusing	Undecided	Probably automotive blade fuses

[Mathieu]

A quick note about WIFI. I've been testing a WIFI mesh system lately: the Linksys Velop. Comparatively to my previous Cisco WIFI router, it handles multicast and broadcast way better. The unicast speed is also on a completely another level. One big difference is that the network doesn't seem to drop when it's overloaded. The range is also much better since you can add nodes to the system to extend the range without the speed dropping too much. 

Broadcast: about 150 ArtNET packets/s. 

Unicast: > 18000 ArtNET packet/s. This is more than 450 universes @ 40fps. 

Tests done by sending with ELM and receiving with ArtNetominator. Both computers connected to the WIFI.

So you definitely want to use unicast (even with sACN) to get good performances. More testing needed, but using this kind of mesh system may be the way to go.

[o865324]

Thanks Mathieu, that's good to know. The MikroTiks have their own mesh system, so I will give that a try.

I've decided to try a 30A DC to DC converter to get from any input voltage < 36V to 5V

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-Shipping-DC-DC-Converter-Regulator-48V-to-12V-10A-120W-Step-Down-Waterproof-Car-Power/32516634808.html

That means I can mount the module on the back of the fixture and the 5V run is kept as short as possible. Also reduces the current through the connectors down to the PSU and lets me directly connect almost any battery.

Depending on final power requirements I might be able to use 135W 19V laptop power supplies which are available for a few pounds each.

[o865324]

Here's the 1st prototype in action in full daylight. Driven using ELM fed with parameters from Lightjams.

https://youtu.be/azfjNQdCkkk

To use I just have to put the battery in and slot the fixture into the stand. I'm using artnet over WiFi. This fixture takes up 4 universes with 624 LEDs. It automatically connects to the wifi AP in my gig-rack.

The display showing 16.9 is a low voltage cutoff unit for the Makita battery. Average load I think will be around 20 watts so will last 5 to 8 hours on 1 battery.

For the next one I'll make some improvments.

1. Add fusing on each strip at both ends (12 mini blade automotive fuse holders).

2. The fixture slots into the stand using the t-slot. I'd like to simplify the stand, but not decided how.

3. Ignore the wooden strips, they are just there because I havent added adjustable feet onto the stand yet, so the bolts protrude underneath.

[Mathieu]

Wow, great work! 

[Jürgen]

COOL....This is GREAT !!!!

 

please post the time when testet how long the Makita-Battery works in reality.... 

[Jürgen]

Fuses .....yes, good Idea ;-)  (.....Smoke on the water)

one Problem with the Battery..... You can not calculate with the full Energy because

The Converter converts a lot of Energy into Heat!.... (The larger the voltage diffrages )  

36V to 5V   means a lot of Losses

[o865324]

DC DC Converter spec says up to 92% efficient, although this is via Aliexpress!

It stays cool under normal operation, and gets slightly warm under full load (170W drawn from the battery @ full white)

This is an effect light, not stage illumination so it will almost never run at full power, and the intensity will mostly be turned right down, otherwise it gives a headache! Under these condittions it was drawing 20 to 30 watts. The idle load is 9 watts.

Here is build 2 - with fuses and quick connectors

I've decided to move the electronics out of the fixture and into some aluminium box section which will also serve as the base. So all that comes to the fixture is 5V, 0V and signal.

[Jürgen]

Cool ....makes sense

....this is my "box" mounted on a 2 point Truss .....

[o865324]

I've now built 4 of these things, Gigged twice with them. Here's a short video during lightcheck which doesn't really do them justice.

https://youtu.be/BrBNQdV5fVY

I have Lightjams sending the Hue and Intensity to ELM, which means the colours are sycned to the rest of our lights.

I have the sticks off in between songs, a solid colour during the 1st part of songs, and then a moving effect during choruses etc.

At the end of last night's gig I still had 3 of 5 bars left on each Makita battery. Gig was 2 x 1 hour sets. I was only using 1 battery per stick, even though I've added mountings for 2 batteries on each stick. The current drawn is no where near max, and the regulator and stick does not even get slightly warm. This is probbably becuase I don't use white very much.

They are fully wireless - the 5GHz access point on each stick connects to the WiFi point in my 4U rack, and I can use wired if I need to. Total bandwidth used is 4Mb/s. Each stick takes about 1Mb/s and has 654 pixels and takes 4 universes of Artnet.

I'm still not decided on the attachment mechanism for the stick to the base - I have 2 that use toggle clamps and angle brackets, and 2 that use another bit of aluminium box section as a "shoe". Need to think about it a bit more.

I have not yet managed to get the stick to "drop into" the base and align with the connector. The connector is on a flylead from the base at the moment. I need to finalise the attachment mechanism 1st.

I've put all four of them complete with bases and batteries into a wheeled ski bag which makes for easy transport.

Here's a few pics.

[Jürgen]

Looks good ! ....very good idea with the Makita's ....

[igorrob...@gmail.com]

Very nice and usefull post.

Have you traced how much it cost?

(How you connect led to the wireless?)

Thank you

[Jack]

Wonderful Job ! Well done. I´d love to see them with some music.

Very nice to see you build this.

[o865324]

Thought I'd update my thread from 3.5 years ago to show the tubes in a video. Sorry it took so long! As I'm not gigging at the moment, I've just mounted them on the wall in our Summerhouse/Cinema/Music room. In this video they are driven from ELM in "auto" mode with the music coming from Spotify.

I'm still really pleased with them.

https://youtu.be/4fUiBJP4Km8

[Mathieu]

Great! Thanks for the video. It's been a while and I'm glad to see that you are still around. Best wishes for 2023!