After quite some time I finally got my 16x32 LED panel working with the Glediator software and I’m getting this glitchy playback. I was wondering if it’s power related or if an Arduino Uno limitation?
The power supply I have is 5v 4amp switching power adapter but I’m not sure if that’s enough.
I can run some of the FastLED examples without this type of glitch with the Uno. I run out of memory trying to run this many LED at once. That’s one limitation I have encountered. I believe it could be with the way Glediator is communicating to the Uno and it’s causing that flash. But that’s my noob assessment.
I have several Teensy 3.2 and I could try to run this on and I could see if it runs smoother but I don’t know how to wire that up yet.
Related question – you aren’t by chance running Glediator on a Mac are you? I have had zero success and much frustration trying to get all the necessary software and drivers going on my Mac…
@Jason_Coon At first the brightness coming from Glediator was REALLY high and it would make the Uno just crash when the lights went all white. I figured that out after quite some time and then after I toned the brightness down it started doing that flashing. Can you link me to a level shifter? I will look around.
@Mike_Clifford No, sorry this is on Windows 7. I too would like to get it running on a Mac. I tried getting the RXTX thing for Mac and it’s only for Windows or Linux from what I gathered. Hit me up and maybe we can work it out together. The other option I think I’ve read was to use Parallels. I even had a thought that I wondered if it would be possible to try a VirtualBox on Mac. Doubt it would work because I’m not sure Windows in a VM could send data out the USB from the Mac.
@Jason_Coon also forgot to mention I did buy a 5v 10amp power supply coming in next Thursday, so I will update when I get that next week. In the meantime, I will check out level shifters. Thanks again!
I think your pushing the limit of the UNO in regards to the stuttering motion. reducing number of leds will verify this (only part of your display will work) but will verify if it’s really the case. As as far as the random flashing it could be power related. Using USB to power the board and a separate power source to power the matrix can cause the pixels to flicker Like that. You will want to make sure you power the UNO / Teensy from a decent 5v source into the power port instead of the pc or laptops USB power. I don’t recall if the UNO has a spot or diode to keep USB power from connecting to the uno power port.
@nwestwind Ah shoot…yes, I could not for the life of me get RXTX to work on a Mac. Spent hours scouring the web and found a couple people claiming to have sorted it out, but I followed the sparse suggestions they had and got nowhere. Also tried contacting RXTX directly, and got no reply. I have some budget for work and will probably just buy an inexpensive PC to run it with at some point.