4x1 RGB-LED-Ring/Rotary Encoder PCB Bulk Order

#3

I would definitely be interested in a few of these.
let me know when you are thinking of making the order.

#4

Thanks will keep you guys updated, prototypes should arrive this week or early next week still.

#5

Prototypes are beeing tested as i type this. Here are pictures:

#6

prototypes working fine. running some additional tests and then i'll have updated prices in a couple of days, estimated to send out the order end of next week.

ledring.jpg750x550 95.6 KB

#7

so are these already controlled by a axoloti?

#8

basically this is just a ws2812 line which are RGB LEDs that are widely supported by MCU platforms. here is a thread describing use with axoloti

as for the encoders, the boards include multiplexers so they can easily by driven by axoloti too.

while i will mainly use them with the midibox version of the STM32F4, i will definately also develope my own objects for convenient use within axoloti within the next 2 weeks. most likely not before order but i should have test reports by the coming weekend.

we will definately be in a 100+ pcs price bracket fwiw.

#9

I'm in for one set. Where are you shipping from?

#10

I'm interested in participating in a group buy. Any plans to make the encoders push-buttons as well?

#11

I will ship these from germany. I'm in the US a lot though so i might be able to import some directly at some point. if someone wants bigger quantities i am sure we can arrange for shipping directly from the manufacturer.

As for the encoders, the board fits and supports all types of Bourns PEC11 and PEC12 series encoders, with and without detend and with and without built in switch. each 4x board uses 2 HC165 shift registers, 2 pins for each encoder, one for the optional switch, one unused, repeat.

the encoders and the input/output connectors are about the only parts you have to pick, buy and solder yourself, as they are too much of a personal choice.
if needed i guess i could do these super easy soldering jobs for people, in very small quantities.

got the prototypes running perfectly nice on both arduino and STM32F4 midibox, will look into axoloti objects tomorrow or early next week.

edit: @johannes old SPI ws2812 project works like a charm and the first board of 4 LED rings is looking great on native axoloti control! will start writing some convenient objects once i understood johannes driver/adressing scheme...

#12

quick little video with a temporary frontplate. this is NOT controlled by axoloti right now, but a 20$ arduino board. will work on axo objects asap.
frontplate is 3mm mdf, top row has slightly wider holes than bottom row. so that could be improved probably. ws2812 running at 25% brightness....

#13

one more with some basic functionality examples. will order in about 1-2 weeks. also, it looks like the manufacturer has a 30% discount on the assembly part of the job, so prices will go down a bit!!

#14

That looks very smooth, great job! I might be interested in some boards. May I ask what kind of encoders you use?

#15

i'm personally using bourns PEC11, but to clarify the encoders are not part of the package.

#16

thanks, sure that was just curiosity. Did you manage to get a balance of musical feeling/precision with the 24steps per rotation? Did you work with acceleration in order to make full sweeps possible?

PS: What would be the power consumption if all Led were on at the same time? just to get an idea.

#17

Yeah so far for testing i am running the encoders through midibbox, sending midi CC to the arduino that controls the LED rings. I did this mostly for convenience, one board operation should be possible.

So the midibox has different settings for encoder speed and acceleration, but i didn't even mess with these yet cause the default setting feels pretty good. not infront of the boards rn but irrc to go from 0-127 you have to do about 1.5-2 rotations. feels pretty good, nice musical ranges for most stuff for sure, but if you wanna go all the way in one fast sweep its possible but nont ideal anymore. so i'll prolly start finetuning that once i'm back in the lab.

also fwiw right now the CE pins of the encoder board 74HC165s are bound to ground, because midibbox only uses those over SPI. the final version will have the CE pin brought out though so you can do easy bitbanging support on non-timed pins.

#18

slight update. was away for the week so still no axoloti objects.

#19

I would be interested in a set for sure. Maybe a second set based on cost.

#20

Hi, I'm interested in 3-6 each! thanks

#21

Ok guys, was away for a bit on family duties, here’s the final update before I put in the order within the next 2 days!

  • I had @FantomXR change the LED Ring design to 32 instead of the prototypes 36 LEDs. That’s what I originally had planned too, for three reasons:
    • easier mathematical mapping of n^2 values
    • Better usage for rhythmic/timing use, ie. a 32 step circular sequencer (think Euclidean Circles module)
    • More space between the LEDs for possible masking solutions. The diameter of the ring will remain the same at 33mm. At the classic 80% perimeter encoder use (as shown in the demo videos with the bottom 5 LEDs blacked out), you will now have a 27 LED resolution instead of 31 on the prototype.
  • The LED cross bleed which I was worried about for a while should be no issue with this updated version. Even without any masking or light pipes it is not that bad as you can see on all the demo videos. With the new LED distance it is quite easy to mill or print a little plastic masking ring if you want. And simple light pipes, even just hand cut from optical fibre, improve the quality a lot too. I will post pictures and videos of my results soon, but probably not in time before the order.
  • Added SMD solder point for an optional power supply capacitor at the power supply pins of each LED board.
  • Using WS2812C 2020 LEDs for much lower power consumption than the B variant.
    .
  • Added some extra pinouts on the encoder board for more efficient use of the 74HC165: on the prototype each 165 was filled with the 6 pins of two switchable encoders, wasting the 2 remaining pins. Now all 8 pins of the 165 have unique TH-solder points so empty pins of the 165 can easily be used for additional buttons. Eg. You can now connect 2 switch-less encoders and 4 pushbuttons to the same 165, or 1 switchable encoder and 5 pushbuttons, twice that per encoder PCB.
  • Added a TH-solder point for the 165 Clock Enable pins so the boards can be used with bitbanging protocols instead of SPI only.
    .
  • Unfortunately due to some family emergencies over the last weeks I was not able to finalize the design in time for the afore mentioned manufacturer discount. I still managed to get a decent offer, and so far group orders including my own demand are at around 160 sets. That gives the following prices:
    • Net manufacturing cost per fully assembled PCB set: 19-21 EUR (depending on the final numbers)
    • Import taxes (VAT of 19% for EU, tbd for US and other countries) around 4 EUR per set
    • Individual shipping to you (tbc, but probably 5-10 EUR per shipment, depending on destination country what shipping insurance etc you want)
    • That equals to a roughly estimated overall sum of 30 EUR for 1 set, 50 EUR for 2 sets, 90 EUR for 4 sets, 170 EUR for 8 sets. plus/minus 5% i guess.
      .
  • This isn’t cheap but I am 100% sure it still is really good value for what you get. It's around the same price you pay for one single ALPS rotary encoder with a single color LED ring.
  • The price is for a set of two PCBs, one with 4 RGB LED rings, and one for 4 rotary encoders. All SMD parts and the assembly is included, the actual rotary encoders and any through-hole solder pins are not included. Might be able to supply standard Bourns PEC11L if needed.
  • I personally pay about 7 EUR more than this for every set, in my personal development/protoyping costs. So if you feel generous and support the cause, the net price per board would be 25-26 instead of 19-21 if I distributed the dev costs equally.
  • Order will be put in this week, production and shipping will take approx 2-3 weeks, and then another week for testing and further shipping on my side. Expect it in your mailbox end of july.
  • Also I am talking to a very popular US based modular DIY supplier who will eventually stock some boards in his webshop. Will confirm asap, pricing tbd.

And a summation of what I think is important information:

  • This is a non commercial group buy of a pcb board. You buy the pcb board with all the SMD parts and assembly and nothing more. Of course I will take full personal responsibility in case something is fundamentally wrong or not working at all with the final product, based on a design mistake on my end. But other than that that’s all you get. No official support, no guarantees etc etc.

  • That being said: I designed these for the MIDIbox platform originally and I also successfully tested and use them on Arduino boards and the Axoloti platform. They work perfectly. I will write basic functions and objects for all these platforms over the course of the next weeks and of course I will share all these with everybody. Also basic general control for ws2812 LEDs and 74HC165 rotary encoders is readily available for all platforms already. I’ll also throw together some basic quick start guides and assist with connection set-up problems, but I expect anybody getting in on this order to be able to set up their own serial communication on the right pins of their respective controller boards. Expect a hardware protocol limit of around 500 LEDs (3-4 4xLED boards) per serial line if you want to maintain a 60Hz refresh rate, as with any WS2812 application. Also the obviously the more 74HC165 you chain in series, the higher the latency will get.

  • Both those programming libraries and the PCB design will be open sourced at some point. I don’t know when because I don’t want to do a half assed job on that and proper cleaning/optimizing and documentation might take a while.

  • You will have to buy and solder your own rotary encoders. The boards are designed for and tested with the Bourns PEC11 and PEC16 range, I personally recommend PEC11L low profile encoders. The optional LED board SMD power input cap would have to be self supplied and hand soldered too but in most cases will not be necessary.

So yeah that’s about it. If I didn’t scare you away by now, please RSVP as soon as possible. Either here via a private message or via email at rgbledring at gmail dot com, then we can exchange personals and discuss details.

#22

JUST found this via google!
I've been struggling to design something like this for a few months and am utterly ready to admit defeat, ha ha.
Tell me I did not miss out/ you have some I could buy...?!
Many thanks in advance!
scx