## September 28. 2014 I've just ordered the following parts: - 5m Adafruit NeoPixel Digital RGB LED Strip - White 30 LED - Arduino Uno R3 controller card - 5V 10A switching power supply The plan is to make the prototype of a programmable LED matrix that can be used for my Christmas light competition with my neighbors. Last year was all about scale, this year is about quality and style :) If this works I'm going to scale it up a couple of times. With 5m and 30 LEDs each meter I will end up with the following dimensions. - 8 rows approx 62.5 cm each with 18 LEDs for each row. - 18 x 8 LEDS - 62 x 24 cm ```md x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x ``` ## October 16. 2014 ### Unboxing Monday last week I received all the components via UPS after some delivery problems. First thing to do is to rip the box open and put all the gadgets on the table. I forgot to make an unboxing video, but I promise you it wasn't a great experience. Traditional brown cardboard box with the components securely wrapped in transparent bubble plastic. First thing I noticed is that the Arduino was smaller than I thought and that 5 meters of led isn't that much. ## October 20. 2014 ### First prototype ready After a bit of soldering and mounting with gaffa tape this is what I ended up with on my first prototype. ![Prototype](/pho/led/prototype-1.jpg?w=900) I've done a cross soldering like this. The SDK from Adafruit supports a couple of different ways to put together the led strips. Progressive and zig-zag. For this prototype I've chosen the zig-zag pattern. ```md --- row 1 --> ``` ![Soldering](/pho/led/led-strips-soldering.jpg?w=600) ### First power up First thing I had to do was to [download and install the Arduino software](http://arduino.cc/en/main/software). Then I had to install the [Adafruit libraries for NeoPixels](https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-all-about-arduino-libraries-install-use). Remember to add the libraries inside the Arduino software so you're able to use them. Finally I connected the power supply to the Arduino and the NeoPixel strips, crossed my fingers and powered up my new prototype. ### Voila! First out to test was the example with horizontal scrolling text. I had to rewrite the code so it was more flexible. ![Horizontal scroll](/pho/led/hor-scroll-1.jpg?w=600) Next out was the theater cycle example. This has been used without any modification. ![Theater cycle](/pho/led/theater-1.jpg?w=600) Same with the rainbow effect. ![Rainbow](/pho/led/rainbow-1.jpg?w=600) All nice effects but what is christmas without snow? Nothing! I just had to create a snow function from scratch. ![Snow](/pho/led/snow-2.jpg?w=600) The next effect out was the vertical text scroll. ![Vertical scroll](/pho/led/vert-scroll-1.jpg?w=600) And the last function so far is the show bitmap. This function is based on the examples from Adafruit. ![Hearts](/pho/led/hearts-2.jpg?w=600) _To be continued..._ PS! If you have any ideas about cool effects please share with me in the comments below. I'm currently thinking about the Christmas play list :)