Hi all, Im making hexagon lights like govee hexagon lights. I noticed that led strips have input and output, and it wont work if I mistakenly connect output from strip 1 to output from strip 2. The problem is, I want to make each side of hexagon has it own connector so it can be connected from every side I want. But it won’t work since each panel have input and output.
I’ve tried 2 expeiments
Connecting both input and output from each hexagons. It didn’t work because when the output from panel 2 goes into panel 1, it turned off the led.
connecting all hexagon in parallel. It worked, but I won’t be able to control each panel seperately, since the just mirror each other.
But, since govee hexagon lights able to work with 6 different connectors on each sides, I’m guessing that it has a controller on each panel that can control input or output for the other panel. Do you guys know what controller to use and how to make it possible? wtih the cheapest option of course. Or is there other solition? Thank you
hi welcome @Benn you can just connect the single stripes together to one big stripe
just solder the ends in the right direction ASRROW on the stripe
and connect the first led to the controller
Thank you for the reply magig. But I want to sell this hexagon lights as a product. And soldering is not an option for this. I want to make it very easy for the customer to connect the panel by themself.
@Benn thats by far a good idee to use the standard plugs for connection
for main hexagon shoudt have a IN is Female with the standard COLORS RED for positiv green Data and White is GND That is International for STRIPE LED rolls
the OUT to the next HEX is MALE
the Corner as of a HEX is 45Deg there are ready made clips on ALI at serten Angles
so just clip them together no soldering at all
SEARCH LED stripe connectors
Yes, curently I’m using 1 female and 1 male for each panel. But this method requires cable to connect each panel
I’m planning on using snap fit connector to connect each panel with 3 output and 3 input on each hexagon as in the picture below (so it will have much cleaner look and easier to connect for the user). But the problem is, there will be 3 sides on the hexagon that can’t connect to the next panel. So, I was wondering if there is a controller to put on each hexagon (with esp8266 as the main controller) that could manage input or output data for the next panel. So all 6 sides can transmit input or output
best to use a standard like JST flat goes with XH 2,54 no cabling but Cable posible
this are availablei n different layouts flat/side/90deg/HORIZ/Vertical …
see jst xh series
and as you are selling this WHY not ready made PCB this are very cheep at small pixel size PT10
Actually, that pic I made I don’t think would work either because you would be outputting to 2 hex from the first hex… Dunno, but maybe my pic will help to some degree.
Thank you all for the reply. I’ve decided to use 7 pin connector for each side of the hexagon. I will be selling 6 hexagon panel per pack, so with 7 pin connector I will be using wled multistrip mod so that each panel will receive different input from esp32 and I will be able to control each panel individually. What do you guys think? is this the most effective and cheapest solution? Thank you!
for plug and play
you only need one inour and the Rest 5 Sides are output
so you got all chances for a straight stripe line
BUT mot DID you @Benn connsidder the SPACING on the HEX
if you put the NODE on the contour the next hex also got them there so you see double lines
make a Xlights sample and run saome effects oin it
the SIDE Hex gas one line the innes got 2 lines of LED this is by far not a good light setup
and if colors change or even run in some strobe or chase mode it looks quite terrible
Thank you very muchhhhhhh magig. Seems like 1 input and 5 output would work very well. I think wiring 2 strips per panel in parallel would solve the terrible color changing effect. I will do some experiments for smoother color changing effect. Once again, thank you very much for the help.
@Benn you shoudt realy try out the system in Xlights to see how it comes at your guess
WLED LEDmapping will do a good job to get better segmentation
WHAT is the Main guess behind the Hexagon ARRAY idee as of your image you see it clear there is no straitency and always 1/2 spacing
WHAT i mean with single and douple 2stripes is see image
You will get a weard coloring as you do effects on a HEX
FOR Making yoiu shoudt only solder the Input PLUG and leve the output onconnected the Coustomer gets one Plug to solder so only one pad will be used
with 18 ES2812b per panel and only the solderpads your cost at 100pices woudt be somthing 2USD per panel ready made from china PT10 NODE spacing
Isn’t the xlight led mapping requires you to use a fixed layout? what if the customer are aranging different hexagon layout?
And I’m really sorry I’m new to this and I don’t really understand what you’re saying.
“there is no straitency and always 1/2 spacing” is this reffering to the spacing of each LEDs? If that is the case, It’s just a simple sketch I made, and I’m not making exactly like that.
“FOR Making yoiu shoudt only solder the Input PLUG and leve the output onconnected the Coustomer gets one Plug to solder so only one pad will be used” Yes, I will only give 5 connectors that can only connects output to another panel’s input.
“with 18 ES2812b per panel and only the solderpads your cost at 100pices woudt be somthing 2USD per panel ready made from china PT10 NODE spacing” And is this reffering to pre soldered LEDs?
@Benn Yes ofcause
make a pcb layout best to go is
full inside blpck 7LED then next infill a 12led hexagon then the 18 hexagon keep the size of the LED rings availablel
and go for it HAVE Fun
Last post from me here
Hi @Benn and others,
I’ve had the exact same question: “How to connect hexagon tiles” but came with a different goal. I thought of building open hardware lamp designs for wled, so everyone can 3D-print/lasercut themselves. I might discuss that elsewhere here or on discord later.
This is how far I came in this topic:
Like you, I wanted to design something, that is very easy to assemble/connect and it shouldn’t involve soldering. The connection should also be non permanent in terms of easy to reorganize the tiles from time to time.
After some thinking, USB-A came to my mind. It has 4 pins (one could include even data and clock, if neccessary), it is cheap and highly available. If you build one male and seven female ports, it is geometrically almost impossible to build a loop (when selling products, you always have to think of the most stupid customer and what might go wrong). On the downside you’ll always have one male end looking out somewhere. You can avoid that with eight female and some tiny double-male sticks. But that requires more brain on the customer side
I opened one and found exactly, what I intended to do. It is less than 4€ (Germany) per tile, if you buy a box of ten. So almost impossible to compete with. And if I would design a PCB for everyone to use for free, people still had to buy them from jcbpcb.com or elsewhere and shipping costs and small badges would lift the price too high.
So, this is where I’m standing now, still figuring out how to design an open hardware 3D-printable hexagon tile for wled.
