Vixen played the show automatically on the half hour. Much better than manually triggering it in the cold! I also added an FM transmitter to allow the audience to enjoy the show from their warm horseless carriages. Also, a bit more neighborly than gigantic speakers blasting TSO all hours of the night.
As I discussed in my 2011 review, the hundreds of extension cords had to go. My best solution was to use the software approach of object orientation to break up the large relay boards into smaller, manageable modules. I knew I wanted 5-6 relays per box, so CAT5 worked perfectly to carry the Arduino signals to the relay boards. Working with my buddy, Josh Arndt, we came up with a plan and he designed some extremely professional relay boards. It simply took two years for me to get the boards made and tested.
But first! I had to put the Arduino in something to protect it. Since I was using CAT5, I figured one of the broken Linksys routers lying around would do nicely. It's not super pretty but it holds the Arduino and the RJ-45 rail.
Now time to focus on the relay boards. The boards were soldered and tested.
I harvested most of the parts from the original light controller.
I used our CNC machine to mill out the junction boxes and face plates.
Test fitting the 6-gang wall cover.
Time for assembly!
The whole set, collect them all!
Finally, time to set up the show! You can see the extension cords are not gone but this is much, MUCH cleaner than 2011.
The show went extremely well! The entire thing was fully automated and broadcast on 91.1FM. It almost looked professional. (Minus me never putting up a sign to specify the frequency, DOH!)
Here is the entire ~15 minute show.
What are the plans for next year? Well, now that the base 5 boxes (30 channels) are built, all I have to do is add as many boxes as I need to expand the show. When/if I max out my Arduino, Vixen even supports adding multiple Arduinos as COM port controllers. I may even make one of the boxes solid state relays for 6 dimming channels with PWM. So stay tuned for many more updates and changes as this crazy experiment continues to evolve!
I leave you with a couple aerial shots taken with the quad. Yes, it was the X1; the big quad is still in pieces. (Coming soon: my loving wife got me a Y-6 for Christmas! w00tw00tw00t)
CREDITS
Ashley - Motivation and wire debuncher
Evie - Motivation and wire buncher
Josh - Relay board design and part time genius
Peter - Uber debugger and master of solder
Mat - Electron tamer lvl 1
Tyler - Light man (no fear of heights)
Shawn - Audio expert
John - Common sense consultant
This isn't a one-man show. You don't get far trying to do things alone. It pays to have awesome friends willing to share your passions and interests. Thanks everybody!
