Running inductive LEDs?

[Geawiel]

I'm having trouble locating info on it, and I'm new to Pi. Never used one new. I want to use it to turn on an inductive coil for LEDs. I'm not sure how many yet, as I haven't assembled the hangar. I'll be housing some Gundam models in a maintenance/storage part. One will be mounted on a takeoff launcher spot. What I'd like to do though is:

Every so often have it come on (or I can turn it on via BT). Possibly a random timer during certain hours of the day (so no night while we're trying to sleep)

All hangar lights flicker on a section (induction coil) at time

After a minute or so, the launch pad red lights come on and run progressively (so like the lights on approach to an airport, only leading out)

After about 20 minutes, the reds go out

Another 15 or 20 and the first hangar white lights go out a section at a time, ending in the hangar ceiling lights coil

Would this be possible? What Pi would I be looking at to run them?

[ghp]

Look for a pico W, keep it simple. Setup the pico to retrieve time from a NTP server, wireless.
Write code in micropython and use the RTC of pico for the scheduler times or delay times.

For the inductive controller module there are no specs on the otherwise well sorted adafruit site "These are basic modules, and we don't have any datasheets or specifications for them" https://www.adafruit.com/product/5141

I would use a logic level mosfet to switch the 24 V DC supply. Perhaps you add a optocoupler to keep pico 5V supply and 24V supply separate. Guess dimming will not be possible.

Check if the magnetic fields cause noise, buzz, beep.

[pidd]

If the reason for going inductive is because of the size/visibility of wiring, then you can use very fine transformer wire (enamelled copper wire) to power 10mA LEDs, its finer than a hair..

[ame]

You probably want WS2812 addressable LED strips. Or individual addressable LEDs in your model, wired in series.

Then an Arduino or Pi Pico to send patterns to your LEDs to animate them. You probably don't need a Pi for normal running, but you might want to use one for editing or updating the patterns.

[Geawiel]

The wireless was more for location flexibility. Any wiring will be hidden behind the hangar. Though if this works out I will be incorporating them into the actual mobile suits. Which I would be using wireless for sure in that case. My hands are far too shaky to work with that too

The strip would work for the launch ramp. I'm not sure on the maintenance area. Each light spot would be a few inches away from the other.

From the looks of it, I might be able to cut this https://ledlightsworld.com/collections/ ... -black-pcb into individual lights then solder them together again at the length I want. If it works how I think it does, I can solder the copper to copper on the end spots as long as I keep direction correct.

[ame]

The wireless was more for location flexibility. Any wiring will be hidden behind the hangar. Though if this works out I will be incorporating them into the actual mobile suits. Which I would be using wireless for sure in that case. My hands are far too shaky to work with that too

The strip would work for the launch ramp. I'm not sure on the maintenance area. Each light spot would be a few inches away from the other.

From the looks of it, I might be able to cut this https://ledlightsworld.com/collections/ ... -black-pcb into individual lights then solder them together again at the length I want. If it works how I think it does, I can solder the copper to copper on the end spots as long as I keep direction correct.

I'm not convinced that "wireless" will behave as you expect. Can you post a link to the inductive LEDs you are looking at?

The LED strips are basically a convenient form factor for a line of WS2812 (or similar) LEDs. The individual LEDs are available as individual SMD components, or mounted on tiny PCBs for convenience, or even as leaded components in standard 5mm LED mouldings.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33050709970.html

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005398164644.html

Yes, wiring is tricky, but it was always going to be.

You could also use fibre optics, or acrylic rods, to deliver light to a particular spot, where the LED itself is located somewhere easy to access.

The tiny, tiny, SMD LEDs are also available pre-wired, so if you don't want addressable LEDs you can have a bunch of regular LEDs where you just have to figure out the cable route:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005930441321.html

[pidd]

From the looks of it, I might be able to cut this https://ledlightsworld.com/collections/ ... -black-pcb into individual lights then solder them together again at the length I want. If it works how I think it does, I can solder the copper to copper on the end spots as long as I keep direction correct.

I've got a lot of soldering experience and soldering those is a pain, give them a clean with fine sandpaper, fibre-pen or similar and tin them. The metal looks clean but there is something funny about the way they solder, It may just be the copper sinking heat combined with melting plastic.

I expect to be unhappy with about 1 in 400 joints I solder when doing mass soldering, on those I had 4 poor joints out of 96 (16 double ended strips), they were a struggle all the way, some choice language was in use.

[Geawiel]

From the looks of it, I might be able to cut this https://ledlightsworld.com/collections/ ... -black-pcb into individual lights then solder them together again at the length I want. If it works how I think it does, I can solder the copper to copper on the end spots as long as I keep direction correct.

I've got a lot of soldering experience and soldering those is a pain, give them a clean with fine sandpaper, fibre-pen or similar and tin them. The metal looks clean but there is something funny about the way they solder, It may just be the copper sinking heat combined with melting plastic.

I expect to be unhappy with about 1 in 400 joints I solder when doing mass soldering, on those I had 4 poor joints out of 96 (16 double ended strips), they were a struggle all the way, some choice language was in use.

That's going to be a no from me on soldering them then. My soldering ability is....present. We'll leave it there.

I found these though! https://www.amazon.com/Connectors-Conne ... 028&sr=8-5

[pidd]

I found these though! https://www.amazon.com/Connectors-Conne ... 028&sr=8-5

I've known about those but never tried them. Proper ends on strips have larger terminals, when strips are cut they only have half a terminal but I guess those sockets should allow for that.

I've just ordered a bunch of strips with JST connectors on them but they arrived with connectors only on one end so they've gone back. I might give those socket a go as I'm struggling to get answers form other companies whether they have JST on one end or both. Strips often need replacing (anything from cats to humans attacking them, plus the occasional LED failure) so I was looking for quick connect this year instead of soldering. I normally have a couple of strips with tails I've already soldered on but can never find them when I need them. I'm also putting strips in aluminium channel this year to protect them.

WS2812B LED failures are rare, I've had two in about 4 million led-hours and one of those had a patch join beside the LED - they were cheap, I guess the supplier recycled partial or faulty strips. One fault stopped the signal at that point, the other just kept its red on full but the strip kept working.

[Geawiel]

I found these though! https://www.amazon.com/Connectors-Conne ... 028&sr=8-5

Writey stuffy that has been extremely helpful and I'm shortening so this doesn't become a wall post.

I have a hangar I already built that I need to redo the lighting on. I'll have to give those a try for just straight lighting. I might do some fancy Pi stuff on that one after to experiment and get the process down. It's just a hangar and no launch pad. So I'd only need to do the hangar lights coming on for that.

Although...

There's the head cameras (any lights on in the head on Gundams are cameras if anyone doesn't know anything about Gundam). If I want to get fancy later, I should open the cockpit and see about lighting that up after the hangar lights come on. Then, after some time, light the lights in the cameras a few times to simulate them testing it. I'd definitely need induction LEDs for that...maybe...now that I type that, I can run wires from the hangar frame to make it look like electrical wires have to be hooked to it...we'll see...

...I can see myself getting in deep with Pi and Gundam now...