I've been doing some research and trying some Arduino tutorials using a starter kit I bought, so I'm getting a better idea of what I'm doing but I'm still pretty confused about some things.
1. LED wiring- My character will have a total of six LED eyes, two yellow, two green, and two orange, plus a total of eighteen LEDs under the fur along its cheeks/neck. I'm been seeing very mixed messages of how larger numbers of LEDs of different colors should be wired, some say parallel works if each individual LED has a resistor, some say they all must be the same color for it to work. Series is supposed to be fine for multiple colors, but with 24 total LEDs on this, the batteries would need some serious voltage to power them all. What would be the best way to do this?
2. Neopixels
I would have preferred a digital white LED strip, but had no success finding on that was weatherproof, but this seemed like the next best choice. My character has fairly complex markings (large zig-zags and arrows with sharp corners) on the arms and legs, which I want to light up. Would I have to use individual Neopixels in this case, or is there some way to attach two strips at an angle? (I doubt there is, but who knows)
Also, what kind of battery power supply would roughly 3-4 meters of these need if I go with the strips? That's just a very rough estimate of what I think I'll need by eyeballing the approximate size of the markings on my arm, tail, and leg patterns.
I'm also not sure how I would coordinate the patterns of the legs and arms. The tail would be very close to the legs, so imagine that wouldn't be as much of a problem, but I'm a pretty active suiter (though I definitely plan to make the electronics in the arms/legs detachable for dancing/extremely high activity) and I'm worried about having wires hanging down my back/across my shoulders and them being damaged by the stress.
What's the best location to put the microcontroller (Arduino Uno) so it's protected from sweat and not bouncing around? This will be a 3/4 suit with separate legs/arms.
That's all for now, i may have more later. I'm a bit worried that I've gone in over my head on this project :/ I'd at least like to have the lights in the head/eyes because I can install the others at a later date.
1. LED wiring- My character will have a total of six LED eyes, two yellow, two green, and two orange, plus a total of eighteen LEDs under the fur along its cheeks/neck. I'm been seeing very mixed messages of how larger numbers of LEDs of different colors should be wired, some say parallel works if each individual LED has a resistor, some say they all must be the same color for it to work. Series is supposed to be fine for multiple colors, but with 24 total LEDs on this, the batteries would need some serious voltage to power them all. What would be the best way to do this?
2. Neopixels
I would have preferred a digital white LED strip, but had no success finding on that was weatherproof, but this seemed like the next best choice. My character has fairly complex markings (large zig-zags and arrows with sharp corners) on the arms and legs, which I want to light up. Would I have to use individual Neopixels in this case, or is there some way to attach two strips at an angle? (I doubt there is, but who knows)
Also, what kind of battery power supply would roughly 3-4 meters of these need if I go with the strips? That's just a very rough estimate of what I think I'll need by eyeballing the approximate size of the markings on my arm, tail, and leg patterns.
I'm also not sure how I would coordinate the patterns of the legs and arms. The tail would be very close to the legs, so imagine that wouldn't be as much of a problem, but I'm a pretty active suiter (though I definitely plan to make the electronics in the arms/legs detachable for dancing/extremely high activity) and I'm worried about having wires hanging down my back/across my shoulders and them being damaged by the stress.
What's the best location to put the microcontroller (Arduino Uno) so it's protected from sweat and not bouncing around? This will be a 3/4 suit with separate legs/arms.
That's all for now, i may have more later. I'm a bit worried that I've gone in over my head on this project :/ I'd at least like to have the lights in the head/eyes because I can install the others at a later date.