Leaderboard

Can it run Crysis?

Wow its been a while since I started this! Quite a bit has changed since the last post. I had the proof of concept working but wasn't happy with it, the controller I designed was too restricted. I ran out of RAM and so needed to change the microcontroller. It was a big design change. I pondered for a while and thought about what I wanted to have as an end product. What I had was good, but not what I wanted. There were some big drawbacks in my design that other controllers on the market had. 1. PC software to configure the thing. 2. Independently adjustable channel brightness. I could only adjust global brightness and my patterns are hard coded. Not ideal. So, I decided to redesign the controller to add more features and the ability to easily configure it with some PC software. It now has LED drivers capable of controlling the brightness of every channel. I've still retained the extender to add an extra 32 channels on the same board, still on the fence if I want to do this or not though. It also have a UART port so I can communicate through a basic serial to usb adaptor (can get them for like 5 bux!). I chose this because the other ones on the market actually compile code and require you to own a programming tool to configure. You also need an internet connection because the code is compiled on a remote server. What a crap idea, I want it to be completely local. The only benefit this has is it reduces RAM and flash usage, which is not worth it imo. Its now also smaller, 39mmx52.5mm. Debugging is going to be a pain due to the footprints of the drivers and mcu I've chosen, but its all that was in stock and met my requirements so I have to make do. I'm aiming to have something I can sell as a standalone unit, that isn't car specific. Just a controller that you can configure to do whatever you want with!

It's time to get out of the 500+ club. The car is all ready for an E85 tune this Friday. Fingers crossed that we don't have to mop oil off the floor. 😄