
Show HN: LuxBase – Open-Source Smart Lighting Control System - kienankb
https://github.com/kienankb/LuxBase
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geekuillaume
You can also use the pins of a RaspberryPi as a PWN output and do the same
thing with only 3 inexpensive power transistors:
[http://mitchtech.net/raspberry-pi-pwm-rgb-led-
strip/](http://mitchtech.net/raspberry-pi-pwm-rgb-led-strip/)

Instead of servoblaster I recommend you to use PiBlaster:
[https://github.com/sarfata/pi-blaster](https://github.com/sarfata/pi-blaster)

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kienankb
Awesome, thanks for the heads up! Like it says in the blog post, PWM +
transistors was an option I was thinking of (and still am if I ever decided to
dip into dedicated hardware later on), I just wasn't sure if I had the
electronics chops yet to not blow something up.

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mjg59
I picked up a
[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017CKVG7G](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017CKVG7G)
a couple of months ago - it's pretty terrible in terms of build quality and
range, but it's a simple Bluetooth LE protocol for full RGB control of the
lights, and you can run multiple sets off a single machine with a bluetooth
4.0 controller. Rather than using a custom protocol I bridged it to something
that emulates enough of a Hue hub for the Amazon Echo to let me control it. I
don't know how the economics compare, but there's plenty of avenues to explore
here.

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kienankb
Well hey, would you look at that. Exactly what I'm trying to do!

Heh I was shooting for the REST API because I figured there's nothing that
doesn't communicate through it today. I'll have to check into it more,
especially if I decide to do dedicated stuffs down the line. I am a fan of the
multiple strips thing.

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mjg59
The bridge code is at
[https://github.com/mjg59/ulfire](https://github.com/mjg59/ulfire) but doesn't
have the Bluetooth code since I haven't got it working reliably yet (the
machine I'm testing with has an ancient version of Bluez, and I need to
upgrade that before doing more testing). I'll push that in the near future.
It's pretty board specific though, I've found at least 6 different Bluetooth
LE protocols for lighting so far. The easiest way to do it for testing is to
just call out to gatttool in the callbacks.

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fit2rule
I'm not a huge fan of using Bluetooth for this application, but you've done
some great work there .. I'll have to look into your implementation of the Hue
API, maybe we could use it on the MagicShifter (which uses WiFi instead of
BT)... ?

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sdwisely
rather than using addressable LED strips I've been using some RGBW LED Par
Cans over DMX.

I use a raspberry pi running openlighting to act as bridge between artnet, osc
and a few other protocols and control it over the network.

openlighting: [https://www.openlighting.org/](https://www.openlighting.org/)

~~~
kienankb
This is all new to me, I'll definitely check it out. Thanks!

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ParanoidShroom
I also made this. [https://medium.com/@christophe.smet1/flux-irl-building-a-
hue...](https://medium.com/@christophe.smet1/flux-irl-building-a-hue-clone-
bd62df85a456#.sd7i0wkcq)

But a bit more, custom pcb and just an app. Keeping it simple. Cool to see
other people's projects

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fit2rule
If anyone is looking for an out-of-the-box solution to get started writing
Lighting control applications, you can pick up a MagicShifter right now for a
good price and get cracking:

[http://magicshifter.net/](http://magicshifter.net/)

Open Source, full repo for the onboard MS3KOS here:

[http://github.com/magicshifter/](http://github.com/magicshifter/)

The MagicShifter is an open source Light Synthesizer with 16 RGB LED's, fully
controllable over Wifi, with cool features such as an onboard web application
for designing your own POV images, MIDI control (great for musicians who want
their own custom light-show in sync with the drum machine), and a few other
cool things: magnetometer, accelerometers, etc.

We have a lot more planned for this synth, so if you're interested in the
subject - consider joining us!

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ShirsenduK
The ESP8266 is an even smarter solution as it has Wifi built in. Control your
lights directly from your phone!

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spangry
Kudos for sharing. Btw I read your blog post on the project and really enjoyed
it; you write well!

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kienankb
Hey, thanks! I appreciate it--I try to take pride in what I do as well as how
I describe it.

