medigrade

Medigrade LED Controller

 

Manual

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Introduction
This unit is a unique build designed to offer fully programmable control for Neopixel LED strips. The 'brain' is essentially a circuit bent Medigrade RACK2REALITY (a eurorack CV to MIDI module) and the power is supplied by the PSU from an Avolites lighting desk so high end AV is in its DNA. The controller drives 2 led strips from a series of customisable presets or live control. The 2 strips are not desgned to match, consider strip 1 to be main show (blue wire, white connector) and strip 2 as ambiant lighting (black wire, blue connector, slightly shorter). The positioning of these 2 strips is fundimental to getting the most from this setup, they often work best out of sight like behind TV, radiator, sofa etc.

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Power on
Check the big knob on the front panel is OFF , connect power lead and both led strips(they rotate and click in, pull lever and rotate to remove)
To turn on rotate the Big knob clockwise until clicks on

 

 

Main Control
Note: Many controls may not happen straight away, often due to the nature of the code any changes wont happen until the next cycle, and some patterns are quite long.

Big Knob: ON/OFF Switch and Preset Select dial. The dial is split into 7 sections to select each of the 7 presets. It will not update until the current preset has finished its latest cycle.
    The panel top row led displays the assosiated with the current preset:
    Red        Preset 1
    Yellow        Preset 2
    Green        Preset 3
    Blue        Preset 4
    Warm White    Preset 5
    Purple        Preset 6
    Cool White    - Cycle All Patterns with live RGB control 
     
    note* this control deliberatly vague so when set near the changeover positions of 2 presets it will randomly flick between them. this can be used to your advantage.

 

 

 

Panel Controls
While in RUNMODE 

 the top row relates to strip 1 (main show)  the parameters controlled vary depending on which pattern is running (see spreadsheet)
 *note if knob 4 is set to MAX it enters random preset mode and plays randomly through the 6 saved

presets.

bottom row relates to strip 2(ambient). 
during most patterns (1 - 24) 
knob 5, 6, 7 represent the RGB values for live control
knob 8 swaps the colour source between live control or current preset value. ie set to min and the colour follows strip 1, set to max and have RGB control for a more consistant colour.
If the pattern includes strip 2 information (pat 25 - 30) then these controls do nothing

 

 

 

Presets
each of the 6 programmable presets have 3 colour values and 3 patterns which are cycled continuously. These are setup in EDITMODE and saved between power cycles. 
Experiment with which patterns and colours go well with each other.
Preset 7(CoolWhite) cycles through all 30 patterns with live RGB control on Knobs 5, 6 and 7. Knobs 1,2,3, and 4 switch parameters as the patterns switch according to the spreadsheet.

 

 

EDITMODE
each of the 6 presets have their own associated EDITMODE so entering editmode while running Preset 1 allows you to edit preset 1 etc .to toggle between EDITMODE and RUNMODE press the run/edit button. It wont happen straight away but if nothing has happened after a few seconds try again. Some patterns can be a bit annoiing at this point.

 

**Preset 7 (Cool White) is different. As it has no stored values it is used to access the GLOBAL

BRIGHTNESS. enter editmode during the CoolWhite preset. Then press A- ,
strip 1 will shine bright white,adjust knob 1 to turn up or down,and press A - again, this will update the global brightness value and reboot  the CPU for it to take effect.

 

You know your in editmode when the lower row panel led displays the assosiated Preset colour Red,Yellow, Green, Blue, Warm White, Purple, Cool White
 strip 1 displays several individual pixels indicating the 3 patterns and colours saved to that preset. as well as a white pixel which is your cursor.
Knobs 1 - 3 now set RGB values and Knob 4 selects a pattern number between 1 and 30.
The top row panel led shows the RGB colour made with the controls and the white cursur on strip 1 displays the pattern no. See spreadsheet for pattern list.

The 6 buttons below update  the preset with the current values 
A - save RGB val to colour 1
A + save pattern to pat 1
B - save RGB val to colour 2
B + save pattern to pat 2
C - save RGB val to colour 3
C + save pattern to pat 3

Some patterns are multicolour, they will not use the saved colour but strip 2 still can.
To exit EDITMODE press run/edit and the preset will cycle these 3 patterns and colours

 

 

 

Firmware Hacking and feature requests

 NeoPixels and arduino boards are a great introduction to coding.

Inside is a standard Arduino Mega 2560 with its own USB socket for reprogramming. If you have any improvement ideas our R+D team will be happy to discuss them and update the firmware. 

remove the 6 panel screws, carefully lift out the unit and disconnect the 3 connectors on the back of the pcb. you can now plug the unit into a computer via USB and upload new firmware using arduino software.

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