Building a Futuristic Elevated Highway - Addressable LEDs
There are two types of lights used on my elevated highway. This is an addressable WS2812b LED These were used for most of the road markings and can be programmed to do basically anything you can imagine a light doing. All the LEDs were purchased 'raw' on a reel. These LEDs are actually 3 LEDs in one, a red, a blue and a green LED are set in the package along with a microcontroller. The series resistance is built into each LED, so I only had to add wires to these. There are 4 wires. 5v in, ground, data in, and data out. I know there are many off the shelf modules and strings out there, but I estimated the 10 baseplate long section I wanted to build would need about 430 LEDs at a minimum. Buying these individually or even in kits wasn't an option for me. Moreover, they also couldn't just be on a premade string. Their spacing and positioning has to be carefully controlled. I also wanted to concentrate the light up into the clear sections of the road and away from other directions and to diffuse the light a bit, while keeping the road thin. So, each LED was affixed to some LCD screen backlight diffusion plastic with hot glue, and the back of the whole thing painted to keep the light from bleeding out the back. This also allowed more surface area to attach the lights to the underside of the road.
Building a Futuristic Elevated Highway - Addressable LEDs
There are two types of lights used on my elevated highway. This is an addressable WS2812b LED These were used for most of the road markings and can be programmed to do basically anything you can imagine a light doing. All the LEDs were purchased 'raw' on a reel. These LEDs are actually 3 LEDs in one, a red, a blue and a green LED are set in the package along with a microcontroller. The series resistance is built into each LED, so I only had to add wires to these. There are 4 wires. 5v in, ground, data in, and data out. I know there are many off the shelf modules and strings out there, but I estimated the 10 baseplate long section I wanted to build would need about 430 LEDs at a minimum. Buying these individually or even in kits wasn't an option for me. Moreover, they also couldn't just be on a premade string. Their spacing and positioning has to be carefully controlled. I also wanted to concentrate the light up into the clear sections of the road and away from other directions and to diffuse the light a bit, while keeping the road thin. So, each LED was affixed to some LCD screen backlight diffusion plastic with hot glue, and the back of the whole thing painted to keep the light from bleeding out the back. This also allowed more surface area to attach the lights to the underside of the road.