Sometime this winter I want to build a unique “fire and ice” bar for my truck. Looking at getting a couple 144 led/m 5050 format WS2812B strips and going from there.
I am looking at powering the Arduino from the truck and controlling the lights via the Arduino.
Looks like using an M2 might not be a bad choice to do this but not sure.
When I look at the cost of safely driving the Arduino from the truck, then allowing inputs for the lights (l/r turn signals, brakes, reverse, and running lights… Total of 5 12 volt inputs)
With these they only need 1 data line and I will have 2 light bars.
Looking at the schematics should I assume that the UART3 is just breaking out the pins directly from the processor and should not effect anything else? So I should be able to use the pins directly which would allow me to talk to both of these light bars?
There is an Arduino library to talk to these light strips so If I can use an M2 for this process it shouldn’t take me long to configure it to work. Could also use an input to be used as an alarm input if so desired as well. (Flash LEDs sort of thing when the alarm is set although probably not a good way to use up the vehicles battery…)
Trying to see if it makes sense to try interfacing into the truck using the M2 as opposed to trying to build my own custom one off. The light strips I want to use are available for like $30 apiece for a meter in length.
The power to the strips would be powered by a different power source and just tie the ground to the M2. Likely use a relay controlled by the M2 to turn the strip on and off.
Assuming my assumptions are correct I could use the FastLED library, the inputs and have something done in just a few hours. But I am hoping @josh or someone else that knows the M2’s hardware can verify that the UART3 pins can be directly accessed for this. Still have to verify the voltage the 2812 strips need to communicate because if they need 5 volts I will need to get some voltage convertors from the M2’s 3.3volt lines.