Glow Rider V4

[Nvizeon (Phil Rader)]

I believe I found it with Google AI search:

FluidNC LED Musings

I’ve been (and still am) resisting adding LEDs to my Lowrider. But, I keep reading things on here about them and I’m not sure how much longer I can resist. To push me over the edge, it needs a little more. Although, Amazon isn’t helping recommending the LED strips to me. To clarify since I’m still not 100% clear on the terms, WLED is a cool project to control these individually addressable WS2812B LED strips. Adafruit calls these Neopixels. I think just having a light strip across the bott…

AI Overview

You can control LED colors with a

Jackpot board running FluidNC firmware, often using external controllers like WLED for addressable RGB LEDs (WS2812B) or PWM outputs for simpler RGB/RGBW setups to indicate machine status (Idle, Run, Alarm). Control involves configuring specific GPIO pins in FluidNC and potentially running custom firmware or web UIs (like ESP3D-WEBUI) to manage dynamic color changes based on the CNC’s state.

Methods for LED Control

1. Addressable LEDs (WS2812B/SK6812):

   • How: Use a dedicated data pin on the Jackpot board connected to the data input of an LED strip/ring.

   • Firmware: Requires custom FluidNC builds or WLED firmware flashed onto an ESP32 (which the Jackpot uses) to handle the data stream.

   • Use: Great for complex effects, status overlays (e.g., white ring around the router), and status indicators.

2. PWM Outputs (RGB/RGBW LEDs):

   • How: Wire Red, Green, Blue (and White) channels to the Jackpot’s PWM-capable output pins.

   • Control: Configure these pins in FluidNC’s config.h file for output control.

   • Use: Simpler setups for static colors or basic state changes (e.g., Green for Run, Red for Alarm).

How it Works with Jackpot/FluidNC

• Status Mapping: FluidNC can be configured to change pin states (HIGH/LOW) or PWM duty cycles based on its internal status (running G-code, paused, alarm).

• Customization: Users often fork FluidNC or ESP3D-WEBUI and add “usermods” to the firmware to enable these dynamic color features.

• Example: A user might set a pin to 100% PWM for green when the machine starts, then to 50% for yellow when paused, using logic within the firmware.

Getting Started

1. Hardware: Get addressable (WS2812B) or RGB/RGBW LEDs and wire them to the appropriate I/O pins on the Jackpot board.

2. Firmware: Compile FluidNC with WLED support or flash WLED onto the controller if desired.

3. Configuration: Define your LED pins in the FluidNC config.h file and customize the behavior in your firmware build.