F16V3 is in development

[dpitts]

Testing New Falcon F16V3 Features

The new modifications to F16V3 should not raise the cost of board and current price may be even reduced.

Time frame:
Testing complete by December
Group buy at end of December beginning of January.
Deliver boards in March/April.

Features F16V3 will have.
The controller receives 100+ universes of E131 data at 25 ms (40 HZ).

Enhancements:
Pixel Count:
Output 1020 pixels per port. Acquire data at 25ms (40Hz) and output at 50ms(20HZ refresh rate)
Output 680 or less pixels per port . Acquire and output at 25ms (40Hz refresh rate)
The fast refresh rate is a product of a high speed low latency data path from microprocessor to screaming fast FPGA. The data path to FPGA will be expanded to a 50Mhz, DMA driven 16-Bit bus reducing latency even more than the current 25Mhz 4-bit bus.

Switch Ports:
A Microchip switch IC is being added to board to allow controllers to be cascaded together eliminating the need for an external switch in the yard. Testing has proven the addition of the switch to be extremely useful.

Wireless:
ESP WROOM Module
This module will be primarily for syncing F16V3 to FPP (Falcon Player) master effectively making F16V3 a remote able to output 100 universes of pixel and DMX data with a minimal sync packet . This will allow multiple controllers to keep in sync with a single FPP master.
The wireless will also be used to enable F16V3 to be a master in an FPP system or to sync other F16V3 controllers.

Power:
Elimination of input voltage jumpers. Jumpers will no longer be needed to switch between input different input voltages. Although a jumper will remain to switch to external power supply.
Board can be powered from pixel power or external power. Both inputs can be 5-16VDC.
Two independent sides of power. Each one can be a different voltage.

Number of strings:
16 strings or( 32/48) with expansion boards. All current local and differential expansion boards will be supported. The ability to drive two expansion boards will be added.
All strings can use any of the 48K channels this controller can receive as a start address.
Each string can be independently configured for null nodes, zigzag, forward/reverse, node type, pixel count , grouping etc...

String Types:
All string ports can be any of the following string types. They all can be independently set.
WS2801 / WS2803
WS2811 / WS2812 / TM1804 / TM1803 / TM1809 / TM1812 / SM16715 / INK1003
TLS3001 / TLS3002 / CY3005
LPD6803 / D705 / LPD1101 / USC6909 / UCS6912
GE Color Effects (GECE)
LPD880X
APA 102
1903
SM16716, MBI6020, P981x

DMX/Renard/Pixelnet Outputs:
4 - Dedicated RS-485 outputs – Can also supply 4-ports of string data to differential receivers board that can be located 250+ feet from controller

LCD Display,Push Buttons and Indicators
.96" OLED 128x64 matrix display for setup and status.
5 - Push buttons to control display. Up, Down, Right, Left and Select
Power LED for main fuse/pixel board
Power LED for FPGA/Controller Board
Two multi purpose LEDS for status.
Temperature Sensors
1 - Processor temperature sensor.
2 - Additional Sensors

Voltage sensors:
The incoming pixel voltages of main board are detected and displayed in user interface. (The webpage interface and OLED displays the voltages and temperatures.)

Optional Audio Board:
A low cost DAC which may be sourced from Ebay or a Falcon version will be made available. This feature will allow the F16V3 to play back audio files which will prove to be useful if running standalone or as a master.

[beeiilll]

I am glad that sleep is over rated for David's sake!

Sounds like some very nice improvements coming along with an already outstanding controller!

[Gilrock]

Thanks for always providing the best controller available!

[lightsonmontague]

Sounds like you need a beta test or 3 hint hint.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Barnabybear]

Hi, have you considered adding something like the ACS712 so that load current can be measured?

[lightsonmontague]

Thanks for always providing the best controller available!

Don't forget BEST FREE customer support.


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[rstehle]

I knew it would only be a matter of time once a board with more features than the F16v2-R was released.......

[arw01]

oh oh a controller race, gentlemen start you pixels..

I am sure I will be on the pre-sale list come late December for controller number 3 just to keep my life simplier in the long run, and I like to have a testing controller in the house and out in the yard when playing with setting up models.

David are you saying up there that we can drive some differential boards off the serial ports and still have expansion of either the 16 port or MORE differential off the ribbon cable expansion?

I would not mind seeing a 8 port differential that maybe supports less pixels per port out in the yard so I could just run 1 cable out there instead of 2

[madsci1016]

Do you plan to support 680 pixels @ 40hz when in expansion mode? That's really the goal I wanted to see, I agree with you in the chat that more then that isn't a big return / advantage.

Also will there be an F4V3 with similar pixel driving upgrades?

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[pixelpuppy]

Hi, have you considered adding something like the ACS712 so that load current can be measured?