Make Controller + 23,520 LEDs = Bluerain

Craft & Design Technology

Bluerain is a zillion blue LED installation based on a desktop computer running a QT app, a Make Controller (of course) and 98 x 16 LED cluster water-proof wall units running awesome TI LED PWM chips (TLC5941). Total number of LED: 23520. Total power: 50W. Levels of brightness: 4096. LED Colors: 1. BLUE.

In its current incarnation, little snippets of text from a variety of sources, including a library’s check in, check out and catalog search system, flow down from the top of the 56′ display toward the ground. Its final resting place is an outside wall of the London School of Economics library, from which the feeds originate.

It’s up now in the carpark of the Mission Bank, 16th St between Mission and Valencia St’s and will remain there for the next little while.

At the next Dorkbot SF (8 April 2009), MakingThings (the designers of the Make: Controller) will present some of the design details, show some of the electronics and share some of fun they had making it.

Above: a collage by Angela Kilduff, done for her North Gate Radio report and interview with the artist, Michael Brown.

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