Banana pi vs raspberry pi

[benyflyguy]

Anyone have any experience using banana pi’s vs raspberry pi’s??

I have found a fun winter hobby of building metar maps using raspberry pi zero W as the cpu. It is a fun hobby that is relatively inexpensive. Built about a dozen in last two winters. I have built some for friends, our airport, friends airports, just because. So due to the chip shortage raspberry pi have spiked in price but more annoying is that they are just plain hard to find.
Banana pi’s seem to be plentiful, albeit on aliexpress, and half the price. I ordered a couple but they are going to take a bit to get here. Got three maps just waiting for pi’s. I only build them
In the winter and that is fleeting here in NEPA.

 

[L J Donelson]

Not with banana, but with Raspberry and I am curious about these metar maps. Could you share a photo, link? I've got several not being used right now and that's a great use for them.

 

[benyflyguy]

Here’s a couple different ones. Bigger ones are 36by24”. Last year I was limited to 50 lights. Did mid Atlantic, east coast one. Also played with a 18by24’ mid Atlantic. This year turned it up a notch and challenged myself to 100 light version. The east coast one is for a friend to donate to a local airport down there so there’s a focus on the Florida fields. Did do two 18by24” mid Atlantic that have 97 lights. Start to finish I have one map down to a days work. I got bored at night in the winters and the weekends lol.

Not with banana, but with Raspberry and I am curious about these metar maps. Could you share a photo, link? I've got several not being used right now and that's a great use for them.

 

[L J Donelson]

Very nice! Now I want to see the instructables - seriously, I want to build a few.

Heading to the non-traceable internet search engine right now.

 

[TCABM]

I prefer banana cream pi, but bread pudding with whiskey sauce is best.

 

[Mahneuvers]

That's a pretty creative/cool project!

 

[DFH65]

We have used the banana pis for digital signage they work fine not sure what you are looking for. Just a basic linux box like the raspberry pi.

 

[Mahneuvers]

So let me tell you about my favorite Pi project as I'm pretty proud of it I setup Arlo cameras at my dad's house so I could check in on him when his caregivers left for the day. Since the caregiver schedule was irregular, arming the cameras on a set schedule resulted in a lot of unnecessary alerts and video to wade through. Arlo provides a browser interface to remotely administer cameras. I was able to sniff the Rest API calls between the browser and their servers and replicate them in a Java program (logon, list cameras, arm/disarm camera). I attached a 3" touch screen to the Pi with a two buttons -- arm and disarm. When the caregivers arrived in the morning they would touch the disarm button and then, when leaving for the day, the arm button. I used the Google Docs API to register these actions in a Google Sheet so we had a log of the caregivers schedule. A lot of Pi projects are just fun. This one was fun and quite useful.

 

[CJones]

Can't help you on the Banana vs. Raspberry, but that's a pretty slick project! Curious to see what is suggested here.

I finally got around to doing a music-synced Christmas tree with a RPi this past Christmas. No LEDs - just turning on/off AC relays.

I like the oversize pinout chart laying on the table in one of those pics.

 

[chartbundle]

Probably will depend on how you're driving them. If you have an off-board processor doing the timing for the LEDs then all is likely fine. If you're directly banging it out on the GPIO then it will be likely to be more challenging. The libraries might already support it or you may be in for some hacking to figure out the pin mapping and any changes. It looks like the support should be there, but as usual, good luck.

 

[NealRomeoGolf]

I've always wanted to make one of these (the parts are even all in my Amazon wish list) but I've never felt I had the time. Time is dumb.

 

[Mahneuvers]

Thanks for the idea. My son has a computer science project due by the end of the year. If his teacher allows him to change the project he already submitted, we're going to build one of these.

 

[benyflyguy]

So I’ll give you my backbone staring place

1. basic plot
https://slingtsi.rueker.com/making-a-led-powered-metar-map-for-your-wall/
so this gives you some of the basic info and programming stuff. Think of it as an outline. My first map I did this but it admittedly was clunky weighted about 20 lbs (now down to 2-3Lbs) but it works.
Now it’s all about upgrades. I use much different lights now that are easier to work
With but require a small programming change.
2.https://github.com/prueker/METARMap
This is the backbone programming for the pi.
Very editable and does need a bit of tweaking
if and when someone gets serious about making and doing let me know. I can help. I don’t consider myself smart, just stubbornly persistent.
First map probably had 80-100 work hours into it. A lot of head banging against wall. Second map half that. 10 later about 4-6 hours. But still have to trouble shoot a little problem here or there.

 

[Mahneuvers]

I just ordered a WFR Wall Planning chart. The total cost on Amazon is the same as just the shipping on Sporty's

Apparently people use these charts w/ pushpins capturing where they've been. I'm thinking of three modes (1) current weather, (2) weather hourly over the past 12 hours, and (3) airports I've visited.

 

[RyanB]

Now that’s just flippin’ cool! I’d love to have one hanging on my wall!

 

[bflynn]

So due to the chip shortage raspberry pi have spiked in price but more annoying is that they are just plain hard to find.

Try an arduino. Combined with a multiplexer, you should be able to control more LEDs than you really want to solder. All it is is downloading some data and setting the LED color, a Pi is overkill.

The arduino nano is in the $5 range.

 

[manac]

Pi zero 2 w is $15 with Wi-Fi if you can find it. I’m just waiting for them to get back in stock.
The zero is perfect for this application except for availability.

 

[chartbundle]

Try an arduino. Combined with a multiplexer, you should be able to control more LEDs than you really want to solder. All it is is downloading some data and setting the LED color, a Pi is overkill.

The arduino nano is in the $5 range.

No multiplexer is needed. These are "Smart" LEDs, you just daisy chain them with a data line. The first LED takes its RGB value off the data stream and passes it on to #2, lather, rinse, repeat. Only 1 data line needed. Officially I don't think there's a limit, but small microcontrollers can have some RAM limits. 128 in a chain is perfectly usable. Larger can get to be a problem.

https://www.adafruit.com/product/1312 for instance

 

[Albany Tom]

Those maps are awesome. The led strings are pretty cool, too. The timing is quick, but I bet a PIC could run them, or at least translate from normal serial to the funny interface they have.

 

[Arnold]

I think the OP posted a day early.

 

[benyflyguy]

I just ordered a WFR Wall Planning chart. The total cost on Amazon is the same as just the shipping on Sporty's

Apparently people use these charts w/ pushpins capturing where they've been. I'm thinking of three modes (1) current weather, (2) weather hourly over the past 12 hours, and (3) airports I've visited.

I download the file for free from FAA and take to staples have them print and mount on a poster board

 

[benyflyguy]

Pi zero 2 w is $15 with Wi-Fi if you can find it. I’m just waiting for them to get back in stock.
The zero is perfect for this application except for availability.

That’s what I have been using. Just can’t find them. And the prices have jumped.

 

[Mahneuvers]

scons is giving me all sorts of trouble. Was hoping to make more progress on day 1. Oh well. I'm up for the challenge

 

[Mahneuvers]

I download the file for free from FAA and take to staples have them print and mount on a poster board

Did you do this recently? Any chance do you still have the file? The VFR Wall Planning chart is huge at 59X36. My plan was to build a board w/ just the south east but even that is pretty large. A file which can be shrunken and printed would be better. I don't see a download option but I do see information about "approved print providers" which makes me think they might no longer offer a download option.

 

[455 Bravo Uniform]

A sectional is cooler, but you can take any non-aviation map of your liking and do the same. A “shrunken down” sectional is equally as undetailed as a generic map.

 

[chartbundle]

Did you do this recently? Any chance do you still have the file? The VFR Wall Planning chart is huge at 59X36. My plan was to build a board w/ just the south east but even that is pretty large. A file which can be shrunken and printed would be better. I don't see a download option but I do see information about "approved print providers" which makes me think they might no longer offer a download option.

The VFR planning chart is downloadable here: https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/flight_info/aeronav/digital_products/vfr/
You have to click on the tab for 'Planning' in the list of charts.
The PDF is 113MB.

If you want the IFR one(same general idea) it's here, https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/flight_info/aeronav/digital_products/ifr/
It's smaller files without all the colors, but split into 2 parts(East and West)

 

[Mahneuvers]

I've worked through all the technical issues. I've customized example Python scripts to retrieve the weather and turn on specific LEDs with customary colors for VFR, MVFR, IFR & LIFR. I'm now at the point of attaching the LED strip to the map.

How are people creating clean holes in foam board? In my design, the LEDs will be attached to the back side of the foam board behind a hole at select airport locations. I've tried drilling with numerous drill bits including some designed for arts and crafts, punching, but the holes are not "clean". I've using a sanding drill bit to no avail. The interior of foam board is like drywall which tends to "flake".

 

[455 Bravo Uniform]

Can you undersize drill and then clean it up with a soldering iron to final size?

 

[DaleB]

Those maps are awesome. The led strings are pretty cool, too. The timing is quick, but I bet a PIC could run them, or at least translate from normal serial to the funny interface they have.

A PIC could absolutely do it. You'd only need a few bits per LED to store the color value array, since you're only displaying one of a few colors. I'm rather fond of the PIC18F26xxx series, with built-in USB. I use the CCS PICC compiler that makes it easy to make the device appear as a serial device when connected to a PC... and a USB bootloader isn't difficult either, so you've got firmware update capability.

That said, the difference between writing Python or whatever on a Pi and designing a PIC project with USB from scratch is like the difference between driving around a circle track in a minivan, and designing a road race car.

I've worked through all the technical issues. I've customized example Python scripts to retrieve the weather and turn on specific LEDs with customary colors for VFR, MVFR, IFR & LIFR. I'm now at the point of attaching the LED strip to the map.

How are people creating clean holes in foam board? In my design, the LEDs will be attached to the back side of the foam board behind a hole at select airport locations. I've tried drilling with numerous drill bits including some designed for arts and crafts, punching, but the holes are not "clean". I've using a sanding drill bit to no avail. The interior of foam board is like drywall which tends to "flake".

Try a punch. Get some thin wall brass tubing with about the OD you want, and put a sharp edge on one end. Twist it through the foam board, pop the cores out with a piece of piano wire. That's what I'd try, anyway, and the materials are cheap and commonly available at hobby stores.

 

[Mahneuvers]

Completed the last proof of concept. Now it's just time. I'm guessing ~4 hours of work to complete.

 

[benyflyguy]

I've worked through all the technical issues. I've customized example Python scripts to retrieve the weather and turn on specific LEDs with customary colors for VFR, MVFR, IFR & LIFR. I'm now at the point of attaching the LED strip to the map.

How are people creating clean holes in foam board? In my design, the LEDs will be attached to the back side of the foam board behind a hole at select airport locations. I've tried drilling with numerous drill bits including some designed for arts and crafts, punching, but the holes are not "clean". I've using a sanding drill bit to no avail. The interior of foam board is like drywall which tends to "flake".

6mm surgical punch works well.

 

[benyflyguy]

Completed the last proof of concept. Now it's just time. I'm guessing ~4 hours of work to complete.
View attachment 105860

Looks good. What leds are you using?? That are some newer ones that have really made it easier to pack the lights in close.

 

[Mahneuvers]

...What leds are you using?...

These. I've hit a snag. On my 2nd run, I was concerned I might drill through the 1st run shorting the circuit. As a result, I have significant brightness variance. Not cool. LED light is directional. The point of emission is the size of a pin. The alignment of the hole and the LED emitter makes a huge difference in brightness. I'm still contemplating how to proceed. I'm thinking I need to remove the 2nd run, re-drill the holes similar to the 1st run, drill the remaining holes, then re-mount.

I likely made a mistake with the LEDs I chose but they were the ones I was able to more easily control w/ a Python script. They aren't super flexible. I might "waste" 3-4 LEDs between airports. They are still cheap enough that it's not a big deal.



Go Tar Heels! My daughter just sent me a video of Bacot at her birthday party! I was at a bar in Chapel Hill last weekend for the UCLA victory. Awesome!!

 

[benyflyguy]

I use these fairy strings. You don’t have to use their controller and control fine off the pi. Depending on the lights you need to use a different light assignment.
the these are really small, easy to use. Have to watch which side you put down. Sometime the bubble is on the wrong side. I use gorilla tape in small strips. (Destroys my fingers. Worth getting duct tape scissors)
https://www.amazon.com/BTF-LIGHTING..._rd_i=B08R6WCM9N&psc=1&ref_=pd_bap_m_rp_16_sc

 

[Mahneuvers]

Another setback. When all is said and done, I'll have just under 160 airports illuminated. This requires a 2nd LED strand. This second strand, even though it's identical to the first, lights but does not respond to control inputs. I'm thinking it's bad. I've requested an exchange.

Edit: I was able to get the 1st strand to act up. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. I'm thinking now it has to do w/ a faulty connection at the start of the LED strand.

 

[chartbundle]

Another setback. When all is said and done, I'll have just under 160 airports illuminated. This requires a 2nd LED strand. This second strand, even though it's identical to the first, lights but does not respond to control inputs. I'm thinking it's bad. I've requested an exchange.

Edit: I was able to get the 1st strand to act up. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. I'm thinking now it has to do w/ a faulty connection at the start of the LED strand.

I assume you're not trying to power these from the GPIO 5V pins and just using GPIO data+ground and then +5v and ground directly from a high current source, possibly powering the Pi 'backwards' via the GPIO 5v.

The obvious answer is stick an oscilloscope on the data line and power lines, but apparently not everyone has one of those. Although apparently you can make a logic analyzer with just a Pi Pico which would handle most of the duties on a project like this.

 

[Mahneuvers]

I assume you're not trying to power these from the GPIO 5V pins and just using GPIO data+ground and then +5v and ground directly from a high current source, possibly powering the Pi 'backwards' via the GPIO 5v...

Thanks for your earlier advice about giving Staples a TIF and having them shrink and affix to foam board.

I apologize in advance. I'm a software guy. I don't know much about EE/hardware although I enjoy learning new stuff. I followed this design from a hardware perspective. I'm using Pi pin 6 for ground and then pin 12 for GPIO18. I've connected a 5V DC 4A power supply to my breadboard as I need to drive 600 LEDs (only 160 will be lit). My Pi has its own power supply. I have no idea what you mean about powering the Pi backwards. I assume that means something about the data pin receiving enough current to power the Pi itself but I'm well out of my depth now.

I don't have an oscilloscope but since I'm already into this project to the tune of ~$300 maybe it makes sense to look into it

 

[chartbundle]

I followed this design from a hardware perspective. I'm using Pi pin 6 for ground and then pin 12 for GPIO18. I've connected a 5V DC 4A power supply to my breadboard as I need to drive 600 LEDs (only 160 will be lit). My Pi has it's own power supply. I have no idea what you mean by powering the Pi backwards.

I don't have an oscilloscope but since I'm into this project to the tune of ~$300 maybe it makes sense to look into it

Yea, don't run the power through the breadboard. Those stupid dupont wires aren't made for high(or moderate) current. I'd split the wire at the connector and run 2 wires straight to the LEDs and 2 to the breadboard and for the second string, power them directly not through the first string but do carry ground and data from the end of the first. For very long single strings you can power both ends, but that's sort of advanced...

I'm glad they actually recommend using a level shifter, but I take exception to this: " a so-called level shifter is needed to convert " no, it's not so-called, it'a a level shifter, that's what it does, it shifts levels. So, check all the connections, check all the stupid dupont wires and make sure they're doing wire-things.

 

[Mahneuvers]

...I'd split the wire at the connector and run 2 wires straight to the LEDs and 2 to the breadboard and for the second string, power them directly not through the first string but do carry ground and data from the end of the first...

Thanks for the advice. I'll give that a shot.

The first issue I had w/ this project was the LEDs flashing seemingly random colors despite my control inputs. Turning off the audio kernel module fixed this. Interestingly, when I start the program now which sets all LED to red, I see the random colors for the first few seconds then, somehow, all turns well. I'm guessing this is significant but I do not know why.

I'm still thinking my 2nd LED strip is bad. I can get my 1st strip working consistently most every time. Unplugging it and plugging in my 2nd strip never works.

 

[PilotDoug]

Wow those really turned out great! I’m planning a build soon. Adafruit is starting to get RPi’s back in stock every couple weeks or so.