Howto: Lightberry (GPIO)

HowTo
1

THIS GUIDE IS FOR GPIO ONLY NOT USB MODELS

gonna do a how to on this model of Lightberry, its a GPIO powered solution not a usb solution, first off we are gonna do some examples of how many leds depending of the size of the screen

Screen Size Lightberry Version Number of LEDs
			Horizontally 	Vertically
55” 56 LEDs 		18 		10
50” 52 LEDs 		17 		9
46” 48 LEDs 		15 		9
42” 44 LEDs 		14 		8
39” 44 LEDs 		13 		8
37” 44 LEDs 		13 		7

Here is how you connect your lightberry to your pi or you can use Hypercon it since the addon might not have all configs for your specific needs thats when Hypercon is perfect you can nitpick the configuration.

hypercon_mainscreen_01.jpg1300×700 237 KB

First image is for a RPI 1 model A and B

Second Image is for RPI 1A+B+ and 2

now that your lightberry is connected we are gonna go into some system configuration find the file
/etc/modprobe.d/raspi-blacklist.conf if it doesn’t then this should matter… if it creates a problem then create the file and add the value

#blacklist spi-bcm2708 
blacklist i2c-bcm2708

if it does exist remove or comment out the line that says

blacklist spi-bcm2708

Next fire up OSMC Settings and go to Pi Config then go to Config Editor and add new entry

dtparam=spi=on

Next download hyperion via ssh login to your OSMC installation then preform these commands

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install libqtcore4 libqtgui4 libqt4-network libusb-1.0-0 ca-certificates
wget -N https://raw.github.com/tvdzwan/hyperion/master/bin/install_hyperion.sh
sudo sh ./install_hyperion.sh

Then you can download a kodi addon that grabs the right config see chart in the beginning on this howto, download your config and then reboot your machine if you done everything correctly then you should have working ambilights for your kodi installation.

And last but not the least

Enable “Allow remote control by programs on this system”
and “Allow remote control by programs on other systems” (you need both, even on the same machine.

navigate ->System->Services->Remote control

Images are grabbed from the manual for Lightberry. Feel free to consult it if this howto doesn’t work for you

This works for all RPI versions
Tested on OSMC June version
Retested on OSMC December update

1 Like
2

Hi Toast,

since a fresh installation of OSMC (10.2015) the leds didn’t work.
I don’t find the problem. Before the new installation all works fine.
Hyperion looks good. But no led is flashing.

osmc@osmcwz:~$ sudo /usr/bin/hyperiond /etc/hyperion.config.json
Application build time: Mar 6 2015 20:57:44
QCoreApplication initialised
Selected configuration file: /etc/hyperion.config.json
ColorTransform ‘default’ => [0; 47]
Device configuration:
{
“colorOrder” : “rgb”,
“name” : “MyPi”,
“output” : “/dev/spidev0.0”,
“rate” : 250000,
“type” : “lightberry”
}

Black border threshold set to 0.01 (3)
Creating linear smoothing
Created linear-smoothing(interval_ms=50;settlingTime_ms=200;updateDelay=0
Effect loaded: Knight rider
Effect loaded: Blue mood blobs
Effect loaded: Cold mood blobs
Effect loaded: Full color mood blobs
Effect loaded: Green mood blobs
Effect loaded: Red mood blobs
Effect loaded: Warm mood blobs
Effect loaded: Rainbow mood
Effect loaded: Rainbow swirl fast
Effect loaded: Rainbow swirl
Effect loaded: Snake
Effect loaded: Strobe blue
Effect loaded: Strobe Raspbmc
Effect loaded: Strobe white
Initializing Python interpreter
Hyperion created and initialised
run effect Rainbow swirl fast on channel 0
Boot sequence(Rainbow swirl fast) created and started
Display opened with resolution: 1920x1080
Frame grabber created and started
terminate called after throwing an instance of ‘std::runtime_error’
what(): Json server could not bind to port

Config.txt

dtoverlay=lirc-rpi:gpio_out_pin=17,gpio_in_pin=18
gpu_mem_1024=256
disable_splash=1
dtparam=spi=on
start_x=1
sdtv_aspect=1
disable_overscan=1
hdmi_ignore_cec_init=1
device_tree_overlay=overlays/enable-spi-overlay.dtb

could you help me?

3

see that your config.txt is missing this parameter try adding that see if it helps

and hit me back if it doesn’t work //Toast

4

Hi Toast,

dtparam=spi=on

is already in my config.txt. See above.
Are there changes in 10.2015?

Sry :frowning:

5

seems that it cant bind the port too hyperion wants to use in the json file try changing it

6

May I ask whats your complete setup like?
Video signal to hdmi splitter, 1st out to tv, 2nd out to hdmi2av converter, from converter to usb video grabber and usb to rpi?
I always read about a setup where the video signal comes from some external source, can’t this also be the rpi, in your case?

…I’m currently trying to figure out whats necessary to make this work on my ordered vero2 starting from scratch.
I’m not sure if I need to install drivers for usb video grabber, hdmi to av converter and usb to led converter or if these are already in the kernel…

7

Dont buy this one if your planning on buying a Vero2 go for a lightpack.tv kit then

8

Already bought a vero2, I’m waiting for it to be shipped.

I didn’t know about lightpack but it’s 1. more expensive than lightberry for my tv and 2. ships from L.A. or Hong Kong, I live in Austria so customs fee will be also added. A bit too expensive for my taste.
Could you elaborate why you think lightberry wouldn’t work with vero2?

9

Iightberry only supports Linux while lightpack supports both Linux and android since vero 2 is both Android and Linux it would make more sense to get a light pack.

10

:open_mouth: of course, you’re right…so no netlix or amazon instant video with ambilight.
Thx, I didn’t think of the obvious…but just on osmc I guess it would work, right?

Hmm… maybe I use my leftover pi1 for ambilight,… I like to keep everything in one device if possible but I guess I’ll hide all that stuff in a drawer of my tv shelf anyway. :grin:

11

it works for multiple platforms check the site

12

lightberry I meant, not lightpack.

13

if your intent on buying lightberry then go for it

(Moderators please spit this thread since it has nothing to do with OP)

14

3 posts were split to a new topic: Lightberry / adalightapa102 create device issue"

15

Is there a way to setup ambilight using an RGB LED strip and raspberry pi?

16

yes but open a new thread on that topic since its NOT lightberry.