Discussions or comments regarding the fireworks launcher including electronics, software programming, ignition or other topics.
Discussions or comments regarding the fireworks launcher including electronics, software programming, ignition or other topics.
Welcome to Flaminghellmet.
Nice setup. I’m in to process of building one of these for a buddy. I’ll definitely be referring to your details as I proceed.
One change I’m planning on making from your design (and others I have seen), is I’m planning on using an 8×8 matrix (similar to the led matrix) giving a 64 shot sequencer. I’m planning on using 74 HC595 shift registers and either relays or mosfets to manage the higher voltages. I’m also going to be using an arduino device and hopefully be able to have this set to music. I haven’t seen an 8×8 setup in any research and wonder why. I can’t think of any reason not to proceed with that configuration.
Any advice you can offer would be appreciated.
Thanks for the details.
Hi Kelly,
There are a couple of ways to tackle this and that is one of them. If I had the time to build the next fireworks launcher version, I would probably use a couple of port expanders (MCP23017 for example) to increase the GPIO capacity and build a 32 or 64 port launcher. However I might get lazy next time and just buy a pre-built expander board that plugs into the existing GPIO pins. Here is one example of a pre-built board for the Raspberry Pi, but I imagine there is something similar for the Arduino:
GPIO Expander Board
If you go to Pyrouniverse below, go to the section titled “Firing Systems”, and do a search for the word “Arduino”, you will get some useful information for your application:
02-12-2018: REMOVED BROKEN LINK. PYROUNIVERSE SITE HAS BEEN SHUT DOWN.