Using multiple RPi ZW all controlled from central RPi 3

[BelgianWaffle]

Hi there,

I've recently been looking into creating a show control system for a haunted attraction. The idea is to be able to control everything from audio to lighting from one single RPi 3 which is essentially organising all the little RPi ZW.

I'm not that very knowledgable when it comes to either RPis or Lighting but I was wondering whether the following was possible and whether this is the cheapest solution.

Each room in my haunted attraction would have a RPi ZW which would act as an output device for the lighting and audio in that specific room, the work that the RPi ZW needs to perform is sent over from the RPi 3. I've heard of a thing called Art Net and wondering whether that would be any use since I want to have it all done wirelessly.

Is any of this possible and is this a cost effective solution? Apologies for my lack of knowledge.

Best regards,

Zac

[GGGss]

Zac,

Why should every room have a RPi? On one DMX output you can have 32 fixtures... if you use a DMX splitter than even more...
(Rereading : I get it - every room should have it's own voice)

You will need a DMX interface on every RPi - depending on the number of hardware (electrical) in/outputs needed I'd go for the Rpi3.
Orchestrating everything from one console (you need more power than a Rpi) via Artnet to your 'client' RPi's ... Is possible but will be getting complexer...

Interesting project: Haunted house

[BelgianWaffle]

Hey again,

Thanks a lot for your reply.

I'm starting to wonder whether RPis are the best solution for this attraction because we're also aiming to have the RPi ZW output audio too in each room so I wonder whether they'll be able to handle the load. What other options do we have regarding this sort of thing? As far as I can see getting a PC is the best thing to do.

Regards,

Zac

[mcallegari]

Well, between a RPi ZW ($10) and a PC ($500) there are A LOT of options these days.
Just one thing, IMHO, don't go WiFi. When you'll have people in the house with smartphones, bluetooth and whatsoever, WiFi won't work or will create unacceptable latencies.
I'd say all RPi 3 wired with ethernet would work. Synchronizing via ArtNet is pretty trivial from the "master" Pi.

[BelgianWaffle]

WiFi would be awesome if it was reliable but from what I'm reading there's no chance in hell that's happening without spending A LOT.

I think what I'll do is have a central RPi 3 that acts as my control interface and then have the RPi ZW acting as output devices, hopefully they'll be able to handle the load. I'll have to test it out and find out!

[richbass]

Search eBay for 'wireless dmx module'
Around £7 per module.

I've got one as a transmitter connected to my RPI using 5V from header, and an in box dmx circuit using gpio (circuit details here viewtopic.php?t=11616)

I use the same module as wireless dmx receiver that I've hardwired into my lights, but can't see why it wouldn't work as a receiver as an input to gpio on a pi zero.