Hi Everyone,
I’m a recent Computer Engineer graduate in need of some advice. Clear Controller is a project I’ve been working on for over a year, and after some positive feedback, I’m trying to determine the best way to get this to others. I have not started any campaigns, nor is this post a campaign. I'm only looking for some feedback on the idea itself, the options/features that are implemented thus far, and whether I should pursue a campaign or open-source approach.
About the project: What is it? Clear Controller is an all in one solution designed for PC’s and laptops. It’s an Arduino based fan controller, RGB LED controller, and real time monitoring system. It includes a 20x4 LCD for displaying statistics, MOSFET driven LED and fan controls, and a Windows Presentation Foundation app.
Who needs it? With the ability to do so much, or so little if you just like one aspect of it, Clear Controller can be used by anyone who wants to personalize their PC and display useful information on an LCD so full screen apps will not interfere. With it, you feel more connected and informed about what’s going on with your PC at any time.
What does it do? There are 3 main components to Clear Controller: data statistics, LED controls, and fan controls.
1. Statistics Data is gathered using OpenHardwareMonitor libraries and includes the following:
CPU/GPU Data: Core temps, frequencies, usages (%).
Memory (RAM): Frequencies, free and used RAM.
FansSpeed, voltage.
All data is displayed on the 20x4 LCD with variable options for layouts2. LED Controls The LED functions are broken up into 4 sub categories:
Static colors:Chosen by a color picker or pre-defined colors. Any combination of R (0 - 255), G (0 - 255), B (0 – 255), and brightness (0%-100%) is an option.
Patterns:Fan Strobe – My favorite pattern, it strobes the LED’s to make the fans in your system appear to stop, rotate backwards, or move slowly. There is a rate slider that allows you to get the perfect effect.
Breathing - Again chosen by a color picker and a rate slider - LEDs fade in and out.
Spectrum – LED colors change following the visible spectrum with adjustable rate slider.
Pulse – Similar to breathing but more like a strobe.
Load Controlled:The load of the CPU or GPU can be used to change the LED effect. The options at this time are:
Follow RGB Spectrum – Users can adjust a range slider for a starting color and ending color based on the load of either the CPU or GPU. For instance, CPU @ 0% color=blue, CPU @ 100% color=red. The algorithm will follow the visible spectrum for every value between. Think ROYGBIV.
Adjust brightness – With this option the LED’s change brightness based on load and a user selected color, the lower the load the lower the brightness.
Audio Controlled:The LEDs also respond to audio with two distinct options.
Audio controlled colors – Audio is sampled and broken into frequency ranges, peak detected, and the dB measured (relative to the rest of the song or another audio source). The user has three options, Bass color (60-250Hz), Mid color (250Hz – 1kHz) and sensitivity. The color displayed is based on the peak dB freq and mapped relative to the previous maximum dB to adjust the brightness.
Audio controlled fan strobe – I stumbled upon this while working on a completely different part of the project, but it is a unique effect. The same algorithm used to control colors is used to strobe the LEDs at high frequencies to make the fans in your system appear to stop, slow down, reverse, etc based on the audio source, the freq range, and the dB. The fans remain at the same RPM the entire time so system performance is not hindered.
3. Fan ControlsAt this time, there are only a couple of options for fan controls – manual adjustment, and following a user defined curve with fan speed relative to temperature.
All of the features/components mentioned are working and have been tested, but there is still work to be done, especially on the UI.
Similar components are available to purchase separately at a relatively high cost, but not integrated through a Windows application. The main issue with current LCD based temperature monitoring is the requirement to put external temp sensors between the CPU and the heat-sink, this is highly undesirable, and it is prone to inaccuracies. Clear Controller uses the CPU's and motherboard's built in sensors to display this information. The next closest thing available is the NZXT Hue+ which wasn't available when I started working on this
but with all the options it gets quite expensive.
Nevertheless, I am working tirelessly to bring this to everyone and look forward to your feedback and suggestions.
My next endeavor is UI modifications and determining whether to go open-source or start a campaign to fund it.
And some screenshots are attached, because of course pics or it didn't happen