Sorry Mark, I did a bit more homework and I found 3 wire neopixels that are the same lower profile, so I'll use those. I still am interested in the 4 wire solution but at this time you can either answer or disregard and/or delete the post. 

I'd also like to throw Kudo's your way for the V4 development. Nice improvements. I have built "Project #0" - an 8 led test bed, then "Project #1" a 12 x 18 prototype in a minimal frame and now a better "Project#3" build 24x36 map with 49 led's, which I've formatted, framed and boxed up all pretty for display - and am going to give away to a flight school tomorrow. Cool.

Thanks much for posting this material. I'd never have undertaken this project without you two guys doing the work and posting. My #3 is 3-1/4 inches thick due to the "standard 12mm" Neopixels used. "   --> My "#Next" will target a slim design. I am happy to share some info or pics with you. 

-Dave

Hi Dave,

To answer your 4 wire answer; it has nothing to do with my software code, its due to the fact that you have to have a supporting library to tap into. Having said that; I started this project using Python 2.7 which required an older version of the adafruit library. As far as I know that library did not support the 4 wire variety. Then for V4 I changed everything to work with Python 3. Part of this update is the switch to a newer version of the adafruit library. I have not researched to see if this new library can support the 4 wire variety of LED's. It may. In which case my code should be easily adapted to the 4 wire LED's. I just need to define the 4 wire model number. I'll try to look further into this and maybe this could be an update in the future. Give me the model number of the 4 wire LED.

Thanks for the Kudos. Bill and I have found this to be a lot of fun and wanted to share this with others. It's a work in process, but I really like how its turned out so far. Sounds like you have made a number of boards. Please send some pictures so we can see them and post them in our Gallery.

One last thought regarding building a low profile board. I had the same idea and have found these; https://www.adafruit.com/product/4560 . I haven't gotten any of these yet, so I can't speak to their quality but I can see this being the answer for small footprint maps with lots of airports in a low profile frame. 

Thanks Mark. 

I was referring to the Adafruit square string neopixel leds. They are product id# 738 and type WS2801 four lead. I ordered them by mistake.

https://www.adafruit.com/product/738  

I do have some of the led's you cited. Adafruit # 4560 Soft Flexible Wire NeoPixel Strand

https://www.adafruit.com/product/4560

but I can't get them to work.  The same RPi ZW works with three other styles, the original 12mm on your site, some led dots and even a tape of 144ea. Both with and without 74hct125 level shift and ample juice. I don't "know" if I have the power leads correct. I'm applying ground to the RED wire and 5v to the opposite as in the Adafruit product description, but that seems backward. In my years of tech work I know typos occur. Their other similar products call out the RED to be the 5v. (Who would use RED as GND anyway?!) I may try reversing the power tomorrow. Shouldn't kill the led but might let smoke out of the attached chip? I also may be driving the wrong end of the chain (or not). Other products from them have had a opposite sex connector, like the "other end". But yet they gave a pigtail that fits the end I'm using. Their video "seems" to support this end as well? Confusing. I'll probably try to contact them. Driving the (signal) from the "wrong" end is probably an easy safe test but reversing polarity may ruin them. Markings are extremely small and I can't identify data direction from such. Maybe I got a bad unit? Maybe I killed them unknowingly? Probably not... Your thoughts? 

As referenced I also have Adafruit #3631 "dots". They look promising but aren't diffused. Mounting isn't straight forward as they are dome shaped. Maybe a smaller 6 or 8 vs 12mm) hole in my 1/8 inch hardboard map substrate filled with clear hot melt glue will give a mount and diffused light. I'll report back on that. I seem to recall perusing some same but were diffused... somewhere. Lastly. I found the 12mm style led assy but not encased in a tube with potting  (glue?). I may be able to mount these sideways and bend the led leads 90 degrees into 12mm holes. This seems promising but will require gobs of hot melt/etc to mount and further pot or encapsulate the bare area of leads and naked electronics each led has. These are 3 lead but I first only found the 4 lead, which prompted my initial post. Seems like if a style is made in one then the other is around, sometimes in a 12v version too. Just gotta dig on the web. 

Then there's the fiber optic approach. Do you know of a glue that sticks to the flexible 5mm stuff? It laffed at my attempt to secure it with industrial super glue /CYA  and 5 min epoxy. All my mounting is done in wood. No 3d printer yet. 

Progress...

Sorry for the run-on, but that's my story. At least today. Thanks for the support, again.

-Dave

Hi Dave,

I looked and yes the 4 wire uses a different Adafruit library. So it will have to wait till I get ambitious and do an other major upgrade to the software to be able to use that style.

I ordered these; https://www.adafruit.com/product/4560 so I can play with them. I'll let you know what I find out with them. They look promising for what I'd like to achieve.

I used 3 mm side glow fiber optic on my maps, and I found out that glue doesn't do well with them just as you did. My solution, as you know was to use 3D printed mounts that held every thing in place via friction. 

You might be able to achieve a low profile using the normal string of LED's with the WBBB 3D printed mounts. This lays them sideways. I know you mentioned no 3D printer yet but you can order them online if needed. I also built a map using clear Lite-Bright pegs mounted in a 3D printed mount that allowed the LED's to lie horizontal to the board, which allowed for a lower profile. 

Thanks for the update. Don't forget to send some pics. - Mark 

@markyharris

Mark, first I wanted to tell you how impressed I am with this software. I am excited to build my first map.

I was reading this thread and wondered if you ever got these low profile LEDs to work?

Thanks

Chuck

Interestingly, I put a test together this past weekend using 2 strings (100 LEDs) of those low profile LED's and they work out of the box. I added a single OLED to the setup after I took the attached picture and all is fine. So now I'm ready to build a low profile map with them.

Here's the link to the LED's on Adafruit;   https://www.adafruit.com/product/4560  

Here's a pic. - Mark

@markyharris

Hi Mark, I just received my low profile LEDs, they are really nice. All I did was disconnect the larger LEDs and connected the small ones, but the color green is represented by the color Red in most of them. I tried reboot, and for laughs, changed the assigned color for IFR to Green, but they are still red. 

When I disconnect the low profile LEDs and connect the larger ones, then all is fine. Any ideas? Is it possible they are a different manufacturing run and are not compatible?

Thanks

I'm sure that when you look under the 'Sectional Map Settings', 'RGB or GRB LEDs Used' you'll probably see that GRB is selected. Just switch this to RGB and it should behave normally.

This is caused by the color format each of the strings is expecting. The Large LED's expect GRB, but the small ones, and the strips expect RGB.

Bounce back to confirm that this worked for you. - Mark

@markyharris

Yes, that worked great. Thanks again.