4 ms·

I’ve had several strips of these just waiting for the perfect project. Anyone else have any interesting ideas for weekend projects using addressable LEDs?

AlphaWeaver 8y ago
I built a system that displayed where I am by different color statuses. For example, if someone comes looking for me and the lights are red, I'm not there. Yellow means busy, don't interrupt, rainbow/green means come in. Controlled by a Raspberry Pi, great for an office or a shared space. I ringed the door with LEDs.
- aloisamae 8y ago
  I like this! I have some leftover Arduinos and LED strips; I think I'll do this after exams. Thanks for the idea!
  - AlphaWeaver 8y ago
    No problem! You're welcome to shoot me an email (my website is in my profile) and I can send along the (terrible) code I wrote for it.
leggomylibro 8y ago
Grid-based displays are fun. You can cut the strips and re-arrange them in a "zig-zag" pattern if you don't mind soldering a few wires. Lately, I was also thinking it could be fun to try 3d-printing some little spherical diffusers for individual 5050 LEDs and arranging individual ones of those in a larger area like a window.
anfractuosity 8y ago
https://www.anfractuosity.com/projects/painting-a-christmas-tree/ https://www.anfractuosity.com/projects/painting-a-christmas-... - I created a little system to 'paint' my Christmas tree using these addressable LEDs. The tree could be wrapped with the LED strips then the position of the LEDs was obtained using a camera (as they pulse out an ID). I then created a little Flask app, that ran on the same Raspberry Pi which controlled the LED strips, which let people paint the tree via a website.
- abecedarius 8y ago
  That's cool! And reminds me I'd like to see something like http://wry.me/hacking/moirexmas.html http://wry.me/hacking/moirexmas.html on a real Christmas tree.
asteli 8y ago
I had a project on my living room ceiling for a good while. If you stuff the LED strips into PEX tubing (common white plastic plumbing) you get a decently diffuse LED "stick". I took 8 of these modules, about a meter long each, and hung them from the ceiling in a semi random pattern, mapped them to a 2D plane in software, and used MIDI data from Ableton live to trigger light patterns that would be played across the LED array. Decent party trick. It unfortunately was mostly destroyed when someone fiddled with the variable voltage supply it was hooked up to in an attempt to turn it off post-party. Word to the wise: if there are knobs on equipment at a party (mixer, lighting, etc), people will inevitably fiddle with them. Design for this.
posterboy 8y ago
A Word Clock. Google it. Impractical but pretty.
frob 8y ago
I've built a few weekend-level projects with these. One I've loved the most is ambient lighting. I ringed the ceiling of one of my rooms with these and I can fade them in and out to a warm or cool white. It is great for hanging out with friends since there's this warm glow coming from all directions. Also great for reading. My next step is to create areas that I can light up sections above chairs and sofas. It's also fun and easy to attach these to bikes. You can then just ziptie your arduino under the seat or somewhere like that and then light up your frame. If you have a GPS module, you can build a compass or something that always points to the same spot. You could also give your sofa and chairs underglow.

AlphaWeaver 8y ago

I built a system that displayed where I am by different color statuses. For example, if someone comes looking for me and the lights are red, I'm not there. Yellow means busy, don't interrupt, rainbow/green means come in. Controlled by a Raspberry Pi, great for an office or a shared space. I ringed the door with LEDs.

aloisamae 8y ago
I like this! I have some leftover Arduinos and LED strips; I think I'll do this after exams. Thanks for the idea!
- AlphaWeaver 8y ago
  No problem! You're welcome to shoot me an email (my website is in my profile) and I can send along the (terrible) code I wrote for it.

leggomylibro 8y ago

Grid-based displays are fun. You can cut the strips and re-arrange them in a "zig-zag" pattern if you don't mind soldering a few wires. Lately, I was also thinking it could be fun to try 3d-printing some little spherical diffusers for individual 5050 LEDs and arranging individual ones of those in a larger area like a window.

anfractuosity 8y ago

https://www.anfractuosity.com/projects/painting-a-christmas-tree/ https://www.anfractuosity.com/projects/painting-a-christmas-... - I created a little system to 'paint' my Christmas tree using these addressable LEDs. The tree could be wrapped with the LED strips then the position of the LEDs was obtained using a camera (as they pulse out an ID). I then created a little Flask app, that ran on the same Raspberry Pi which controlled the LED strips, which let people paint the tree via a website.

abecedarius 8y ago
That's cool! And reminds me I'd like to see something like http://wry.me/hacking/moirexmas.html http://wry.me/hacking/moirexmas.html on a real Christmas tree.

asteli 8y ago

I had a project on my living room ceiling for a good while. If you stuff the LED strips into PEX tubing (common white plastic plumbing) you get a decently diffuse LED "stick". I took 8 of these modules, about a meter long each, and hung them from the ceiling in a semi random pattern, mapped them to a 2D plane in software, and used MIDI data from Ableton live to trigger light patterns that would be played across the LED array. Decent party trick. It unfortunately was mostly destroyed when someone fiddled with the variable voltage supply it was hooked up to in an attempt to turn it off post-party. Word to the wise: if there are knobs on equipment at a party (mixer, lighting, etc), people will inevitably fiddle with them. Design for this.

posterboy 8y ago

A Word Clock. Google it. Impractical but pretty.

frob 8y ago

I've built a few weekend-level projects with these. One I've loved the most is ambient lighting. I ringed the ceiling of one of my rooms with these and I can fade them in and out to a warm or cool white. It is great for hanging out with friends since there's this warm glow coming from all directions. Also great for reading. My next step is to create areas that I can light up sections above chairs and sofas. It's also fun and easy to attach these to bikes. You can then just ziptie your arduino under the seat or somewhere like that and then light up your frame. If you have a GPS module, you can build a compass or something that always points to the same spot. You could also give your sofa and chairs underglow.