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I am looking to do something like this as a Christmas gift for my son. However, this looks pretty labor-intensive (300 bodge wires!). I have dabbled with ardui

I am looking to do something like this as a Christmas gift for my son. However, this looks pretty labor-intensive (300 bodge wires!). I have dabbled with arduino in the past but I am no expert with hardware. Does anyone have suggestions of cool projects similar to this? Toy-like LED things :) Or even a website I could browse to find similar projects (like Instructables maybe)?

wlesieutre 5y ago
Strings or panels of addressible LEDs would be a good place to start. Adafruit brands these as "neopixels" but the specific LED most of them use is a "WS2812", "WS2812B", or "WS2813". With these you have a single data line from a microcontroller to control the LEDs, and there are libraries to help you do that. I've lit some up and fiddled with them and they're pretty cool, but I haven't come up with anything more serious to use them on yet. RGB lights on stuff for the sake of it isn't my aesthetic. But maybe a clock and weather forecast station with animated rain effects or something. Lots of info here: https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-neopixel-uberguide https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-neopixel-uberguide https://www.learnrobotics.org/blog/neopixel-projects-ridiculously-cool/ https://www.learnrobotics.org/blog/neopixel-projects-ridicul...
- blutack 5y ago
  WLED is also fantastic if you are using WS/APA/STK style addressable LEDs. You just need a dirt cheap ESP32/8266 and you get a wifi connected lamp with a lovely web ui, cool animations, android app, timers, home automation integrations etc etc. https://github.com/Aircoookie/WLED https://github.com/Aircoookie/WLED
thoughtpalette 5y ago
tindie.com has some cool little projects.
jvyduna 5y ago
Have a look at Pixelblaze. It's a subset of JS on an ESP32 with no compilation - you code in a web browser and the LEDs just render live. I've done plenty of Arduino; this sidesteps the mundane getting-started knowledge base. This $6 37-LED mini hexagonal board is a fun starting point, cheaper than most strips and matrices: https://shop.m5stack.com/products/hex-rgb-led-board-sk6812 https://shop.m5stack.com/products/hex-rgb-led-board-sk6812
- monkpit 5y ago
  Thank you! This looks great!
foobarian 5y ago
My kid likes to sleep with a nightlight. But commercial nightlights all have problems: either they are too dark, or too bright, or in the wrong spot, etc. So we made her one out of a LED light string and a colored glass flower vase on the nightstand, and ran a control cable to the headboard where she can easily reach a potentiometer with a nice satisfyingly heavy metal knob. For v2 of this I was thinking of using the Arduino PWM pins and make the mapping function from potentiometer to brightness a little more linear to the human eye. I have a prototype that works pretty well. Could probably add a little segment display to make a clock or thermometer (she likes to know the temps). Our own StavrosK's project here was super inspiring: https://www.stavros.io/posts/do-not-be-alarmed-clock/ https://www.stavros.io/posts/do-not-be-alarmed-clock/ For v3 I was wondering how to implement the transfer function in analog components because I hate the PWM flicker. Even when I use the high frequency modes I can still see it. But I'm not very good at analog design yet. :-)

wlesieutre 5y ago

Strings or panels of addressible LEDs would be a good place to start. Adafruit brands these as "neopixels" but the specific LED most of them use is a "WS2812", "WS2812B", or "WS2813". With these you have a single data line from a microcontroller to control the LEDs, and there are libraries to help you do that. I've lit some up and fiddled with them and they're pretty cool, but I haven't come up with anything more serious to use them on yet. RGB lights on stuff for the sake of it isn't my aesthetic. But maybe a clock and weather forecast station with animated rain effects or something. Lots of info here: https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-neopixel-uberguide https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-neopixel-uberguide https://www.learnrobotics.org/blog/neopixel-projects-ridiculously-cool/ https://www.learnrobotics.org/blog/neopixel-projects-ridicul...

blutack 5y ago
WLED is also fantastic if you are using WS/APA/STK style addressable LEDs. You just need a dirt cheap ESP32/8266 and you get a wifi connected lamp with a lovely web ui, cool animations, android app, timers, home automation integrations etc etc. https://github.com/Aircoookie/WLED https://github.com/Aircoookie/WLED

thoughtpalette 5y ago

tindie.com has some cool little projects.

jvyduna 5y ago

Have a look at Pixelblaze. It's a subset of JS on an ESP32 with no compilation - you code in a web browser and the LEDs just render live. I've done plenty of Arduino; this sidesteps the mundane getting-started knowledge base. This $6 37-LED mini hexagonal board is a fun starting point, cheaper than most strips and matrices: https://shop.m5stack.com/products/hex-rgb-led-board-sk6812 https://shop.m5stack.com/products/hex-rgb-led-board-sk6812

monkpit 5y ago
Thank you! This looks great!

foobarian 5y ago

My kid likes to sleep with a nightlight. But commercial nightlights all have problems: either they are too dark, or too bright, or in the wrong spot, etc. So we made her one out of a LED light string and a colored glass flower vase on the nightstand, and ran a control cable to the headboard where she can easily reach a potentiometer with a nice satisfyingly heavy metal knob. For v2 of this I was thinking of using the Arduino PWM pins and make the mapping function from potentiometer to brightness a little more linear to the human eye. I have a prototype that works pretty well. Could probably add a little segment display to make a clock or thermometer (she likes to know the temps). Our own StavrosK's project here was super inspiring: https://www.stavros.io/posts/do-not-be-alarmed-clock/ https://www.stavros.io/posts/do-not-be-alarmed-clock/ For v3 I was wondering how to implement the transfer function in analog components because I hate the PWM flicker. Even when I use the high frequency modes I can still see it. But I'm not very good at analog design yet. :-)