Custom RGB Lighting Project Idea

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Project : Custom RGB Lighting

Hello All,


Iv seen recently everything HAS to come with the RGB lighting ;) so i had an idea to create a custom RGB led controller (for either full 5050 LED strips or the fancy LED strips that let you change each LED color)

It would be based on arduino stuff and would allow for any colour effect you wanted (wave / disco / pulse ect) and I would make a small desktop app to allow you to control the lighting from the PC itself. If possible i would also try and make it compatible with RGB lighting from big vendors / case makers.

All software made would be open source as well (i'm a Linux & android software engineer for my day job) so anyone could use / modify.

As a quick component list looks to be areound £20 (£12 for the LED strip, £5 for arduino nano, £3 for anything else needed (resistors, capacitors, MOSFETs ect)

Now the question is, would anyone be interested in seeing the creation / development of this ? (iv been looking for a side project for a while)



[Update 10/01/17]

Here is a picture of the LED strip

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Here are a couple of test efects I set up to test the LED strip

HSV rainbow effect


Cylon eye effect



[Update 11/01/17]

Made a quick diagram of the setup at the moment, some things to note :

  • The "PSU" is just a 5v 1.5A USB charger for now
  • The resistor is just for safety not 100% needed
  • Can be connected to enay digital pin (i just had a fly lead already on D3)

LED%20Strip.png



[Update 14/01/17]

Here are two more effects iv added to the list

Heartbeat Effect



Breathing Effect


Also added some serial communications to the code so the "effect" / speed / colour(s) can bee selected at run time.

Cheers,

Apache14
 
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Products like this do exist though, what exactly are you going for?


Realistically it would be something that's cheap and user programmable from Windows / Linux / Mac. Also it would allow for any type of RGB effect.

Looking at some pre made solution you are looking for something pretty expensive (for a controller and a set of RGB LEDs)

Bonus would be if I got one of the LED sets that allow individual LED control.
 
Cool

LED strip ordered and will be here tomorrow (got the fancy one that allows control of each LED color)

What's the rules on here about linking to items that are not available on ocuk ? Can you link to those sites ?
 
Not that it matters, but this has existed for years. I've seen loads of vids on YouTube of software that you can use to programme any number of LED's in an array, have LED's plugged in a controller which does that, or ones where you download to SD card and simply pop that in to a controller.



Ohh i know, however most only allow for the entire strip to be the same RGB colour the newer LED strips can individually control each LEDs brightness and colour. To be honest its for me to have a little fun while making a log on here that others could find useful :)

So i have ordered (should be here tomorrow)
  1. 1 meter strip of WS2812b LEDs (60 LEDs per meter) (£12)
  2. Arduino nano (Data page : https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/arduinoBoardNano)

Other bits that may be used :-
  1. 1k resistor(s) (got some aying around a few pence each online)
  2. 100uF (ish) capacitor (again have one laying around, a few pence online)


* Please note, i have the links to the parts but im unclear on if OCUK forum rules allow me linking to other shops (even if they do not sell the same products)
 
So after playing around with the LED strip for a little while yesterday evening and a few moments today at lunch iv made the below "effects"

Cylon Eye : moving / fading led (left / right) in any hue (as shown in video above)

Rainbow Wave : Wave of rainbow colours moving along the strip (as shown in video above but with the full strip)

Static : Any one colour constant (simple)

Stereo : 50/50 split of the strip with two colours


Anyone have any other ideas for 1 or 2 more effects ?
 
Photo isnt working.
Interested in this.
How are you planning on making this? I have a similar setup ive been meaning to make into a nice nodejs setup but never got it going(using an arduino and pi).

Should be working now :) silly dropbox links

Basically ill be using an arduino nano with its serial communications with a small JAVA or C# app to set the effects ect :)


I quite like the breathing lighting effect. Or heartbeat?

Nice idea, ill add those to the list :D ill probably have a video of those two tomorrow
 
Love it, and always good to see Linux getting some love. Nothing more annoying than buying nice things then realising the manufacturer has decided you shouldn't be allowed to use it because you're not using Window$ :p

Unfortunately I've already got the lighting sorted for my current build, but if you put these on sale I would definitely be interested for the next one :)

Don't think I'll sell anything, but the plan is to make the controller code open source as well as the desktop app, that way anyone can make the same setup or even add too it

May even switch to a better controller board

Not much progress today, works been manic before a holiday next week :-D
 
Added a video of two new effects iv been playing with over the weekend (breathing & heartbeat) to the original post.

Also i have been working on a simple TTY/Serial communication setup to allow the user to select the effect, colours and effect speed at run time. When i get chance ill add some effect storage so the nano will resume the effect after power loss / reboot

So all in all things are going well :D will push some code & instructions to GitHub next week and then start work on the desktop GUI :D

{Edit}

Also looking at getting a stm32f103 based controller board, you can find them for ~£5 in the UK and they have some big advantages vs the arduino nano :


* Full ARM Cortex-M3 based
* 64K flash vs the 32K on the nano
* 72Mhz vs 16Mhz of the nano
* 20K ram vs 2K on the nano

Fun times :D
 
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Sorry for the lack of updates the last two weeks (been on holiday).

Hope today ill have some persistent storage working and work starting on the desktop app :D
 
Had a quick go at making a simple windows GUI for this, below is what I currently (all works perfectly will, but looks need improving)

Below is a screenshot of what I have currently.

LED_TEST.png
 
Update : got some simple EEPROM persistent storage working so the led strip resumes where it left off after a power down :-D


On a side note could a mod update the title of this thread to "Project : Custom RGB Lighting" or something similar?
 
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