Intro: Neighborhood Wide Synchronized LEDs

I had some wireless LED bars that I thought I could put over outer for the holidays. Just, in my yard, they could also just as well have been wired. So, what is the cooler challenge? LED decorations at all the houses connected my deflect with a synchronized video display! In this crazy year, it's a way to touch base USA together.

These are ESP8266 steam-powered LED strands, and they are WiFi mesh connected, so they all show the same pace in the animation sequence concurrently. Since they use of goods and services mesh code to connect, they can be a few houses apart, and the messages are passed along from node to node.

They keep going 5 volts, and I ill-used ability adaptors, but they can run awhile along USB batteries also. So they are portable, run their own WiFi network that is not connected to the Internet, and can run off the grid.

Complete of our neighbors were excited to have this distributed decoration, and it's really nice how you encounter all of them showing the same display as you walk along the street. I have some pictures hither of a few in front of my house for examination, but it was truly hard to photograph them consume the Street.

Pace 1: Parts

ESP8266 D1 Mini - I utilised the D1 Mini modules since all I need is one I/O pin for the LEDs. This project could be through with with no soldering using a terminal harbour like this and a different ESP8266 module. There is a version of the D1 Mini with a better antenna - the D1 Mini In favor of. It has a ceramic antenna and a U.FL connecter for an external antenna, but you need to move a surface mount 0 ohm resistor for the external antenna. With the instrumentality antenna it has very roughly twofold the stove. More discussion in a later step.

WS2811 LED Strands - I used WS2811 strands since they are waterproof (except for the JST connectors) and easy to act with. WS2812b "Neopixel" strips would use exactly the aforementioned code etc. I used 5v ones, but you can get them in 12v (use less afoot) - you would need a electromotive force converter for the ESP8266s, then. You can too get WS2811 LED strands with waterproof connectors if you would like. The LED strands I used take JST SM connectors on both ends - the young-bearing one is the input, though I have seen them wired the unusual way (manful as input). The guidance is as wel scarred on the LEDs themselves. There are also great power injection wires - I snipped the ends off indeed the tinned parts cannot short out. You can also corrupt them in packs of 10.

330 Georg Simon Ohm 1/4 Watt Resistor - this is misused at the data pin on the ESP8266 to forestall any flickering of the LEDs.

JST SM 3 Pin Male Connector - These are to connect to the LED strips. Note that the "male" connecter has a hood over it.

2.1mm CCTV Female Connector - these are used for the superpowe connector. You could use some other connector system for this if you need.

5V Power Supply - the amp evaluation depends on how many LEDs you will have. A 2A one is likely OK for 50 or 100 LEDs that are never fully on (see the wiring step for more information).

JST Master of Science 3 Pin Extension Wire or a 2.1mm extension electrify - since the JST connector connected the D1 Miniskirt is close to the LEDs, you in the main want an extension to admit the LEDs to be arranged advance away from the CPU. In my vitrine, I ended up putt the CPU higher upfield in the laurel wreath to get meliorate WiFi range, so I unbroken the C.P.U. come on the LEDs and used a 2.1mm extension wire instead.

USB to 2.1mm Cable - this is optional - lets you powerfulness the strand from some USB source or battery.

3mm Hot up Shrink Tube - you exclusively postulate about 1" of this to cover the resistor on the D1 Mini.

20mm Clear Heat Shrink Tubing - this is partially optional to protect the connectors on the D1 Miniskirt. Make for certain to clip around the readjust switch afterward applying if the tubing compresses the switch.

Waterproof Box - to protect the business leader supply and CPU outside. Most of my neighbors just used plastic bags.

1/2" EMT conduit - a 29" pick fits on the candy cane shape - I used 4 zip ties to hold it happening. I tried 1/2" PVC, and it fits, but touches the LEDs on both sides.

3/8" x 3' rebar - formerly the EMT is attached to the shape, you can pound the rebar in the ground and put the EMT pipe over it. 1/2" rebar bequeath fit, but you will need to cut inactive any bent parts, and it is close - if IT gets flattened or anything when pounding it in, it wish be very tight. So, the 3/8" is more believable to easy crystalize the inside diameter of the EMT pipe.

Glaze Cane frame - see the mistreat connected these, you can DIY a shape, drape them finished a bush, or apply a shape like this. You can also get pre-written ones.

Step 2: Control Assembly

The controller consists of the D1 Mini (ESP8266), a 2.1mm CCTV female power laborer, a 330 ohm resistor, and a 3 Pin JST male connector.

The assumption for this project is that you will use 50-100 LEDs. If you lack to use to a greater extent, you will need to use power shot to power all the LEDs. Date this other Instructable for a deeper word happening that.

With 50 LEDs all along full white, they would draw 50 x 0.06A = 3amps. So, with a 2A transcriber, we are presumptuous they will never be fully on. For 100 LEDs, the Georgia home boy is 6A, so even more care should be taken to only have some on at a time. Flatbottom with 100 LEDs at 0.02A each, we have 2 Amps being used. So, a higher current index supply is advisable, though I tuned the displays to not apply each the LEDs or colours at once, dimmed them Down a lot, and own started with 2A supplies with bigger ones in reserve. This is a great clause on reducing power requirements.

The 330 ohm resistance inline with the information wire is to forestall flickering from electronic reverberative since the data is a fairly high pitch. This is more of a factor with mountain of LEDs, but is a moral practice to add information technology.

I soldered the resistance to the D1 Mini directly, just left about 1/8" of the lead above the board so I could deform them monotonic. I used astir 1" of 3mm stir up shrink on the resistor to keep it from shorting out connected the plug-in.

I used 20mm perspicuous heating system wither to protect the D1 Mini from touching metal etc. Be sure to check the reset turn on the side - you May need to cut the heat shrink slightly to make sure it in non pressing the switch. I necessary that on all of mine.

Note that I did not seem to need A level shifter from the 3.3V ESP8266 outputs and the LEDs running at 5V (since the LED chip specification is to get the data line atomic number 4 no less than 70% of the supply). I did pauperism a diode/sacrificial LED in previous projects (Step 3) with WS2812b strips, but the orchestrate WS2811 chips in the LEDs appear Okeh so off the beaten track.

You could get along this without soldering! An ESP8266 terminal harbour with a different CPU would work just As well. The D1 Mini form factor is nice and small, merely they all work about the same.

Step 3: Alternate Controller Build

American Samoa described in advanced steps, a D1 Miniskirt Pro with the ceramic antenna seems to have roughly double the range of the D1 Mini with the circuit board antenna. So, they are practically better for the house distances in my neighborhood. Unfortunately, some of the inexpensive D1 Mini Pros I bought did not body of work with an external 5V power reservoir, but they do work with the USB connector providing tycoo. The D1 Minis answer not own a 5v regulator, just a 3.3V one, and the USB to 5V fall has a fuse and a diode. I tried a fewer diodes, merely had no portio with supplying 5V via the pin connected the D1 Mini. Sol, I used a micro USB to 2.1/5.5mm cable to supply the power. This soma is in reality a bit simpler and works with the abnormal D1 Mini Pros I have.

Parts: (these links are Amazon Affiliate links, merely cost you nothing and help support Instructables like these)

  • A D1 Mini Pro - I am non trustworthy which ones were improve, merely presumptively this wiring setup will sour with any of them.
  • A small USB to 2.1mm/5mm female plug cable
  • A JST 3 pin male (pins + cerement) connector
  • A 330 Ohm resistor
  • 1" of 3mm clear heat shrink tubing - I like clear instantly so you can see the resistor later.
  • 1.5" of 20mm clear heat shrink tube - this is optional.
  • A 3" x 4" moldable bag and twist tie - I used these with all the controllers

The Frame:

The JST wires had tinned ends, so soldering the +5 (loss), and Gnd (white) to my Di Miniskirt Professional was promiscuous. I ran the wires from the back side and soldered them connected the component side.

The resistor goes on Bowling pin D6 for my code, and solder IT with fair-and-square a moment of wire above the room so IT can be out to over later. I stripped and twisted the green wire from the JST cable on the different end of the resistor and soldered it close to the resistor. Make a point to put the 3mm heat quai tubing on first!

With those 4 soldered connections done, you can shrink the 3mm heat shrink tubing and test.

Habit the 20mm heat shrink tubing if you want to protect the board though in retrospect, putting it in the base may live sufficient. Make sure to depart the micro USB port available, and check out for the heat shrink just about the reset switch. Also, I ran the wires all one and only one lateral past the switch to not block the USB port.

Once the D1 Mini In favor of is programmed, you can tally the micro USB to 2.1/5.5mm cable and place it in a purse with a twist tie for protection, or enjoyment some other sealing setup.

Step 4: Shapes

The LED strands can be free-form, or you can make up them into shapes - either DIY, operating theatre from an online salt away. I successive a few shapes from HolidayCoro - some small LED trees, a stocking, and a candy cane. The stocking took 50 LEDs nicely - the length of nonpareil strand. The limited tree takes 100 LEDs, but you can just execute half of it if you wishing - facing the street. At last the candy flog was the neighbor loved since it was a minute bigger. 99 LEDs, and I left the last unrivalled happening the back with the idea it could be used for debugging.

Since the shapes came in white, we decided to paint red stripes on them so they look back better in the day time. I cloaked them out, did a quick fine sand, a wipe with acetone (sperm-filled forte nail polish up remover), and in use cardinal coats of spray paint that works along plastic. IT seemed to cleave well. We did mostly on one face, and few on the other side for a couple houses that had 2 of them.

Step 5: Code & WiFi

The D1 Miniskirt uses an Espressif ESP8266 module. I programmed it using the Arduino IDE, so it feels like a powerful Arduino with WLAN built in. There are numerous instructions on the Internet on how to configure the Arduino IDE for the ESP8266 and D1 Mini indeed I will not repeat them here.

The computer code is supported a previous Instructable. It uses the Painless Net library to have all the CPUs mouth off to each else. I used the FastLED library since I had issues antecedently with the operate program library and the Neopixel library, and I did not re-test that this time.

I am not confident what the maximum is connected the turn of nodes. Some posts indicate that it will be limited past the number of messages and CPU types and maybe the detonator is around 30-60 nodes. This covering does not send a lot of messages - just the animation change, though thither are some automatic ones like mesh change and sentence synch messages.

You force out touch base the LEDs to the D1 Mini while coding, simply you may want an external supply if you have Thomas More than 50 since you will perhaps exceed the supply from your computer's USB port and the mogul regulator on the D1 Miniskirt. That being aforesaid, with my code not turning the LEDs on laden, I was able to program 100 LEDs happening the USB connection without issues.

The ESP8266 module has onboard WiFi. Since the interlock code (PainlessMesh) we are victimization creates an Access Item on each module, the range for a locality wide reach is important. I victimised candy flog shapes, and put the Central processing unit at the top to overcome range, and it was about 50-100 feet - a 1000 or deuce in my region. Higher and amended line of sight (LOS) improves things. The stove did cross the street in some cases (depended more on cars blocking the LOS).

There were a couple houses that were not synched due to Wireless local area network obstructions, but the lights look nice straight when non synched. I made a "repeater" node with barely a D1 Mini on a stick powered by a USB battery. When settled between the houses, they were synched by rights. For a more distant repeater you could potentially use a solar USB battery, though they do not charge very fast.

I was still seeing periodic synchrony issues, then establish this note on having too many nodes or having them spread out:

https://gitlab.com/painlessMesh/painlessMesh/-/wik...

Using that setup, it started working much better! This designates one particular knob as the main one, so my code to negotiate the dominant node is needless, which can split up the mesh. I have affianced an updated/surrogate code sample. This access requires that the main node be on for them to be synchronized, so the lock is not atomic number 3 fault patient, but works better when spread out the way mine are. Atomic number 4 sure to edit the cipher for that version - only cardinal node should be set to the rootle - date the comments in the code.

I also added one more update to the SetRoot form: I added code to reset the ESP8266 if there accept been no commands for 10 minutes. This gives the node a risk to re-discover the pull client. This seemed to assistant with some of the more far-flung nodes.

At the end of the season, I was able to essa some D1 Mini In favor of modules. They birth a ceramic antenna on the control panel, and you can besides wont a U.FL connection and external antenna if you move a zero ohm resistor. I tried a couple that had synching issues with the D1 Miniskirt Pros with the ceramic antennas, and they worked wagerer. I did roughly subsequent testing with one node across my household. Founded on the results, we will switch to the D1 Mini Pro modules with the ceramic antennas succeeding year.

  • With a far D1 Mini: Only the D1 Miniskirt Pro with an external antenna saw it, and the signal strength was low.
  • With a remote control D1 Mini Professional with ceramic antenna: The D1 Mini, the D1 Miniskirt Professional with ceramic aerial, and the D1 Mini Pro with an external antenna totally saw it with roughly the same betoken intensity level, thus that was an improvement. The preference of the boards (antennas) do interest a point.
  • With a remote D1 Mini Pro with an outer antenna: Complete the former boards power saw it, but the bespeak durability was not much major than the tests with the onboard instrumentality antenna, thusly I wish not bother moving those zero Ohm resistors and putting antennas on the candy canes.

Mistreat 6: Final Assembly

Erstwhile you have the accountant willing and programmed, all you need to do is connect the LEDs to the controller with the JST wires, and a 5v great power supply happening the 2.1mm jack.

The JST extension should be helpful to keep the controller and power adapter always from the LEDs. Or, to get the Central processor higher up, I put a small formative bag over them secured with a twist-tie, and in use a 2.1mm annex electric cord to the power furnish.

The waterproof boxwood will help protect the adapter and CPU, but most of my neighbors exploited simple plastic bags.

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