Arduino LED lamp

An Arduino powered LED lamp based on WS2812 LEDs. It consists of a circular cylindrical LED matrix encased in a glass jar with defusing material inside to spread the light and give it a softer look.

Usage

The given lamp.ino only loads one effect at a time. You need to change which effect is imported in that file and recompile to change the shown effect. Some effects are declared in the effects folder, but the code is designed to make it easy to add your own effects.

The size of the matrix is defined in the effect definition. The given file defines a matrix of 14x16 LEDs, because that was the size my lamp could fit, but all given effects should scale pretty well to any reasonable size.

To compile and upload the code to the Arduino you need to:

• Download and install the Arduino IDE.
• Open the program and in Tools > Manage Libraries... install FastLED.
• Open the lamp.ino file.
• In Tools > Board and Tools > Processor select the correct Arduino model you are using.
• In Tools > Port select the correct port where your device is connected to your computer.
• Press the Upload button (the right pointing arrow).
• C'est fini. As long as there was no error in the previous steps, the code should've been uploaded to your Arduino device.

Wiring

Wiring should be relatively simple. From the Arduino Nano, pins GND and VIN should be used to supply power to the device, and any data pin (in this example, D13) should be connected to the DIN from the first LED in the strip. Then, use the same power supply to connect to pins VSS and VDD of the strip (aka GND and VCC/VIN/5V, respectively). For other Arduino models, refer to their pinouts to know their correct connections (should be pretty much the same, but just in case).

A detailed schematic is included in lamp.sch (a KiCAD schematic file), with the exact wiring for everything.

NOTE 1:

Depending on the size of the matrix, you might want to split the power input into multiple parts to avoid problems. Otherwise this could cause, for example, that the LEDs further down the line do not turn on because powers has dropped too far, or decreased brightness at the end of the strip. This is accomplished by instead of daisy chaining the power from one column to the next, to instead connect new wires coming straight from the power supply (the data wire should still be connected as usual).

NOTE 2:

Do not use the power of the Arduino itself to drive the LEDs except for really small cases (I'd say 20 LEDs tops, depending on brightness and RGB values), since that could overload its circuits. Instead, use and power both the Arduino and the LEDs that way (as detailed above).