Hexagonal moodlite tiles

myminifactory

Dear community,\r\nI'm releasing my design files for a hexagonal version of the Moodlite/Nanoleaf clone.\r\n\r\nThis project is built on the previous efforts of the Moodlite community: moodlite.co.uk\r\n\r\nEach tile consists of a bottom part that houses all electronics and a top part that snaps on to diffuse light. The degree of diffusion can be controlled by varying the length of the top part.\r\nTiles are interconnected with a servo cable + connector.\r\nIn this build, I used ws2812b led strips. They come in different densities (30-144 LEDs per meter!).\r\nI chose the highest density to achieve a strong glow that can always be dimmed.\r\nOther LED densities can be chosen as the height of the diffuser part can be adjusted to be closer to the LEDs.\r\nIn this build, I used a Particle Photon running AgileNebulas's code: https://moodlite.co.uk/index.php?topic=34However, the controller can be interchanged with a NodeMCU & the Classic Moodlite software.\r\nI've adapted the code to include some more effects. The code is available at the end of this post.\r\nYou can add your own color combinations by adding a new block of colors\r\n\r\nThe following components are needed:\r\nWS2812b (I chose 4m @144 LEDs)\r\n5V power supply (I chose 10 A)\r\nServo cables\r\nJumper wires + Breadboard\r\nParticle photon dev board\r\n\r\nInstructions:--------------\r\nThe setup is heavily based on AgileNebulas' setup that I have previously linked.\r\nThe main difference is the routing of the cables.\r\nThe servo cables are spliced to power the 5 tiles in parallel (image 5)\r\n\r\nThe incoming power (yellow and brown) goes towards the LED strip.\r\nThe other end of the cable is then combined with the initial bit of the servo cable.\r\nFor this, I have exposed the incoming wire and resoldered the other end according to the image above.\r\nDue to lack of shrinking wire, I have enclosed the solder with a drop of hot glue.\r\nThe data line runs from the tile's inlay straight to the LED strip. (image below)\r\nAt the end of the strip, the data line (red) is forwarded to the next tile. (image 6)\r\nThis way, each tile receives power from the plug and data from the previous LED strip.\r\nThe top part is then snapped into one side and slowly worked around the whole bottom part (image 7)\r\nPossible problems:------------------\r\nDiffusor may crack during mounting!\r\nSoldered joint between cables might not be safe at certain Amps.\r\nThe diffusor is made of a single layer of white filament. You may run into errors when slicing it!Use "detect thin features".\r\nThe design is rather new and will be adapted to house exactly half an LED strip.\r\nWhen upscaling this setup, you will run into power delivery problems, especially when you choose 144 LEDs/meter.The next version may feature a voltage regulator before each LED strip and a stronger power line interconnecting each tile (including stronger cables).\r\nOn/off doesn't work yet. For now, you can turn only off by setting the brightness to 0. I am working on fixing this, it may just need a simple FastLed.clear() somewhere.\r\n\r\nCode:\r\nThe code can be found here: https://moodlite.co.uk/index.php?topic=134