Nanoleaf Light Panel Replica

thingiverse

When I first caught sight of the Nanoleaf light panels, I instantly knew that I had to have them on my wall. But after checking their price, I thought it would be a neat project to try making something similar myself. Using an Arduino Nano and a bunch of WS2812 LED strips, I was able to create a light panel that looks almost identical to the commercial Nanoleaf product. My panels are slightly smaller than the originals, but scaling them up shouldn't be a problem at all. The original plan was to have interlocking connectors on each panel, but bolting the panels together with M4 bolts proved to be a much simpler approach. It's challenging to take good pictures of the lights because the camera makes the colors look less uniform than they actually are. The diffuser sheet can be made from ordinary white paper; I used slightly better quality textured "cloudpaper" which gives a slightly better appearance. The paper is kept in place with a snap-fit cover. Each panel has six LEDs, two in each corner. The LEDs are powered directly by the Nano, which is powered via USB, and the current draw is surprisingly low. Connecting ten or more panels in series is not a problem as long as no white light is displayed at full brightness. I was planning to add a Bluetooth module to control the lights, but decided to leave it as it is because I would still mostly display "slowly changing rainbow" effect on the panels. I powered the panels directly from my laptop's USB port, so the panels are only on when the computer is in use. Mounting the panels to the wall is as simple as drilling holes through the back of the panels and driving nails through them. I included two example codes which work with Adafruit_NeoPixel and FastLED libraries to get you started. The LEDs are cut from a LED strip that has 60 LEDs per meter. I used WS2812 LEDs, but other kinds of LEDs could be used as well. The wiring is done so that the LEDs are in series just like they were on the original strip, and the whole panel can be controlled like it would be one strip of LEDs. Only three connections are needed for the Arduino: data wire to pin 6, and power leads to +5V and GND. I also desoldered the red power indicator LED so it wouldn't interfere with the colors. Protip: White nail polish works well on hiding all the black wires and Arduino board. All credit goes to the original Nanoleaf product; you should really check out their lights as they are truly awesome.