EASY LED Light Panel

Ever wanted to make a LED light panel? In case you haven't noticed it, the logo on the panel is from "Death Note". It's L Lawliet's logo when he first talks to the investigative unit.

I want to start this project by crediting the people I took inspiration from. Their names are JustYourAverageDave and Giovanni Aggiustatutto. I mostly followed Dave's instructions to get the look of the panel, and used Giovanni's instructions for setting up the ESP32 Controller, and figuring out the wiring.

This is a simpler version of both of their projects. If you go through their instructions, they did extra steps like doing more wiring and soldering the connections and adding buttons to control the lights. I was able to skip a lot of these steps because I only did one panel.

I also want to give a really big thanks to my engineering teacher, Ms. Berbawy, for purchasing the supplies and letting me use her 3D printers and her Laser cutter.

Supplies

1. 1/4" Wood panel: Any wood works, but I would choose a wood with a light color so the LEDs stand out. I used Birch Plywood.
2. Individually-addressable LED light strip I used Link (It also comes with 3 female/connectors which is all you will need)
3. Power Supply I used
4. Wire Connectors For this LED (You don't need as many if you are only making one panel, but having extra is good just in case something goes wrong)
5. ESP32 Controller

Printer Used

1. Original PRUSA MINI

Filament:

1. Prusament PLA

Software Used:

1. Onshape

Making The Wood Panels

The first step in the process is to make the Wood Panels. Go to any supply store like Home Depot or Lowes and get a quarter inch wood square 12" x 12".

1. I used the laser cutter in Ms.B's room to cut the wood and get the hexagon shape, but most people don't have access to a industrial laser cutter. I would recommended using a jigsaw to cut the wood.

Something else I would recommended after laser cutting or even using a jigsaw is to sand the edges of the wood. This makes the wood have smooth edges, and you won't get a splinter if you touch the wood.

Start by making a sketch in Onshape of the base. If you need the measurements for anything you can check the stl file below of the panel. Also, the holes aren't necessary for the design, and are only needed if you want to make a chain of LEDs.

1. If you do want to do that, you would have to make a connector piece, so you could connect through each panel.
2. Also for clarification the circles on each part have a diameter of 5mm
3. The LED light strip will be wrapped around the base (6 x 3"), so the strip should be cut at 18", which is 27 LEDs

The box/enclosure is separated into two parts. There is the main base of enclosure and the lid, so that the ESP32 controller is secure, and because it kind of ruins the aesthetic if the controller is sticking out. Just like the previous model, the stl files are linked below, so you can check any measurements if you need too.

1. Inside the main base of enclosure there 3 are different parts. The circular hole is where the adapter from the power source will go through. If you look at the fourth photo that's what the adapter should look like.
2. If you look at the stl file, there is a wall inside the enclosure which is where the ESP32 will go and stay secure.
3. The rectangular hole on the outside of the box is there, so the wires on the ESP32 controller will go through that hole and connect to the LEDs.

I want to clarify this just in case somebody runs into this situation, you can use a metal file to scrap at the edges of the circle and rectangle hole in case you need more space.

In order to setup the ESP32 controller from a laptop or computer you need to go through these steps:

1. Install "CP2012 USB to UART" Virtual COM Port drivers from Silicon Labs on your computer
2. Use a Micro-USB cable and plug it into the ESP32 controller that has a micro USB port. If you look at the first photo, its the part on top. Then plug the other end into your computer
3. The drivers will assign the USB/controller to a COM port

This how the controller gets power and sets-up data from the computer.

Going from here in the setup process, you can control it from your computer.

On a computer:

1. Open the any browser and go to "install.wled.me"
2. Choose the port you established before
3. choose "plain version" and click "install" - this installs the WLED software on the controller, and opens the control panel of the controller (should be very similar to the second photo attached)
4. Make sure you are on a open network (like your own home network)

When you get into the control center of the controller:

1. make sure you are using an open network (like your home WIFI)
2. set the network name/password
3. Use the default static IP address

After this, go into the preferences tab:

1. Set the current to "2000mA"
2. set length to #LEDs in strip (I cut my strip to have 27 LEDs)
3. This might not be a problem for everybody, but when I was setting the number of LEDs it didn't light all the LEDs until I put the length to "37"
4. Set the data-out pin to "two"

Connecting the Power Converter, Controller and Strips

1. Disconnect the USB cable from the controller because it will get its power from the power supply now
2. The LED strip will get power from the controller
3. Connect the power supply, ESP32 controller, and LED strip
4. Use the power supply adaptor (it has two female ports with +/-)
5. Connect the female ends of the wire connectors to the male pins on the controller, male ends will plug into female ends on power adaptor and LED strip

Power Supply to controller

1. (+) to VIN pin on the controller (red)
2. (-) to GND pin (white)

From Controller to LED strip

1. 3V3 pin to power-in (red)
2. GND pin to ground (white)
3. D2 pin to data-in (blue)
4. Also for clarification, the wire connectors are the black parts that go onto the controller pins and connect to the wire

The pictures above will help give a demonstration on what the setup should look like :). For reference, look at the second photo to know where the wires should go.

Electronic Setup:

1. Plug in power supply to wall socket (LED strip should light up)
2. On your phone:
3. Using your network connection, connect to the same network as the controller and go to "http://192.168.1.214" and access the settings on the browser
4. Now you can access a menu that lets you change the color, speed, or pattern of the LEDs.

Access-Point Phone Setup:

1. If you don't have a wifi network that works, use the controller as an access point, and connect the phone to the "WLED-AP" network. It should open up a popup web page that lets you access the same menu mentioned previously.

Wrapping it up:

1. Unplug the power supply
2. Disconnect the wires from the power adapter and LED strip
3. Put the controller inside the box with male ends of wires leading out through the holes in the box. (look at step 3 for how it should look)
4. Connect the male ends of the wires to the power adaptor and LED strip
5. Plug in the power supply
6. The LED should light up and you can control it from your phone

1. You might have not noticed by now, but the LED strip can be peeled and has a sticky side, so the LEDs go on the side of the panel.
2. To apply the wood panel to the 3d printed panel you can either tape it or glue it. I used double-sided carpet tape to attach the panel to the wooden panel. It works well and will hold it together as long as you don't mess with it.
3. Finally, plug in the power supply, and use your laptop or smart phone to change your controller settings
4. Your donezo now!!!