Make Programmable LED Hat Controlled by Smartphone

Hello guys in this instructables I will show you how you can make this RGB LED hat controlled by phone This is a very fantastic Idea if you love cosplay

This hat is rechargeable and the choice of colour is limitless with the press of a button you can change the colour of your hat using your phone.

It is not only limited to phone you can even connect to tablets or computer and from this control panel you have hundreds of options to choose colours and also different patterns of colours.

The LED im using here is termed as ARGB led that means addressable led, here each LED can be controlled individually that can have different colors and timing adjustments for each led color can be made.

This is a perfect LED for this hat since it has ability to give out vibrabt colors and patterns

We are using the inexpensive board to control these ARGB LED's, If you have previously worked with ARGB LEDs you might know what it is capable of and the best part is you can control this wirelessly.

I have hundreds of comments coming up asking me not to use 3d printing and as per your request we are not using any 3d printed parts here.

To build this project you will only need few materials that are easily available in and around your house!

If you attend the parties or attending a cosplay show then i would recommend you to try building this project since it will get you a lot of compliments for sure.

Like usual i have also a working video at the end of this instructables, Dont miss to check that out

Supplies used to make this project

Wemos D1 mini from here

Cardboard Sheet

ARGB Led used here

Popsicle sticks

Compass

Ruler

Pencil

Scale

Powerbank

USB Cable

Paper Glue

Hot Glue

Soldering lead and iron

Glitter Paper

A4 Paper

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To begin with I will start by taking a piece of cardboard, Since the hat is round in shape I will make a circle large enough to fit my head

Note that each person have different size of Head, So i measured mine and then drew a large circle and then carried on the above steps as in the visuals above.

Tip: Recycle the cardboard from large carton boxes

To fit the head inside hat make a circle slightly smaller than the size of the outer circle, You can save this part for later to make the top part of the hat.

Use compass and pencil for marking the circles or if you are very good at drawing you can just make a circle using your hands only

With the help of cutter remove the inside circle, the slower you do you will get a very good surface finish.

After this is done divide your hat base into 16 parts! This is done to add another layer over the hat base so as to fit the led strip.

Now this completes the first part that is the lower part of the hat, now we can see how to make the top part.

Once you have divided the base into many divisions as possible to keep a track of the divisions I will use lines made with help of marker.

Now you can cut the popsicle stick into 3 pieces and stick on this marked areas one by one for instant results I recommend you to use hot glue.

Repeat the steps for all these marked areas and now when everything is dry on the top layer of popsicle stick and hot glue or paper glue then please another layer of the base of the hat.

Allow it to dry completely now at this point you have the base part of the hat ready.

Now to make the top layer stack the earlier saved cardboard and now you need a cardboard slightly less than the size of this cardboard to create a gap between these two cardboard circles.

With the help of paper glue make a part that looks something like above visual.

Since now you have the base and top out of the had ready you can use the corrugated cardboard that looks like this to connect these two parts.

I used this wrinkly sort of things from cardboard to make the hat look like the actual hat

Use hot glue to finish the joins and make sure all the corners are sealed well and the hot glue has no left over webbing surfaces.

Now the hat build is complete, We can now work on circuit and then decorating the hat to make it look more beautiful

Like i said earlier we will be using ARGB led in our project and the LED count is 64, Connect the LED to Wemos board

Strip has 3 pins, Vcc, Gnd and Di

Vcc is connected to 5v pin on Wemos board, Gnd to Gnd and the Di is connected to D4 pin on the Wemos board.

The power is connected via power bank through USB cable, Once this is complete connect the usb cable to computer and open the wled

Check for port number and click on install, now the board can interact with phone, Follow the instructions as in the display shown

After the circuit is done test the LED for its working, It will work for sure without any issues.

Use tissues along with paper glue and color to create a small layer around the hat, i chose blue color the choice of color is yours.

Now since the surface is dry, i have added LED strip in between the slot of the hats, added paper glue to cover the direct light from strip.

Repeat the same step for top part of the hat too, now we can head over to the finishing of this hat

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You need to add the LED strip on the base as well as on the top.

I finished the base part first and then later moved on to the top part between the space of top and bottom I connected the LED strip with wires.

Make sure you have a strong soldering between these two points Insulate the open ends with hot glue or some insulation material.

Once you insert the LED strip between the space repeat the same steps that you followed for the bottom part of the hat You can decorate the hat with glitter paper like I did

I strongly recommend using paper glue for this purpose and a white A4 sheet which is not too thick because it should be transparent enough to illuminate the light.

Glitter paper is optional, if you are using it cut the paper into thin strips and then stick it to te joining parts.

You can also add sponge to the fitting area if needed so that it will add more comfort when you wear it for the long time.

Connect the board to strip and then using hot glue connect the power bank to the inside space, use zip ties for good securing.

At this point the project is almost ready and i cant wait to test out this hat! Let us now see how to use this hat and have the most out of it.

Using this project is very easy, all you have to do is turn on the hotspot on your phone and then turn on the power supply to wemos board.

When you do this the Wi-Fi in the wemos board will be activated and automatically it will be connected to the hotspot.

Now you can go to connected devices on your phone and check for the IP address for wemos board.

Note that wemos board and the mobile device should be connected to same network.

Just copy and paste this IP address on any of your browser in your phone, Now this will redirect you to the WLED control panel where you have option to control the colours you can choose different varieties of colours from the panel.

This Hat has crazy affects on your costume, You can also consider checking my video for the amazing patterns that is displayed on this hat.

Since I am using a 10000mah battery the backup time is pretty large. I have also added a working video tutorial of this project.

Note that if you are making this on a large scale or lengthy strip you might need a seperate power adapter to power the led strip.

If you have any questions, ask me in the comments Thank you for your time to read this Instructables