Neopixel Lamps With Fresnel Lenses From Broken TVs and Laptop Displays

I saw a guide on Youtube by DIY Perks on how to make fake window lights from the LED backlighting filters and lenses from broken TVs and other displays.

I mostly made this project just to have a reason to try out those filters. So I got my hands on a bunch of these fresnel lenses. They bend the light in very interesting ways, especially when combining two or more.

In most newer TVs and laptop displays they are just the thin film variant. While in another I found a 3mm thick acrylic fresnel lens that I could cut with my Laser cutter. But I could've cut it with a jigsaw as well, The thin ones I just cut with a knife.

They thicker acrylic ones and the thin sheets does pretty much the same thing anyhow. But having several different to experiment with is fun and can lead to all kinds of results.

I ended up using two of the lenses and none of the diffusion filters that also are a part of the backlighting filters (although they gave a very smooth and nice effect as well)

It's hard to catch this effect on camera, it's more impressive IRL as always.

I won't be showing the process of taking the filters out from TVs since there are guides on this already. I recommend watching DIY Perks video Turning Smashed TVs into Realistic Artificial Daylight on how to get hold of these filters.

If you want to build the same ones as me You'll need to 3d print the bases. There are two different sizes, a small one meant for the neopixel rings (I used all 4 rings for a total of 61 LEDs)

The bigger one is intended for LED strips. I got the 144LED/m version which gave me 124 working LEDs inside the lamp. Since the inner diameter is less than a meter, 10 LEDs will need to be cut off and end up in another future project.

The diameter of the big base is modeled after the widest fresnel sheets I had.

But you could definitely go cheaper than the 144 version if you like.

I modeled these for Arduino Pro Micros so they have a place where they can be mounted, hidden on the rear. But any microcontroller will do I guess.

Basically what you'll need is:

• Neopixels
• Fresnel filters from broken TV or laptop display)
• Arduino (Pro Micro)
• Soldering Iron
• Access to 3d Printer
• USB Power supplies, Amperage depends on how many LEDs you've got and what power you want them to run

Here are some links to where you can get the same stuff that I used. They can all be bought from all kinds of sites.

Neopixel Strip 144/m

Neopixel Rings 61 LEDs total

Arduino Pro Micro

4A Power Supply for the big one

Print the parts with support from buildplate.

As I mentioned, I used my laser cutter but you could just as well use a knife or scissors ( or jigsaw if you found a thick acrylic lens )

The optimal diameters for them are Ø 89.6mm for the small one and Ø 277.3mm for the big

but it doesn't have to be perfect.

Install either the strip or the rings depending on which model you chose.

Solder on wires and route them through the holes before installing the LEDs. Make sure to follow the arrows on the strip and connect each DO to DI on the next ring by a wire.

The strip mounts with its own doublesided tape and the rings can benefit from a drop or two of CA glue.

I soldered a JST connector on my rings a while back for another project so I let it stay there out of convenience but you could just as well solder the wires directly to the pads.

Each LED draws 0.06A at full white so my 4A PSU wouldn't be enough to run all 124 LEDs att full white and at full brightness at the same time. Therefore I both set up my code so max brightness is less than max (255, half would be 127 to be safe) but mainly depending on how you write the code you could just skip having a program that runs many of the LEDs on white at the same time.

Make sure to power both the arduino and the strip so all power won't have to go through the arduino

Here you can read some more on the topic.

https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-neopixel-uberguide/neopixel-strips

You could write a much more impressive code for these than I did.

I have written a few Arduino projects before but a few years have passed since and coding isn't my strong suit.

So I just took some examples that I found online, customized them a little and put them together in a basic loop.

You could just as well write a program that triggers the lamp by some outside factor. You can do a whole lot with

an Arduino and some kind of sensor, button, doorbell and what not.

I'm curious to see what use or effects you can come up with in regards to the programming.

Just make sure to set the correct amount of LEDs. If you're using some other amount than my 61 and 124 then swap

those numbers out for what you're using.

Also you can use strip.setBrightness(X); to adjust the brightness in order to get down to a safe amperage. Just replace X with (0-255)

Since I printed mine in white PLA the light shone through very well. (I got this material for free so that's why I used it)

Plus I wanted a white inside as reflector.

I ended up vinyl wrapping the exterior with the help of a hairdryer to stretch it over the curvatures.

But you could just as well paint it or just print it in a color from the beginning.