Description
I bought some RGB LED panels and realized afterwards that I do not have a project for them. It took several months to find an inspiring project idea where I could use them. As I like making clocks it sounded like a good opportunity to combine what I had laying around and what I would like to do.
Project summary
In this project, I designed 3d-printed components to fix the LED panel behind a picture frame. I reprogrammed the example python script to fit with my panel and improved the coding in a few places.
My responsibilities
Component selection.
Mechanical design, including CAD modelling.
3d-printing the components.
Mechanical assembly.
Electrical assembly (soldering and wiring)
Programming and testing.
Results
For this project I used a sample project as the base. I had to modify the code quite a lot as the LED matrix was differently connected and that required some time. Additionally, I ordered some gamepads, the shipping took much longer than anticipated causing additional project delays.
I built four clocks. One I equipped with a SCD30 CO2 and a light sensor. This one is an ideal environment sensor. As I used a Raspberry Pi for the control I could easily make the data available on the web so that I could better analyze the results, but that is another project.
Overall I am happy how the panels look and they work as intended. The only improvement could be replacing the thin picture frame folie with something stronger. That would improve the clarity of the pixels. Otherwise a successful project.
