Wireless RGB Light Bulb

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Want to make the above yourself? [Sprite_tm] did a thorough job documenting the build step by step (complete with pics, schematics, graphs, and links to the parts used). In summary, [Sprite_tm] busted open an Ikea CFL bulb to reuse the housing. Inside, he installed a scavenged power supply, ATtiny44, RGB LED module, and a radio receiver. A remote control allows [Sprite_tm] to change the lighting of his room to nearly any color. The cost of the project is a little under $30. The price tag isn’t so steep when one considers the insanely long lifetime of LEDs.

15 thoughts on “Wireless RGB Light Bulb

  1. Ok, it’s a nice design but he could have done this less complicated with only one buck converter for the 3 leds and 1 transistor per led for pwm.
    Simpler, cheaper, better efficiency and way less noisier.

    Anyway, for a first, it’s quite good.

  2. Oh, to add to my previous post: why the 1/3th duty cycle? Because the leds have a different forward voltage, which means I still would have to use series resistors if I wanted to turn them all on at the same time. By switching them on one at a time, I could use the buck-converter to adjust for the difference.

  3. Oh ok, I see. Buck converters aren’t easy to design when you’re looking for efficiency.

    You should check on Dx, there’s a converter delivering 650mA under 3.6V. It’s almost perfect for this kind of application and around 3 bucks.

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