Bouncy iPhone controlled dance lights

posted Oct 21st 2009 7:00am by
filed under: home entertainment hacks, home hacks, iphone hacks, ipod hacks

[John Boiles] introduces us to dimlet, his portable network controlled light dimmer. Inside the box is a fonera 2100 router that is running openWRT connected to an unnamed AVR microcontroller. Right now, he’s controlling the unit with his iPhone. It has three modes of control; a manual “slider” mode, an accelerometer controlled “dance” mode, and a programmable “tap” mode. You can download all the source code and schematics on his site.

[via Makezine]

tagged: , , , ,


19 Responses to Bouncy iPhone controlled dance lights

  • monkeyslayer56 says:
    October 21, 2009 at 7:23 am

    may i guess what they “unnamed AVR microcontroller” is?…

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  • Caleb Kraft says:
    October 21, 2009 at 7:26 am

    Guess all you want. I just didn’t see the name on his site. It is most likely on the schematic, but I didn’t download it to see.

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  • Name? says:
    October 21, 2009 at 7:31 am

    À propos iPhone, since when is there a mobile version of this website? :o

    (Yay, my first comment. *feels like a hacker now*)

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  • Jeremy C says:
    October 21, 2009 at 8:17 am

    Pretty awesome hack. Three questions though:

    A. lights cycle to dim 120 times per second. Obviously 2 * 60 hz, but is there some advantage to this rate?
    B. it’s shown with an IPhone, would an Ipod touch work the same?
    C. “Law themed party”?

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  • rd says:
    October 21, 2009 at 8:42 am

    @Jeremy C
    The answer to “A” is on the website of the dimmer circuit he used (http://www.andrewkilpatrick.org/blog/?page_id=445). The current is controlled through a triac. It is reset every time the voltage drops to 0V (twice per full wavelength, or 120Hz).

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  • Chris says:
    October 21, 2009 at 9:27 am

    Excellent Hack! This has really elegant execution through the iPhone interface, I especially like the lack of noticeable lag. Considering doing this to a networked set of dimmers in the house. Great Job!

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  • John Boiles says:
    October 21, 2009 at 10:28 am

    @Jeremy C
    B) Actually it’s shown with an iPod Touch
    C) It was a going-away-to-lawschool party :)
    @monkeyslayer56
    It’s an Atmega88

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  • ASD says:
    October 21, 2009 at 11:06 am

    …and this is my..ZAP!!!
    electrocuted by the lamps!XD

    Reply Report comment
  • tMH says:
    October 21, 2009 at 11:48 am

    @ 2:50

    Wtf is wrong with that guy? Is he trying to look like that, or does it just do it naturally? Straight from the movie Revenge of the Nerds ffs.

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  • Karl says:
    October 21, 2009 at 8:53 pm

    Very nice execution! Accelerometer demo @~1:45 is especially effective.

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  • AVR Micro says:
    October 21, 2009 at 10:43 pm

    Very funny!

    Reply Report comment
  • tom says:
    October 22, 2009 at 3:13 am

    Wow. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply Report comment
  • Wwhat says:
    October 22, 2009 at 10:17 am

    Friendly note to the designer: That beard is not working for you, rethink that.

    Reply Report comment
  • guiness says:
    October 24, 2009 at 9:29 am

    I do not like this guys voice.

    Reply Report comment
  • jared says:
    December 27, 2009 at 10:19 pm

    lol very cool never would have thought that

    Reply Report comment
  • Hollis Taylor says:
    January 7, 2010 at 12:51 pm

    Lots of great information on this site. I stumbled across your site on Google, and I’m glad that I did… I’ve bookmarked your site and will check back regularly. Keep the good content coming!

    Hollis

    Reply Report comment
  • telanjang says:
    April 13, 2010 at 9:59 am

    Great thread. Enjoyed the posts…

    Reply Report comment
  • AVR Freak says:
    June 3, 2010 at 9:33 am

    Interesting project

    “a fonera 2100 router that is running openWRT connected to an unnamed AVR microcontroller”

    Which processor is router using?

    Reply Report comment

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