[Toon Beerten] had been experimenting with LED lamp construction. He had already built a pretty neat pyramid of LEDs as a mood lamp but wanted something a little higher quality for his living room. He ran out and picked up an IKEA lamp, which you can see above. From the store, the lamp can only display one color, and has a clear construction. [Toon] wanted RGB and an opaque finish, so he sanded the lamp and built a custom circuit.
He tore out the lamp circuit and replaced it with his own, consisting of a 3W LED, a heatsink, and a PIC 16F628 (and the supporting components). The main circuit actually fits underneath the lamp pretty well. You can download the full schematics and code from his site if you’d like to replicate it.
As you can see in the video, the effect is quite nice.
This project inspired me to go directly to ikea and buy a mood lamp (unfortunately a different model). My receipe was similar: lamp, RGB led, 5V smps, AVR controller, rotary encoder lots of effects.
I did a similar project c attiny13. A project my two choices: a random change of color or multi-mode-RGB light with remote control. Project page: http://www.simple-devices.ru/forum/12-Электроника/275-RGB-светильник-с-дистанционным-управлением (russian)
Iep, i used the same lamp as you did. Couldn’t find the one featured in the post.
Unfortunately the original mylonit lamp seems to be discontinued. You may still find it on eBay though. I’ve built mine with an 8 pin attiny and touch sensor (handled by the attiny) so that i have no visible controls. Just one cable running to the lamp.
By the way, this is quite old… have seen this years ago (maybe not here though). And the mylonit lamp is already diffused. He only sanded the lamp of his previous built to make it diffused.
Why do all those mood lamp builders use resistors instead of normal LED drivers? That LED is powerful enough to pay attention to its power supply.
Because it is simpler. But as I found out, i had to fiddle with parallel/series resistors untill i could get the white to be white.
Now, for the next one i will build i will use constant current made with opamps. It’s more parts, but you have a better chance to get it right.
Love this!!! :)
I have connected all three LEDs in series with a constant current source (switch mode of course). To switch off the LEDs i short circuit them using FETs. This should provide adequate efficiency (never bothered to measure it though).
Do you have any more details on the project? I’d like to see. Thanks!
been there done that, here’s my version:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wldmki/sets/72157627297487829/
i saw this years ago and built three of them for friends. i like a constant drive better but didnt use it myself. My lamps were very popular