There’s something about the regimented square shapes of the IKEA Kallax shelf that convinced [Eike Hein] it could benefit from some RGB LED lighting, and while he could have simply used a commercial solution, he decided instead to develop Hyelicht: an incredibly well documented open source lighting system featuring multiple control interfaces and APIs. We’d say it was overkill, but truth be told, we dream of a world where everyone takes their personal projects to this level.
In the boilerplate configuration, [Eike] shows off controlling the LEDs using a graphical user interface running on a Waveshare 7″ touch screen mounted to the side of the shelf. That’s the most direct way of controlling the LEDs, as the touch screen is plugged into the Raspberry Pi 4B that’s actually running the software. But the same interface can also be remotely accessed by your smartphone or desktop.
You can also skip the GUI entirely and control the LEDs with a command line interface, or maybe poke Hyelicht’s HTTP REST interface instead. The system can even integrate with the Philips Hue ecosystem, if you prefer going that route.
The 5×5 Kallax shelf is the project’s official reference hardware, but of course it will work with anything else you might wish to cover with controllable LEDs. We’ve seen similar setups used to light storage bins in the past, but nothing that can even come close to the documentation and customization possibilities offered by Hyelicht. This is definitely a project to keep a close eye on if you’ve got the urge to add a little color to your world.
I also like how Technology Connections lit up his grid furniture: just mount a couple of big old LCD TVs behind them.
Watching TC I used to idly wonder how he did that, getting that effect is harder than it looks.
And then the reveal, doh!
Tom – thanks for writing this up. While there’s absolutely a place for quick and dirty project documentation in the name of “getting it out there”, it’s great for Hackaday to highlight and celebrate those who go to this level of public documentation and thoroughness.
Maker here, thank you very much for the nice write up! I have an update for this project in the works that builds out the animations and updates Qt support to version 6.
Love the other project you linked; text search/index for a storage shelf and lighting up the matching compartments. That would be massively cool to have in public libraries: “Your book is on K23, we made it pulse blue for you for the next two minutes.” Clearly shelf lighting is ripe for invention! :-)
I’d make a bookshelf glow red with shame if I haven’t picked something up to read for a week.
Very nice! Wish I could get ahold of some of those elusive Raspberry Pis though…
Yeah. A pi4 is massive overkill for this though. The ubiquitous ESP32 would have no problems.
I needed a Pi 4b 4gb for a class, my jaw hit the floor when I found out the prices and availability. Our school offered a bundle with the pi, a small SD card, a 15w usb-c supply, a case and a HDMI cable for ~€120.
I already had some of that gear, but luckily I found out that our local university also had a supply. Ended up getting the Pi, 15w supply and a passive cooling block for ~€70, I think I’ll print myself a case. To scare away scalpers (and probably in return for getting special stock for educational purposes) the uni-shop required your student number and added a note to the student number that you bought a Pi and can never buy it again.
For the LEDs defnitely. For the touchscreen UI, using a Pi puts the compute in reach of a nice framework like full Qt. This in turn let me make a smartphone app on the same tech stack, re-using the code.
Also, I re-use the same Pi as my home’s Hue bridge running diyHue and deconz with a ConBee II Zigbee USB dongle. :-)
Nice.
Can also be turned into a giant tic-tac-toe
Ikea Kallax has no glass doors.
But I see glass doors in the picture above.
Where do the glass doors come from?
You can buy glass door addon kits from IKEA :-)
That would be nice but I don’t see it at IKEA online.
Do you have a link, product number or something similar?
And no – the EKET door does not fit well.
Could be regional availabity? I bought them here in Germany, but here’s an English link from IKEA UK: https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/kallax-insert-with-glass-door-white-70340299/
Thanks!
You, are right. It’s not available in the US.
I’m actually from Germany but I’m living in the US now.
I’ve been looking into doing something like this recently. Thanks for the write up.
That’s funny! I litterly built one of these without knowing this already existed, but mine is based of a Wemos D1 mini and runs via Alexa. Now I need to add APP and HMI!