An acrylic map of the state of Lagos. Each region is lit a different color by LEDs shining on the acrylic panels. The colors coorespond to the air quality index key which is lit in cooresponding colors to the value.

Hackaday Prize 2022: This Interactive Air Quality Map Makes The Invisible Visible

October 11, 2022 by Navarre Bartz 2 Comments

Air quality can have a big impact on your health, but it isn’t always something you can see. [Ahmed Oyenuga] wanted to make air quality something more tangible and developed an Interactive Air Quality Map.

Using addressable LEDs and acrylic panels, [Oyenuga]’s map lights up different regions of his state (Lagos) with colors that correspond to qualitative values of the air quality readings. The color key on the edge of the map becomes a readout when you touch a specific region of the map.

Most of the map’s functionality is handled by an Arduino WiFi 1010, but the capacitive touch is running on a custom board [Oyenuga] designed with an ATSAMD21J17. [Oyenuga] is getting air quality data via a DesignSpark Environmental Sensor Development Kit (ESDK) and then uses reverse geocoding to take the GPS data and turn it into a location the map will understand.

If you’re interested in different options for monitoring air quality that could feed into a map like this, why don’t you check out this LoRa Air Quality Monitor or even a Mobile Air Quality Monitor.

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A 3d printed ghost next to the base of an LED tea light that has 4 LEDs poking out and the IR receiver port and micro-USB connector showing.

A Cold Light To Warm Your Heart

October 9, 2022 by Abe Connelly 1 Comment

Halloween is coming fast and what better way to add to your Halloween ornamentation than [Wagiminator]’s cute NeoCandle tea light simulator.

[Wagiminator] has modified a 3D printed ghost along with extending [Mark Sherman]’s light simulation code to create a cute light that’s perfect for the holiday season. The NeoCandle uses an ATtiny85 chip to power four WS2812 NeoPixel jelly bean LEDs. The device has an infrared (IR) receiver to be able to control it from a remote that speaks the NEC protocol. There is a light sensor that allows the unit to dim when it detects ambient light and the whole unit is powered off of a micro-USB connection.

The ATtiny85 have limited program flash and [Wagiminator] packs in a lot of functionality in such a small package, squeezing in a bit-banging NeoPixel driver in only 18 bytes of flash that can push out a transfer rate 762 kpbs to update the LEDs. The pseudo-random number uses a Galois linear feedback shift register and comes in at 86 bytes of flash, with the IR receiver implementation code being the largest using 234 bytes of flash. The ATtiny85 itself has 8 KB of flash memory so maybe it’s possible to push [Waginminator]’s code to even more restrictive Atmel devices in the ATtiny family.

With microcontrollers and LEDs becoming so cheap and ubiquitous, making realistic flames with them is becoming accessible, as we’ve seen with previous projects on electronic candles.

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The assembled switch PCB in the palm of its creator's hand

TTP223 Brings Simple Touch Controls To A LED Lamp

October 4, 2022 by Arya Voronova 7 Comments

You can buy small modules with capacitive touch detection ICs — most often it’s the TTP223, a single-button capacitive model with configurable output modes. These are designed to pair with a microcontroller or some simple logic-level input, but [Alain Mauer] wanted was to bring touch control to a simple LED strip. Not to be set deterred, he’s put together a simple TTP223-based switch board.

Initially, he made a prototype using one of the regular TTP223 boards as a module, but then transferred the full schematic onto a single PCB. The final board uses an NPN transistor capable of handling up to 3 amps to do the switching job, and Zener-based regulation to provide 5 V for the TTP223 itself from the 12 V input. [Alain] shares the schematic, as well as BOM together with Gerber files for a 2×3 panel in case you’re interested in adding a few of these handy boards to your parts bin.

The TTP223 is a ubiquitous and quite capable chip – we’ve seen it used for building a mouse with low actuation force buttons, a soft power switch, and even a UV-sensing talisman that’s equal parts miniature electronics and fascinating metalwork.

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Rib Cage Lamp Kicks It Up A Notch With Party Mode

October 1, 2022 by Donald Papp 8 Comments

We think [Michelle]’s sound-reactive rib cage lamp turned out great, and the photos and details around how it was made are equally fantastic. The lamp is made of carved and waxed wood, and inside is a bundle of LED lighting capable of a variety of different color palettes and patterns, including the ability to react to sound. Every rib cage should have a party mode, after all.

The LED strip is fashioned into an atom-like structure.

Turns out that designing good rib cage pieces is a bigger challenge than one might think. [Michelle]’s method was to use an anatomical 3D model as reference, tracing each piece so that it could be cut from a flat sheet of wood.

The resulting flat pieces then get assembled into a stack, with each rib pointed downward at a roughly 20 degree angle. This process is a neat hack in itself: instead of drilling holes all at exactly the same angle, [Michelle] simply made the holes twice the diameter of the steel rod they stack on. The result? The pieces angle downward on their own.

The LED lighting is itself a nice piece of work. The basic structure comes from soldered solid-core wire. The RGB LED strip gets wound around that, then reinforced with garden wire. The result is an atomic-looking structure that sits inside the rib cage. An ESP32 development board drives everything with the FastLED library.

Code for everything, including the sound-reactive worky bits, which rely on an INMP441 I²C microphone module is all available on GitHub. And if you want to make your own sound-reactive art, make sure to check out these arms as well.

Want to see the rib cage in action? A short demo video is embedded below that demonstrates the sound reactivity. Equally applicable to either party or relaxation modes, we think.

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laser cut acrylic coaster with rgb leds inside

Your Mug Will Like This Glowy Coaster

September 28, 2022 by Abe Connelly 2 Comments

[Charlyn] wanted to highlight their friends beautiful mug collection, so the Glowy Coaster was born.

The coaster is made up of six layers of laser cut acrylic. The top and bottom layer are cut out of clear acrylic, providing a flat surface for the coaster. A top pattern layer made of pearl acrylic has a thin piece of vellum put underneath it to provide diffusion for the LED strip sandwiched inside. The middle layers are made of peach acrylic and have their centers hollowed out to provide room for the electronics inside. The top pearl acrylic layer gives the coaster, as [Charlyn] writes, a “subtle touch of elegance”. The coaster itself is screwed together by an M3 screw at each point of the hexagon that feed through to heat-set inserts.

The electronics consist of a short NeoPixel strip, cut to include 12 LEDs pointed in towards the center of the coaster. The LEDs are driven by a Trinket M0 microcontroller with a LiPo “backpack” to provide power, attachment points for the exposed power switch and recharging capability to the 110 mAh 3.7 V battery. The code is a slightly modified NeoPixel “rainbow” wheel loop (source available as a gist). The design files are available through Thingiverse.

Creations like these highlight how much care and work goes into a project with minimal beauty, where decisions, like the opacity and thickness of the acrylic or countersinking the M3 screws, can have huge consequences for the overall aesthetic. [Charlyn] has an attention to detail that brings an extra touch of professionalism and polish to the project.

Coasters are a favorite for laser cutting and we’ve covered many different types, including
coaster bots, coaster engravers and even a color changing, drink sensing coasters.

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Animated LED Arrows Point The Way

September 24, 2022 by Jonathan Bennett 11 Comments

Visitors at the Garden D’Lights in Bellevue, Washington had a problem. While touring the holiday lights show, they kept straying off the path. The event organizers tried some simple LED arrows, but they were just more points of light among a sea filled with them. This is when [Eric Gunnerson] was asked to help out. He’s apparently had some experience with LED animations, even cooking up a simple descriptor language for writing animations driven by an ESP32. To make the intended path obvious, he turned to a PVC board with 50 embedded WS2812 pixels –RGB controllable LEDs. The control box was a USB power adapter and an ESP8266, very carefully waterproofed and connected to the string of pixels. The backer board is painted black, to complete the hardware. Stick around after the inevitable break, to get a look at the final

The description of the build process is detailed and contains some great tips, but without a clever LED animation, it’s still of questionable utility. The pattern chosen is great, with the LEDs being blue most of the time, and a flame-like gradient chasing through the arrow every couple seconds. It’s obviously different from the lights of the show, and seems to be a real winner. [Eric] has published his code, with the sheepish caveat that he had to reinvent the wheel once again, and couldn’t reuse any of his previous LED animation work on this one. It’s a simple hack, but a great build log, and an effective solution to a subtle problem. And if addressable LEDs are your thing, check out our other hacks!

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Chandelier Mimics The Solar Analemma

September 24, 2022 by Lewin Day 14 Comments

The solar analemma is the shape the sun traces out when photographed each day at the same time and same location for a whole year – but you probably knew that already. [makendo] decided to use this skewed figure-eight shape as the inspiration for a chandelier, and the results are stunning.

A laser cutter was used to cut out segments of the analemma shape in plywood, such that they could slot together into the full form. These were then glued together on to a plywood sheet as a template to cut out the full-size form in a single piece. Some laminate edging was then added and the entire thing was given a coat of black gloss paint. String lights were cut up to provide the many globe fittings required, and installed on the back of the chandelier.

[makendo] notes that with a full 51 bulbs in the chandelier, it’s way too bright for most dining room settings. A dimmer is thus used to tone down the output to reduce eyestrain at mealtimes. It’s a fun build, and we’ve always loved light fixtures that are inspired by astronomy. If you like the moon more than the sun, though, there’s a build for you too!