ESP32-MeshKit custom RGB LED Lamps

Description

The Espressif ESP-Mesh took a different approach than Osram or Phillips: Every device is a network member making a Mesh of interconnected devices. There is no gateway because there is no need for one.There is also a very important point that is very interesting if you are a maker like me. It’s open source. That means you don’t need to buy a 60€ light to test it, you can just go to the ESP-Mesh github repository and download ESP-Mesh-Light example to compile it in one of your existing ESP32 Boards. In my first approach I just built a 6*3 matrix of RGB Leds and documented the aprox. consumption of every line of 6 LEDs (calculated using a 1K Resistance for each 6 Leds)Red: 2.4 mA *3 -- 7.2 mABlue: 1.8 mA *3 -- 5.4 mAGreen: 2.1 mA *3 6.3 mA
This project is sponsored by http://CALE.es your Screen manager for ESP32

Details

This all started when Espressif sent me a white Button that is part of their ESP-MDF examples. The funny part of the history is that I could never register the button in the App. But exploring the Mesh Development Framework I found a light example and my internal "light" flashed. Heck! There is a light ready to compile. And has PWM outputs, and there is an App ready to control it, what can be better than this ?
So actually you have to make the "hardware" part. The software is already done, with the benefit that is open-source, and in the road of creation you can learn a bit more of MQTT*, ESP-NOW and even monitor to see how the light receives this short messages and interacts with them in real time. MQTT messages are lighting fast since they use UDP instead of HTTP that has a lot of headers and would be actually totally over-engineered to use in this scenario.

So actually you need some Leds, any ESP32 board, and the appropiate resistances for each line of Led. I'm not an expert calculating those so this part I leave to the electronic masters here. This way you can build a light for approx. 10 dollars while learning quite a lot in the process and even maybe getting some other cool ideas to do with the ESP-MESH App.

App for Android: https://www.espressif.com/en/products/software/esp-mesh/resources

App for Apple, search in the Ipad or Iphone "ESP-MESH" NOTE: Deactivate the filter only for iPad since the app is released only for iPhones.

LIGHT Source code to be compiled:

https://github.com/espressif/esp-mdf/tree/master/examples/development_kit/light

PWM Outputs

GPIO4 PWM Red

GPIO16 PWM Green

GPIO5 PWM Blue

GPIO23 PWM_BR output ( I used this for White, not sure if is the right one )

GPIO19 PWM_CT output control ( Color Temperature )

Be cautious to respect the max. 30/ top max 40 mA per PWM output. If you need to add more than that then you need to separate the logical outputs from the power outputs.

MQTT a lightweight messaging protocol for small sensors and mobile devices, optimized for high-latency or unreliable networks

Files

10cm-round-lamp.blend

Round Lamp Blender file

x-blender - 811.92 kB - 03/04/2019 at 23:19

Download

rgb-lamp-10cm.stl

10x4 cm rectangular Led Light

sla - 280.36 kB - 03/04/2019 at 23:18

Download

rgb-lamp-10cm-top-Leds.stl

10x4 cm rectangular support top (PCB)

sla - 1.64 kB - 03/04/2019 at 23:18

Download

62783.PDF

This is a 8 Channel HIGH−VOLTAGE SOURCE DRIVER that I recommend not only for the light but also to any project that needs to power more than 30mA with the ESP32 GPIOs

Adobe Portable Document Format - 265.72 kB - 03/04/2019 at 16:47

Preview

10cm-round-lamp-v1.stl

Ready for the Slicer. Print without any supports

sla - 494.52 kB - 02/18/2019 at 22:14

Download

Components

1 × ESP32 Board Any you have, it does not matter what model, the cheapest you find will work

30 × RGB Leds with GND as common for all (Also one Anode for each color) Any amount will be fine take in account that more than 30mA and you need to separate Logic using a Bus chip or transistor

1 × Only IF > 30 mA per color: 74HC125 or similar https://cdn-reichelt.de/documents/datenblatt/A240/74HC125_74HC126%23STM.pdf

1 × Cables if possible Red, Green and Blue To wire all this together

1 × Spare PCB, size does not matter as long as you can modify the case There is a case example in the Files

Project Logs

Collapse

If you turn on/off 3 times then they reset themselves
Martin Fasani • 09/19/2019 at 05:56 • 0 comments

https://twitter.com/martinfasani/status/1174551238303784960
In my home every 2 weeks they enter in this modus. It happens because my wall switches are very old.
It’s a pity that so far I didn’t found a way to disable this 3 on/off reset. Anyways it’s very easy with the Mesh app to make them join your network again.
Note: For concrete lamps you need to get it out to make a successful Bluetooth connection. It seems WiFi passes through cement but Bluetooth not so good.
First Tindie mini stage Lamp
Martin Fasani • 04/02/2019 at 05:48 • 0 comments

So if you like the lamp but you are lazy or do not have time to build it here is the first one for sale:

https://www.tindie.com/products/fasani/esp32-mesh-mini-stage-led-lamp-rgb

Printed in carbon fiber and built with detail. But with 25 dollars aprox. You can build it yourself! Even with less if you have some spare Leds and an ESP32. Demo Video:
Designing some new Lamps
Martin Fasani • 03/12/2019 at 12:52 • 0 comments

Mini-projector Lamp
8 watts RGB Led only + lens from led-tech.de
Please comment if you are interested in the design and follow this project.

Concrete Lamp refactoring into an ESP-Mesh RGB Lamp with White channel
3 eigth watts RGB + some warm White 5mm leds
Techie Oled display Light with the Heltec WiFi 32
Martin Fasani • 02/28/2019 at 07:00 • 0 comments
Repository: https://github.com/martinberlin/esp-mdf-light-oled

Requirements:
- ESP-IDF Toolchain installed + ESP-MDF and IDF referenced in your environment variables
  export MDF_PATH=~/esp/esp-mdf
- A Heltec ESP32 board http://www.heltec.cn/project/wifi_kit_32/ (ebay / alixpress)
  or any ESP32 with Oled, just configure the display SDA and SDL pins.
- A small breadboard, a RGB Led with one resistance per Anode, and that's it!
- OUTPUT GPIOs:
  (2) Light red pin GPIO number (17) Light green pin GPIO number (18) Light blue pin GPIO number
To flash it:
$ make flash ESPPORT=/dev/ttyUSB0
Round RGB progress
Martin Fasani • 02/22/2019 at 14:50 • 0 comments
Idea for a round 10cm diameter RGB Light
Martin Fasani • 02/18/2019 at 09:48 • 0 comments

Explanation about how to cut the PCB
https://twitter.com/martinfasani/status/1097197327251587072
Result :
Making some new STL 3D models as a base design
Martin Fasani • 02/13/2019 at 15:18 • 0 comments
I got some nice messages about the Lamp idea and some requests to make some standard designs. I must say I'm not a great designer in 3D-Modelling and just started doing small things mainly for my own stuff about a year ago.
But anyways since there is some interest I will extend my initial design and make 3 different lines. All based on the fact that most PCB comes with a width of 10 cm:
- 5*5cm Tiny lamp |_|
- 10*5cm Rectangular |__|
- 10*10cm Circular tube (No idea how to cut the PCB but it should be a way)
- 10*10cm Square-pusher this will hold at least 70 RGBs of 5mm or about 20 of 10mm (From the top of my head)
All ready to be sliced and 3D-printed by you or just to order it so someone else prints it in one of this nice 3D platforms like thingiverse
About the LEDs I use standard transparent 5 / 10 mm RGB and some warm white and cold white for some lamps. The cool thing is that is your lamp so you can put inside whenever you like, there are no limitations here ;)
Just keep in mind to separate power from logik with more than 30mA or your ESP32 will warm and possible some GPIOs will need to be buried. Options vary. Will make a dedicated log about this on the next weekends.
40 seg. video demo from 2 Esp-Mesh lights
Martin Fasani • 02/11/2019 at 21:25 • 0 comments