PlxyLight

As part of my design process I made a 3D model.

This is the design I made. I was thinking of other designs :

The above is a draft. It uses aluminum corners instead of aluminum channel for the frame.

I plan to design a custom power and controller board for the LED strips. Meanwhile I have assemble a temporary one.

The power requirement per panel is the following : 6 Strip x 5 RGB x 60mA@5V + 6 Strip x 1 Series White x 20mA@12.6V = 1.8A@5V + 120mA@12.6V = 9W (RGB) + 1.512W (White). I have 3 panel so I need a little more than 31.5W.

I got buck regulators on ebay. They are rated 3A. I first used only a single green regulator to power the whole lamp. The regulator when into thermal limit and I could only light the RGB at 25%.

I installed 3 other regulators, one per panel. They do heat up a bit but do not enter thermal protection.

The White LED are not cabled yet.

I use an ESP12F micro to control the lamp. It is WiFi enabled. I can control the colors from my phone which is pretty cool.

I was looking for 6mm wide LED strip. White LED was the goal, RGB if possible. I could have use the LCD backlight kit but I design my own strips with White and RGB LED. To fit both on the same strips, I used addressable RGB LED. The WS2812b were a very nice fit as they have a reduced pin count allowing white LED PCB routing. The full RGB colors is pretty nice. The integrated controller simplifies the control electronics. The brightness to power ratio is not as great as bright white LED.

The board is 10cm by 10cm and has 14 strips. Each strips fits 5 WS2812b and 4 White LED footprint (PLCC-2 SMD, each foot print can fit 2-3 LED). The WS2812b are powered in parallel and the White LED are powered in series. The strip can be chained to make a long RGB strip. I chain 6 strip per panel on my design. Two strips white LED can be chained to be powered from a 25.2V source instead of a 12.6V.

The strip has 2 mounting holes, drilled at 2mm. They can be drilled to 3mm.

I bought the White LED and WS2812b on ebay and soldered them myself.

I have left over 10x10 Strip PCB panel (No LED). I would sell for $10. PM me if interested.

Picture of the PlxyLight WS2812b controlled.

Botton Led Only

All Led on.

A pattern slides along the leds.