RGB LED Display

Note: Because this project is taking so long to complete, I'm going to post small blurbs and photos until I can make a proper write-up.

BOM:

Materials and tools:

• $13.00 -- 100 x WS2812B RGB LEDs

• $10.35 -- 22-gauge Braided Wire (100')

• $11.81 -- 1 x Wire Strippers

• $11.49 -- 1 x 30W Soldering Iron

• $ ?? -- Leaded Solder

• $8.60 -- 1 x Hot Glue Gun

• $12.00 -- 3 x Foam Board Sheets

$58.65 Total ($35.35 w/o Tools)

Not included:

• Microcontroller

• ~48 hours of time

Project log:

• Jan 1, 2017: Ordered 100 little RGB LEDs!

• Jan 11, 2017: And so it begins...

• Jan 12, 2017: This is taking a LOT longer than anticipated. Wish I'd just ordered prewired LEDs. My fingertips are killing me... I need wire strippers.

• Jan 13, 2017: A coworker took pity and lent me some proper wire cutters.

• Jan 16, 2017: Ordered myself some wire strippers. That was a way-overdue purchase.

• Jan 18, 2017: Wire cutters arrived! Improved my speed by a multiple of at least 3. Also misplaced an LED, but at least we're about a third done!

• Jan 21, 2017: Lack of time means no progress has been made. But I did find a source for foam board and balsa wood. I also threw everything onto my cork board just for fun.

• Jan 23, 2017: Picked up some black foam board on my way home.

• Jan 24, 2017: Finished wiring and attached everything to the foam board. Success!

• Feb 8, 2017: Wrote some code to illuminate the board with random colors. Power can be toggled using an Amazon Alexa device, too.

• May 24, 2017: Having sourced a polycarbonate overlay, finally got around to completing the build:

• May 30, 2017: Took the board to work and created some new visualizations to entertain my coworkers.