Light Your Way to the Right Component with LEDs
It is like a library's card catalog, but for parts and with lights!
The never-ending quest for the perfect component storage solution has taken a significant leap forward. Stupid Projects blog (SPB) has a solution for cataloging and locating every part in your collection: LEDs. One of the biggest challenges with electronics is sorting and storing components. Every one of us has a mix-matched pile of containers with ICs, transistors, regulators, capacitors, and various sizes of inductors.
Imagine being able to look up an LM324 on your phone and then seeing a lit-up drawer containing them. Well, stop imaging because SPB has detailed instructions on how to set up an LED-enabled storage system. For the hardware, you need a storage container, ESP8266, at least one WS2812B LED Strip, and a single-board computer. In the instructions provided by SPB, they are using a Banana Pi running Armbian, but other SBCs, like a Raspberry Pi, should work as well.
When selecting a component container, transparent or translucent storage drawers are essential. The most straightforward LED install involves lining-up individual LEDs behind each drawer. This arrangement means the drawers themselves act as light guides for the LED. One downside to this approach is that the brightness depends on how much stuff you cram into each drawer. On the upside, well, check out SPB's demo video. Tap a part and instantly see its location!
For more information, check out SPB's detailed LED component storage write-up and grab all of the code from this bitbucket repo.