Home Improvement
I am putting a mountain feature wall in my son's new bedroom.
Starting on the right, I want to run LEDs along the topmost mountains, switch to unlit cord/wire to go around the window, and then run another set of LEDs along the topmost mountain on the left. This should give a nice sunrise effect.
Do you know of an LED kit that can do this?
Thank you!
At our student clubhouse we just run cat5 between the led strips, just soldered to the strip.
It will work but Cat.5 is not really suitable for the load of led strips, better is something like speaker wires if you buy new cable anyways.
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Most of those led strips you get in rolls can be cut at any location and then reconnected. A microcontroller is a great idea like the other user suggested. The ESP32 rocks and is also a favorite of mine but I'd also suggest Particle Argon.
You have to use their ecosystem with it but connecting to it is done for you through their website IDE. It's very beginner friendly but an esp32 is also quite easy to work with, the esp32 is cheaper as well.
If you get an RGB strip using a microcontroller, you can dynamically change the light depending on the time/weather using one of the free weather APIs, just a thought.
The secret is to just cover the LEDs
Just put some opaque tape over it?
I'm thinking paint but same idea
Lots of high tech options. For low tech, electrical tape over the lights you don't want.
You can use any old addressable LED strip (WS2811, 2812B, 2813, 2815, SK6812) for this. The harder part will be routing the data lines correctly with so many different branches. You could always run branches in parallel if effects being duplicated is acceptable. I'd use your photo to route a linear path from start to finish. You can do multiple paths as an ESP32 or controller like the DigOcta can do up to 8 separate outputs. Then you can control it all via WLED (which includes a sunrise effect).
I dunno if lemmy has a WLED community but reddit has a pretty active one or you can use WLEDs native forums to ask more questions and get opinions from a group more focused toward the project you're working on.
Also you might consider removing those two short branches in the lower left corner of the window by moving that peak a little more up and to the left to help simplify things.
I can work with this. Thank you!
I am only running the lights along a channel in the uppermost boards that will make the topmost mountains, so I will not need a complex path. My goal is to have a sunrise-behind-the-mountains effect.
Just dropping this in here in case it inspires: translucent slate veneer. Real slate, in very thin sheets, designed to be lit from behind.
No problem. After reading some of the other responses I should point out that the LED strips I listed are all addressable RGB or RGBW. If you don't want any color, then everything can be simplified (and cheaper) by using the 2-wire white LED strips, though I think using RGB/RGBW is way more fun and dynamic.
if i understand correctly you could use something like this and make a break between two led strips and lay the wires around the window.
Those connectors look much nicer than the ones I used, but yes a stretch of wire is the correct way to have a permanently unit section.