How to Make Smartphone Controlled Mood Light That Creates Stunning Ambience

Hey Readers! In this Instructables i will show you how I created this mesmerizing mood light using the Nodemcu and WS2812B LED strips. With some creativity and easily accessible components, you'll be able to transform a boring space into a place of vibrant colors and a good ambiance.

Why Mood Light?

Whether you want to set the perfect mood for a relaxing evening, enhance the atmosphere of a party, or simply add a touch of magic to your living space, this mood light is an excellent way to unleash your imagination and create an amazing lighting experience.

Note that you can choose any color whether it can be Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, or Orange and this is not just limited to only these colors you can choose any colors that can be formed via the color palette.

You can build this project even if you are a beginner because I have covered everything you need to know, from assembling the hardware components to uploading the codes.

I recommend you to check the video given at the end of this project to check the lights!

Now let us head over to making this project.

Supplies

Nodemcu

WS2812B Led strips

Jumper wires

Hot glue and superglue

Scissors and ruler

Few pieces of cardboard

Arduino IDE and a USB cable 2.0

Wifi with Internet access

Step 1: Circuit and Arduino Codes

The circuit diagram is really simple

There will be 3 terminals in WS2812B LED strip, Gnd, Signal, and Vcc

Vcc and Gnd to 3v and Gnd pin on the board whereas signal to D8 pin on the Nodemcu board.

After you complete the circuit connect your board to the computer and open Arduino IDE.

Copy and paste the below Arduino code, before uploading the code to the board make a note of the following changes

Replace my wifi and password ids with yours, and the number of strips present as per your LED

I have marked these in the visual of this step.

If you don't have the library for neopixel install from here

Just download the file and in Arduino ide add the .zip library and select this file

Now select the type of board(ESP8266) and upload the code.

Step 2: Testing the Circuit

Connect the board with a USB power supply.

Note the IP addresses of your board.

Paste IP in the address bar and search, a pop-up with a color palette will appear.

Select the color and click on set, The strip of light should display the same color.

Now this circuit is ready to be installed on a frame/design or lamp body.

Note: You can select more options in the color palette (bottom) to customize your colors.

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Step 3: Lamp Body

To build the lamp body few discs of cardboard along with some strips are needed.

I made this as per the length of the strip I had, if the length of the strip is different you can use the body accordingly.

My strip measured 26 cm each and the disc is slightly larger than the size of the Nodemcu board.

Use superglue to stick the strip to the disc, do the same for both strips.

To make the cardboard flexible I rolled the strip of cardboard with the pen. this will make the strip fit around the circle.

These flexible piece of cardboard will be glued to the edges of the strips which is at the top.

This completes the design or body of the lamp.

Step 4: Base

For the base, I cut a simple disc from cardboard and for the edges, I used a strip of cardboard.

For joining both of these pieces I used hot glue.

I have taken measurements of the Nodemcu board if you are building with the same board you can just use my measurements.

Also if you are willing to 3d print you can make the same model, but as most of my readers don't have access to 3d printers i made it using cardboard.

Step 5: Adding Electronics

We already have the base and frame ready and just need to add the electronics.

Make a small slot on the top frame so as to pull the led strip inside the design.

Pull the LED strip and loop it around the design, I used few drops of hot glue(less heated)

This will take some time as we have to glue multiple areas, you can also use the double-sided adhesive if you have one.

After you line it inside the design, fill the base part with electronics.

Use less heated hot glue on the jumper wire part and finally finish off by coupling the top and bottom parts.

Now our light is ready and needs some additional upgrades as given below.

Step 6: Light Diffusion

The lights coming out from the WS2812 strip is not smooth enough and needs to be diffused, to diffuse the lights i used paper.

Paper strips from A4 sheet paper would do the job really well.

Glue the sides of the frame using paper glue and stick the strip of paper, After one side allow it to dry, and repeat the same on other steps too.

After both sides are dry cut the excess sides of the paper and our lamp is now ready for use.

Step 7: Testing

You already know how to use this mood lamp by now! Let me tell you once again

All you need to do is plug in the cable, I usually use it by powering it via my power bank.

Connect the USB cable to the board and wait for some time for the board to connect to wifi

Now open the browser and type the IP, if you are using a mobile hotspot you can directly check the ip by checking the connected device section.

Type the IP on the browser and click on ok, a console will appear where you can select colors as per the mood.

If you have any questions related to this project you can ask me in the comments.

Step 8: Working Video

Don't miss watching this amazing video that shows how to make simple mood desk light, You can also see how beautiful those colors are and will definitely make someone's mood right, Video link here https://youtu.be/-YZ_vmxJd_c

Thank you and happy making.