#NANO LEAF HOW TO#

You can work out the incoming side as the arrows showing the direction of data transfer through the strips is pointing away from it. Once you have cut as many of these as you have triangles (14 in my case) you can then attach an LED connector wire to each of the incoming sides of the LED strips. Because of this please pay close attention to where you can cut the strips every three LEDs.Įach of our triangles will require about 40cm worth of LEDs which works out as having 8 segments of three LEDs on each strip. Unlike the more commonly used Neopixels/WS2812B LEDs the WS2811 LEDs which we are using have one controller (black integrated circuit package) for every three LEDs. Once you have cut the shapes you can test there fit inside one of the triangles which will then allow you to trim any excess off before you remove the protective films from both sides of each of the panels. A hand saw or similar would work just as well. This is beyond the scope of this Instructable for me to go through the pros and cons of each method. There are several ways that you can cut a sheet of acrylic, such as scorring and then snapping, hot wires or saw blades. You can then trace the inside of this shape.

To do this, take one of your 3D printed triangular walls and place it onto the acrylic sheet so that the holes for the bolts is facing downwards. You can use a pencil to mark on the sheets (don't remove the protective film from them yet) an outline of the shape we need to cut. My fourteen triangles therefore required five A4 sheets. I purchased some A4 sheets which we can cut three panels worth of acrylic diffusers from. I am using some 3mm thick opal acrylic to diffuse the light for this project. You will find details of both methods later in the instructions Or optionally you can use a piece of Adafruit PermaProto board to connect everything along with some wiring connectors for the higher current connections. This is the simplest way to assemble the electronics:

#NANO LEAF HOW TO#

I learnt how to design a PCB for this project and have uploaded the design to PCBway where you can order a PCB of your own for just a few dollars/pounds. There are two different options for connecting the electronics together for this project.

Some 20AWG wire (0.8128mm in diameter):.

Barrel connector suitable for at least 5amps.

Acrylic sheets (1 A4 sheet = 3 triangles):.

12v WS2811 LED’s (A 5 meter roll is enough for 12 panels):.

None of these should be too tricky to find and I have included links to where you can find the items online: To build your own version of Geoleaf you're going to need just a few items and tools. I’ll share with you now how I made them - they’re really rather simple. They can also be programmed to automatically mimic a Phillips Hue bulb or respond to Alexa commands. The smarts for the project are all housed in the discreet rectangular panel at the bottom. I’m using an ESP8266 to control them using the brilliant WLED firmware and its built in webserver. I have offset them from the surface to allow a stylish glow out across the wall in the evenings and the panels themselves are bright enough to be seen in the daytime. You can assemble them in any order to suit your wall space and other shapes can be included such as the optional square panels. Each lit panel works out at about £3.40 in materials to make and I’m very happy with the end result. So I thought I would set about creating my own version using a 3D printer. I have wanted some Nanoleaf lights for a long time but the price has always been too high for me. Meet Geoleaf, my low cost and 3D printable version of Nanoleaf lighting panels.

Nano leaf