Now you have your design on paper it's time to go shopping! *See step 'Diffusing panel' for more information But according to the materials, size and electronics you choose this amount will be different. As I already mentioned I used this because I already had it laying around.Ĭost of panel: This panel cost approximately 300 euro's.
#LARGE LED PANEL FREE#
The reason I went for separate panels is because I just didn't have a way to get a large panel home from the store, also the crossbeams I already had at home.įor the crossbeams and sides I used 2,5 x 5 cm beams, but you are completely free to chose whatever you want to use. I would recommend you use one large sheet in stead of separate pieces to save reinforcement and making things unnecessarily complicated. I used 4 separate panels of thin wood (forgot the kind of wood) but it is lightweight and does not sag. You can use hardboard but do reinforce the back with crossbeams to prevent sagging.
Thin wood works fine as a back, as long as the sides are robust. Materials to make the frame out of: This is a matter of cost vs durability vs weight. I wasn't able to get that from one controller so I used two. And of course you need to decide what you want from your controller, I wanted to play my own programs, control the panel from my phone and also have a remote that plays pre configured programs. The most important part is that you pick a controller that is meant for addressable leds and not for single color led's, also you need to pick a controller that supports WS2811 led's (luckily most do). Type of controller: Just as there are tons of strips, there are tons of controllers.
#LARGE LED PANEL PLUS#
I have 18 rows of strips that are 5 cm apart (so a total of 95 cm) plus beams that make up the sides (2x2.5 cm) To determine the amount of strips you need you first need to decide on what the size is going to be, next you need to decide how many rows you want and finally you need to decide how much space you want in between your strips. For my panel I used 3 led's per chips, 60 led's per meter (so per meter there were 20 addressable segments).
However even within the WS2811 led strips there are tons of different kinds of strips, 3 led's per chip (so 3 led's are the same), 30, 60, 90, even 120 led's per meter etc. To make it easy I would recommend just sticking to WS2811 addressable led strips. Type of led: There are tons of led's out there. For another panel I build I used transparent Plexiglas and coated it with silicone caulk that I rolled out with a paint roller*. Alternatives include no sheet at all and transparent Plexiglas. I used a Plexiglas/PMMA sheet which was treated to look like opaque but it does let light through. Type of light diffusing: As you can see my panel is covered in a translucent piece of plastic, this causes a diffused effect. Disadvantages of a small panel include little/possible insufficient light and of course not the impression a huge one makes! A small panel can be easily moved and stored, also it does not use as much power and materials (so it will be cheaper in both the long and short run). Large/small: Both have it's advantages and disadvantages. And finally, I wanted to make this project as easy and straightforward as possible! Above you can see what the panel looks like, for some reason the video does not have any sound but there wasn't much to hear anyway.īefore we start buying materials and building a panel you have to ask yourself what you want your panel to look like: Large/small, type of light diffusing (or none at all), type of led, type of controller and material to make the frame out of. Also I wanted to use up as many materials I had laying around the house as I could. I wanted to make a large led panel that was light enough to hang on the ceiling with as little changes to the ceiling as possible. Before we begin I want to share the intended goal I had for this project. But I will also add information for variations so you have something to go on if you want to make yours different. In this instructable I will tell you about my panel, and you are absolutely welcome to follow my exact instructions.
And last but not least the panel is controlled by a HC-008 and a H806SB wifi controller. With that much light the panel needs a lot of power, the led's are fed with 2 large power supplies (more about that later). The panel has 846 individual segments, and 2538 RGB led's. The panel was built over multiple days, but if you really wanted to get it done it is doable to build it in a day. The panel is just over 2.5 x 1 meters large which, in other term, is 8' 4" x 3' 4".
#LARGE LED PANEL HOW TO#
Hello! Welcome to my instructable on how to make a HUGE addressable led panel, and when I say huge I mean really big.
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