So onto Printing...
I used two printers on this project for speed. One was a Prusa MK3 and the other was a Lymstar E10 (CR10 clone type). The Ultimaker wasn't used at all as it takes 2.85mm filament and the only white filament I had was too solid and wasn't transparent at all. No good for diffusers...
All parts were printed at 0.2mm layer height with 10% infill.
The printed parts at the moment consist of a tile bottom, tile top and a power module (top and bottom).
The bottom takes about 7 hours / top about 2 hours. Whilst these were being printed I made up the cables for each one.
The cables are made up of the following...
This is going from the back of the connector..
Male servo ->> to first LED input
LED output ->> to second LED input
LED output ->> to third LED input
LED output ->> to female servo connector
I will be putting the length of cable I use above once I've wired up a new tiles...
I would however only use the above measurements as a guide. 1st, make one up and then just copy that once you're happy with it.
On each LED you will have an in and an out. Like the below photo. Make sure you get them all the right way around.
Wiring...1st pass the male connector through the tile
Then feed the wire through the slot and pull back. This will seat the connector sticking out like below. Make sure the connector is the right way around, with the pins visible.
Now, flip the tile over and feed the cable behind the LED holder and loop back securing the LED between the two posts.
UPDATE - ON VERSION 2 BOTTOM YOU NO LONGER NEED TO LOOP BACK AROUND, JUST FOLLOW THE TRIANGLE TO THE NEXT LED.
Feed the wire down the side now to the next led holder as below
Follow now to the last LED holder
Poke the female connector through the hole and push the end through. Make sure the connector is as shown with the white wire towards the bottom.
Now tidy up the remaining wire by pushing it under the tabs.
The tile is now complete.. all you need to do is clip on the front cover.
you can now just plug it into the power unit OR another tile.. :-)
You can if you wish use screws to attach them to the wall like below.
The power unit & TilesThe power unit and tiles are wired as follows
My wiring needs a bit of a tidy up but this is what mine looks like at the moment without the cover.
Nothing special, very easy to wire. Some documentation I've read advise installing a capacitor between the positive and negative going into the LED's but I've not bothered. Also some advise using a resistor off D6, again I've not bothered as the NodeMCU outputs 3.3 volts and not 5 volts so I doubt it's needed.. BUT I'm no electronic wizard so I'm sure others will comment :-)
TAKE NOTEFrom what I've read each LED if showing white uses around 60ma. So, if you are running say 20 tiles (60 LED's) this would be 3600ma or 3.6 amps. You will need a power supply rated above this to power your tiles. However, I'm using a 2amp on mine... I know, I will be upgrading this to a 5A one soon when I add more tiles :-) If you have a multi-meter then I would suggest measuring the current just to make sure your running okay. Please note, it's your own responsibility this.. If you burn down your house, then it's your doing.. :-) My advice would be is always play on the side of safety.. buy a quality power supply.
Next the programming of the controller..... coming soon
