Introduction: Neighborhood Wide Synchronized LEDs

By TeleToyland
About: A Maker since childhood with all the classic symptoms, a robot builder, and an Internet software CTO/Tech Product Manager.

I had some wireless LED bars that I thought I could put out for the holidays. But, in my yard, they could also just as well have been wired. So, what is the cooler challenge? LED decorations at all the houses on my block with a synchronized display! In this crazy year, it's a way to connect us together.

These are ESP8266 powered LED strands, and they are WiFi mesh connected, so they all show the same step in the animation sequence at the same time. Since they use mesh code to connect, they can be a few houses apart, and the messages are passed along from node to node.

They run on 5 volts, and I used power adaptors, but they can run for awhile on USB batteries too. So they are portable, run their own WiFi network that is not connected to the Internet, and can run off the grid.

All of our neighbors were excited to have this shared decoration, and it's really nice how you see all of them showing the same display as you walk along the street. I have some pictures here of a few in front of my house for testing, but it was really hard to photograph them down the street.

Step 1: Parts

ESP8266 D1 Mini - I used the D1 Mini modules since all I need is one I/O pin for the LEDs. This project could be done with no soldering using a terminal shield like this and a different ESP8266 module. There is a version of the D1 Mini with a better antenna - the D1 Mini Pro. It has a ceramic antenna and a U.FL connecter for an external antenna, but you need to move a surface mount 0 ohm resistor for the external antenna. With the ceramic antenna it has very roughly double the range. More discussion in a later step.

WS2811 LED Strands - I used WS2811 strands since they are waterproof (except for the JST connectors) and easy to work with. WS2812b "Neopixel" strips would use exactly the same code etc. I used 5v ones, but you can get them in 12v (use less current) - you would need a voltage converter for the ESP8266s, then. You can also get WS2811 LED strands with waterproof connectors if you would like. The LED strands I used have JST SM connectors on both ends - the female one is the input, though I have seen them wired the other way (male as input). The direction is also marked on the LEDs themselves. There are also power injection wires - I snipped the ends off so the tinned parts cannot short out. You can also buy them in packs of 10.

330 Ohm 1/4 Watt Resistor - this is used at the data pin on the ESP8266 to prevent any flickering of the LEDs.

JST SM 3 Pin Male Connector - These are to connect to the LED strips. Note that the "male" connector has a hood over it.

2.1mm CCTV Female Connector - these are used for the power connector. You could use some other connector system for this if you want.

5V Power Supply - the amp rating depends on how many LEDs you will have. A 2A one is probably OK for 50 or 100 LEDs that are never fully on (see the wiring step for more info).

JST SM 3 Pin Extension Wire or a 2.1mm extension wire - since the JST connector on the D1 Mini is close to the LEDs, you generally want an extension to allow the LEDs to be placed further away from the CPU. In my case, I ended up putting the CPU higher up in the decoration to get better WiFi range, so I kept the CPU near the LEDs and used a 2.1mm extension wire instead.

USB to 2.1mm Cable - this is optional - lets you power the strand from any USB source or battery.

3mm Heat Shrink Tubing - you only need about 1" of this to cover the resistor on the D1 Mini.

20mm Clear Heat Shrink Tubing - this is partly optional to protect the connectors on the D1 Mini. Make sure to clip around the reset switch after applying if the tubing compresses the switch.

Waterproof Box - to protect the power supply and CPU outside. Most of my neighbors just used plastic bags.

1/2" EMT conduit - a 29" piece fits on the candy cane shape - I used 4 zip ties to hold it on. I tried 1/2" PVC, and it fits, but touches the LEDs on both sides.

3/8" x 3' rebar - once the EMT is attached to the shape, you can pound the rebar in the ground and put the EMT pipe over it. 1/2" rebar will fit, but you will need to cut off any bent parts, and it is close - if it gets flattened or anything when pounding it in, it will be very tight. So, the 3/8" is more likely to easily clear the inside diameter of the EMT pipe.

Candy Cane shape - see the step on these, you can DIY a shape, drape them over a bush, or use a shape like this. You can also get pre-printed ones.

Step 2: Controller Assembly

The controller consists of the D1 Mini (ESP8266), a 2.1mm CCTV female power jack, a 330 ohm resistor, and a 3 Pin JST male connector.

The assumption for this project is that you will use 50-100 LEDs. If you want to use more, you will need to use power injection to power all the LEDs. See this other Instructable for a deeper discussion on that.

With 50 LEDs all on full white, they would draw 50 x 0.06A = 3amps. So, with a 2A adapter, we are assuming they will never be fully on. For 100 LEDs, the max is 6A, so even more care should be taken to only have some on at a time. Even with 100 LEDs at 0.02A each, we have 2 Amps being used. So, a higher current power supply is recommended, though I tuned the displays to not use all the LEDs or colors at once, dimmed them down a lot, and have started with 2A supplies with bigger ones in reserve. This is a great article on reducing power requirements.

The 330 ohm resistor inline with the data wire is to prevent flickering from electronic ringing since the data is a fairly high frequency. This is more of a factor with lots of LEDs, but is a good practice to add it.

I soldered the resistor to the D1 Mini directly, but left about 1/8" of the lead above the board so I could bend them flat. I used about 1" of 3mm heat shrink on the resistor to keep it from shorting out on the board.

I used 20mm clear heat shrink to protect the D1 Mini from touching metal etc. Be sure to check the reset switch on the side - you may need to cut the heat shrink slightly to make sure it in not pressing the switch. I needed that on all of mine.

Note that I did not seem to need a level shifter from the 3.3V ESP8266 outputs and the LEDs running at 5V (since the LED chip spec is to have the data line be no less than 70% of the supply). I did need a diode/sacrificial LED in previous projects (Step 3) with WS2812b strips, but the direct WS2811 chips in the LEDs seem OK so far.

You could do this without soldering! An ESP8266 terminal shield with a different CPU would work just as well. The D1 Mini form factor is nice and small, but they all work about the same.

Step 3: Alternate Controller Build

As described in later steps, a D1 Mini Pro with the ceramic antenna seems to have roughly double the range of the D1 Mini with the circuit board antenna. So, they are much better for the house distances in my neighborhood. Unfortunately, some of the inexpensive D1 Mini Pros I bought did not work with an external 5V power source, but they do work with the USB connector providing power. The D1 Minis do not have a 5v regulator, just a 3.3V one, and the USB to 5V pin has a fuse and a diode. I tried a few diodes, but had no luck with supplying 5V via the pin on the D1 Mini. So, I used a micro USB to 2.1/5.5mm cable to supply the power. This build is actually a bit simpler and works with the defective D1 Mini Pros I have.

Parts: (these links are Amazon Affiliate links, but cost you nothing and help support Instructables like these)


The Build:

The JST wires had tinned ends, so soldering the +5 (red), and Gnd (white) to my Di Mini Pro was easy. I ran the wires from the back side and soldered them on the component side.

The resistor goes on Pin D6 for my code, and solder it with just a bit of wire above the board so it can be bent over later. I stripped and twisted the green wire from the JST cable on the other end of the resistor and soldered it close to the resistor. Make sure to put the 3mm heat shrink tubing on first!

With those 4 soldered connections done, you can shrink the 3mm heat shrink tubing and test.

Use the 20mm heat shrink tubing if you want to protect the board though in retrospect, putting it in the bag may be sufficient. Make sure to leave the micro USB port available, and watch out for the heat shrink around the reset switch. Also, I ran the wires all one one side by the switch to not block the USB port.

Once the D1 Mini Pro is programmed, you can add the micro USB to 2.1/5.5mm cable and place it in a bag with a twist tie for protection, or use some other waterproofing setup.

Step 4: Shapes

The LED strands can be free-form, or you can make them into shapes - either DIY, or from an online store. I ordered a few shapes from HolidayCoro - some small LED trees, a stocking, and a candy cane. The stocking took 50 LEDs nicely - the length of one strand. The small tree takes 100 LEDs, but you can just do half of it if you want - facing the street. In the end the candy cane was the neighbor favorite since it was a bit larger. 99 LEDs, and I left the last one on the back with the idea it could be used for debugging.

Since the shapes came in white, we decided to paint red stripes on them so they look better in the day time. I masked them out, did a quick fine sand, a wipe with acetone (full strength nail polish remover), and used two coats of spray paint that works on plastic. It seemed to adhere well. We did mostly on one side, and a few on the other side for a couple houses that had 2 of them.

Step 5: Code & WiFi

The D1 Mini uses an Espressif ESP8266 module. I programmed it using the Arduino IDE, so it feels like a powerful Arduino with WiFi built in. There are numerous instructions on the Internet on how to configure the Arduino IDE for the ESP8266 and D1 Mini so I will not repeat them here.

The code is based on a previous Instructable. It uses the Painless Mesh library to have all the CPUs talk to each other. I used the FastLED library since I had issues previously with the mesh library and the Neopixel library, and I did not re-test that this time.

I am not sure what the maximum is on the number of nodes. Some posts indicate that it will be limited by the number of messages and CPU types and maybe the cap is around 30-60 nodes. This application does not send a lot of messages - just the animation change, though there are some automatic ones like mesh change and time synch messages.

You can connect the LEDs to the D1 Mini while coding, but you may want an external supply if you have more than 50 since you will possibly exceed the supply from your computer's USB port and the power regulator on the D1 Mini. That being said, with my code not turning the LEDs on full, I was able to program 100 LEDs on the USB connection without issues.

The ESP8266 module has onboard WiFi. Since the mesh code (PainlessMesh) we are using creates an Access Point on each module, the range for a neighborhood wide reach is important. I used candy cane shapes, and put the CPU at the top to get the best range, and it was about 50-100 feet - a yard or two in my neighborhood. Higher and better line of sight (LOS) improves things. The range did cross the street in some cases (depended more on cars blocking the LOS).

There were a couple houses that were not synched due to WiFi obstructions, but the lights look nice even when not synched. I made a "repeater" node with just a D1 Mini on a stick powered by a USB battery. When placed between the houses, they were synched properly. For a more remote repeater you could possibly use a solar USB battery, though they do not charge very fast.

I was still seeing intermittent synchronization issues, then found this note on having too many nodes or having them spread out:

https://gitlab.com/painlessMesh/painlessMesh/-/wik...

Using that setup, it started working much better! This designates one particular node as the main one, so my code to negotiate the controlling node is unneeded, which can split up the mesh. I have attached an updated/alternate code sample. This approach requires that the main node be on for them to be synchronized, so the mesh is not as fault tolerant, but works better when spread out the way mine are. Be sure to edit the code for that version - only one node should be set to the root - see the comments in the code.

I also added one more update to the SetRoot variant: I added code to reset the ESP8266 if there have been no commands for 10 minutes. This gives the node a chance to re-discover the root node. This seemed to help with some of the more distant nodes.

At the end of the season, I was able to test some D1 Mini Pro modules. They have a ceramic antenna on the board, and you can also use a U.FL connector and external antenna if you move a zero ohm resistor. I tried a couple that had synching issues with the D1 Mini Pros with the ceramic antennas, and they worked better. I did some subsequent testing with one node across my house. Based on the results, we will switch to the D1 Mini Pro modules with the ceramic antennas next year.

  • With a remote D1 Mini: Only the D1 Mini Pro with an external antenna saw it, and the signal strength was low.
  • With a remote D1 Mini Pro with ceramic antenna: The D1 Mini, the D1 Mini Pro with ceramic antenna, and the D1 Mini Pro with an external antenna all saw it with roughly the same signal strength, so that was an improvement. The orientation of the boards (antennas) do matter to a degree.
  • With a remote D1 Mini Pro with an external antenna: All the other boards saw it, but the signal strength was not much better than the tests with the onboard ceramic antenna, so I will not bother moving those zero ohm resistors and putting antennas on the candy canes.

Attachments

Step 6: Final Assembly

Once you have the controller ready and programmed, all you need to do is connect the LEDs to the controller with the JST wires, and a 5v power supply on the 2.1mm jack.

The JST extension should be helpful to keep the controller and power adapter always from the LEDs. Or, to get the CPU higher up, I put a small plastic bag over them secured with a twist-tie, and used a 2.1mm extension cord to the power supply.

The waterproof box will help protect the adapter and CPU, but most of my neighbors used simple plastic bags.

Holiday Decorations Speed Challenge

Second Prize in the
Holiday Decorations Speed Challenge