Introduction: Pixel Rainbow LED Tube for Home/video Lighting

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I am always obsessed with RGB LED tubes that are used in video production, I always needed one, only to make my work setup look cool, also I started to wright on Instructables so I can use this for photo/videography also, but they are too expensive for a hobbyist like me, Then I decided to make one myself. I had an old, nonworking 4ft T8 led tube lying around.so I decided to put some led strips on it. After some digging on the Internet, I found neopixel (WS2812b) led, which is perfect for this project. Also, for controlling LED there is an awesome open-source project called WLED, with this I don’t need so many components, just connect the 3 wires to the ESP 32/ESP 8266, and it is possible to control the LED wirelessly with the WLED app, I had small peg board that I build my self, I also need to find a way to put this led tube there so I can also use this as a working light, so in this instructable is about Pixel Rainbow Tube Light

Supplies

Hardware

Tools

  • Soldering kit (Soldering Iron, Soldering Wire, Soldering Paste, Soldering Iron Stand, etc..)
  • Wire stripper
  • Cutter Knife
  • Heat gun/ pocket lighter(for heat shrink tube)
  • Allen key set/ screw driver ( for tightening screw)
  • Hacksaw blade/electric cutter ( for cutting the led tube to the preferred length)
  • Nose plier
  • Driller with 3mm bit
  • 3d printer ( if you don't have 3d printer you can find 3d printing service in online)

Step 1: Disassembling Old Led Tube

just remove all internal parts from the led tube, We will be left with an aluminum profile, light diffuser, and two End caps.

Step 2: Preparing the End Caps

There are two end caps in these led tubes, we need both of them also we need to remove pins in the end caps using a nose player.

Step 3: Making a Hole in the End Cap

in this step make a 12 mm hole In the side of the end cap with a soldering iron or a driller, It is for the GX16 connector. also, drill a 3mm hole for the screw on the bottom side of the end cap

Step 4: Cutting the Led Tube and Drilling

the length of the led tube is dependent upon your need, For me, I need to rig this into my small peg board, If you planning to do the same just follow the instructions.

I made this peg board with a standard distance between holes 25.4mm( 1in), You need to measure the distance of cutting from 5mm left/right in the middle of two holes, After measuring, cut the aluminum profile and plastic diffuser, drill a 3mm hole on the aluminum profile, it is for the m3 screw, also cut a 25mm gap on the side of the profile wire management

Step 5: Painting

Use matt black spray paint to paint the outside of the aluminum extrusion and end caps, only paint the outside of the led tube .leave it to dry ( you can also use Carbon fiber vinyl it looks much cooler also it is scratch resistant, See the attached picture)

Step 6: Sticking Led Strips

I decided to put two led strips together inside this tube for bright output, I am using a 144 led/m led strip, (you can also buy 60 led/m which is much cheaper), there is aluminum under the led strips so it will also act as a heat sink, then cut the led strips to the right length and stick it to the surface, there is aluminum under the led strips so it will also act as a heat sink :)., also put insulation tap under the ends of led strips to prevent short circuit, here we are using a 10mm Kapton tape.

Step 7: Wiring Led Tube

Please follow the wiring diagram,

connect the 5v, GND, and Din of both led strips together, also need to solder three wires to the gx16 connector. this connector is optional, you can connect it directly if you need, I used this gx16 only for modularity, so make sure to put heat shrink to the exposed wire joints, push the wires inside the tube, and after that put the led defuser back on, tight the end cap with screw

Tip: To install the GX16 connector to the end cap, first solder wires to the connector and insert the it to the end cap hole

pin diagram

  • pin 1 -- 5v
  • pin 2 -- GND
  • pin 3 -- Din

Step 8: GX16 Connecting Cable

now just connect 2 male GX16 connectors with a 3-core wire, I only had 4 pin GX16 in my collection, so I used this instead of 3 pin, I will leave 1 pin as no connection, if you look closely there will be numbers on the soldering terminals, connect the same number pin together. if you follow these numbers there will be no wiring mistake

Step 9: Led Control Circuit

3d print the control circuit enclosure using the attached .stl file, fix the esp pcb using a glue gun, also install the GX16 female connector to the enclosure, Please note that we are using a D4 pin (GPIO 2) for Din, We need this when we configure the wled, close the enclosure with m3 screw

Attachments

Step 10: Flashing the Firmware

now is the moment to grant its soul👻 we are flashing the wled Firmware to the esp. I'm not going to talk about how to flash wled in here, it is a well-documented project with so many videos in YouTube

  • here is the GitHub page of WLED
  • here is the Getting Started page of the WLED
  • here is the YouTube video about how to flash and setup WLED to esp8266 (Thanks ChrisMaherDIY)
  • here is the YouTube video about Setting Up WLED For The First Time (thanks davidcappello)

NOTE: don't connect the led tube when Flashing The Firmware



Step 11: Power Source

you need good attention to the power source, we need to provide a stable 5v both to the esp and led strip, the ws2812b is little power hungry, I have 144 LEDs in my tube, and it needs ~5A, not recommended to run this on USB power, never use the 5v pin of the esp for powering the led, it is not good for the 5v regulator in the esp, it will damage it, so we use an external power source for it, I am using my DIY power supply, also it is not recemented to run the ws2812b in full power it will affect the life of the ws2812b.

Step 12: Testing

Now it is time to power it up, connect the gx16 cable between the led tube and controller, Please follow the instructions from Step 10 Link for connecting to Wifi and your app,

Need to know how to set up the rainbow pattern?

  1. On the home page scroll down on color pallets and select the rainbow color pallet
  2. Go to the effects page and scroll down and select Solid Pattern

as you can see there is a total of 187 patterns are available, so take your time and try each and everything, also try to experiment with colors

Step 13: Installing to Peg Board

I designed the hanging mechanism using Tinkercad, it is for a standard peg board. after 3d printing connect the hand and peg holder with m3 screws, and insert the tube holder into tube ends, this design will help you to rotate the tube at 360°

Attachments

Step 14: Final Thoughts

I hope it is a unique project based on wled, this light can be used for photography use, I attached a photo of my laptop that was taken with this light, this light also has different effects that can be used for professional video.

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