Hii everyone.

This instructables is about the Mercurial Screen. It is my computer screen attached with RGB LEDs.

I'll try to make this instructables concise and simple as it involves electronics and some past experience in it.

Let's get started :)

Step 1: Materials:

1. Arduino Nano (Buy it from anywhere)

2. Perfboard (Buy it from anywhere)

3. IRFZ44N N-channel mosfet (x3) : https://amzn.to/2Ns3lHy

4. Potentiometer (22K) : https://amzn.to/2Ns3lHy

5. Buck Converter : https://amzn.to/2Ns3lHy

6. 12V RGB LED Strip : https://amzn.to/2Ns3lHy

Step 2: Equipments:

1. Soldering iron

2. Helping hand or something to hold the board

3. Basic electronics skills

Code : https://github.com/mishravk/Mercurial-Screen

Special thanks to Evan Kale as the original code was written by him. This is the modified version for this project.

Check out his channel : https://www.youtube.com/user/EvanKale91

Step 3: The Mercurial Build Explained :

We're using N-channel mosfets to drive the LEDs. Three mosfets as one for Red, one for Green and one for Blue : The RGB.

Arduino nano is used to generate PWM signals for switching the mosfets at very high speed to control the RGB. It simply means mosfets are used as a switch and they change color between RGB very fast.

A potentiometer is used for changing the glow effect without changing the colors. This means if you turn the potentiometer knob, you will see different colour effects ranging from Red to Green and Blue as well as all the colors in between.

You can watch the video for practical demonstration :

5v to 12v boost convertor just does what the name says. Mine is adjustable so if you have the same then adjust it to 12v using a multimeter beforehand.

Step 4: The Actual Build :

Have a look at the circuit diagram shown. It's very simple and easy to understand.

Just solder all the components as shown in the diagram.

You can watch the video :

Step 5: Notes to Note :

1. I've used the 12v strip as it costed much lesser than the 5v ones. Even after including the price of boost converter, the cost remained less than the half of what was for the 5v. If you're getting a cheaper 5v RGB strip then go for it, no need for the boost converter.

2. You can use this circuit almost anywhere you want to have that rgb effect.

3. The light shows this kind of effect because the values in the code are stored as HSL (Hue, Saturation, Lightness), not as RGB (Red, Green, Blue). The entire color range cycles inside the code written.