So personally I love lighting, different colors, different moods😍. A few weeks ago, one of my favorite strip LEDs (of warm color) installed on my ceiling stopped working. So, I just thought instead of replacing it with a fixed color, why not fix RGB strip LEDs that could be controlled via a remote.
But something was not right as there were limitations to remote controlled strip LEDs like direct line of sight between remote and receiver need to be established, also some of my favorite functionalities were missing which were found on Smart strip LEDs. But these smart strip LEDs were costly like about 5000Rs for my requirement of 10 meters.
And Finally🤩 I came up with my own solution. Why not convert an ordinary remote controlled strip LEDs into a Smart one? and thus AURA came into light! which costed me below 1800Rs.
Lets dive into the interesting part,
Features:
- Brightness Control
- Effect Speed Control
- Custom Party / Warm mode
- One Touch Calibrate
- Voice Command Support
- OTA Updates
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| AURA Module - Front view |
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| AURA Module - Top view |
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| AURA - Installed (Don't mind the tape😅) |
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| App Interface |
Things used:
1)NodeMCU ESP8266
2)IR Transmitter
3)220V AC to 12V DC SMPS Power supply
Features:
1) Brightness control
In order to control the brightness of the strip LEDs using remote, we would have to repeatedly tap the brightness up/down button until the brightness reaches the level we prefer, which is really not convenient. So I implemented a slide bar (as shown in the App interface above) to control the brightness with ease
2)Effect Speed Control
As mentioned above, same goes for speed control. That too have been simplified.
3)Custom Party / Warm mode
4)One Touch Calibrate
Since AURA module and the RGB remote receiver module works independently, sometimes there occurs situations when the brightness/speed in App doesn't match the actual one. So, One touch calibrate would help do the job of recalibrating things to its original values.
5)Voice Command Support
What's more fun than commanding your stuff by voice? So I implemented this feature wherein if you are in a party mood you would just tell google, "Ok Google, It's Party time!" and google would turn on the custom party mode of AURA with a feedback "Ok, Let's party with AURA!". Turn up the music!🤩
6)OTA Updates
One of my most liked feature being the developer of Aura is that, it support Over The Air updates! Since the NodeMCU board is kept on the ceiling, it would be hard for me to update the code inside it as I would have to reach the board and update the code over USB connection. To overcome this problem, I implemented OTA update feature for Aura so that I can update the code as an when required over my Wi-Fi without having to reach the board physically.
Working:
- Aura simply works with an IR transmitter which is connected to a Wi-Fi enabled NodeMCU module that is connected to the Blynk Cloud.
- The IR remote codes to be transmitted for each operations have been decoded by myself using a IR receiver module from the original IR remote of the RGB module.
- For each press of a button in App, these codes are transmitted by Aura module and thus making the ordinary RGB module Wi-Fi enabled.
What's more for Aura:
I am planning to make an App for Aura which would have more features and customizations than this current App. Blynk Apps have certain restrictions.
Also, Weather/Temperature controlled colors is on the coming soon list.
If you feel I have done a good job and deserves an appreciation, then please show your love 💓 in the form of a small donation. Click here to go to donation page.
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