[HN Gopher] I made a small LED panel
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I made a small LED panel
Author : Brajeshwar
Score : 142 points
Date : 2025-10-09 15:31 UTC (12 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.stavros.io)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.stavros.io)
| mytailorisrich wrote:
| The diffuser really makes this. The resulting effect looks great.
| stavros wrote:
| It really did! It looked much better than I hoped, I really
| liked the result.
| stavros wrote:
| I was about to comment that I _also_ made a small LED panel, but
| then realized it was me.
|
| Here's the latest LED thing I'm working on (the design isn't
| mine): https://immich.home.stavros.io/share/oXerU8gnLn-
| dNHunPOg8lM8...
| BolexNOLA wrote:
| spidermanspointing.jpg
|
| Jokes aside this is super cool. I always find LED panels really
| interesting to look at under the hood. I'm so picky about the
| ones I like to use almost purely based on vibes when filming.
| They're just one of those things that you immediately know
| you're going to love or hate in post the moment they hit your
| subject
| stavros wrote:
| What can I say, I'm addicted to LEDs. I tried so hard to not
| make that cube above, but I failed.
| BolexNOLA wrote:
| Pretty cool way to fail
| stavros wrote:
| All credit goes to
| https://www.printables.com/model/337027-cubled-led-
| cube-8x8-...
| MomsAVoxell wrote:
| Did you ever try to use LED's as an input device?
|
| My next LED cube project will be oriented towards trying to
| do that.
| stavros wrote:
| How do you mean? Like the magnetometer above? LEDs are
| outputs, no?
| MomsAVoxell wrote:
| Not always, they can be configured to behave as
| photodiodes, too:
|
| https://www.codrey.com/electronics/the-led-photodiode-
| trick/
|
| This is also in my "TODO" list, maybe with the next
| magicShifter revision, or possible once I get the current
| new design booted and refactored, a bit ..
|
| https://www.instructables.com/LEDs-as-light-sensors/
| stavros wrote:
| Ahh ok, you don't mean WS2812s then, just plain LEDs. I
| don't really have any ideas for what to do with a
| photodiode, but I have some of those straight LEDs and I
| really want to make something with those.
|
| What kind of thing would you want to make with LEDs as
| inputs?
| MomsAVoxell wrote:
| MIDI things. :)
| Lerc wrote:
| Do you know if the panels can be bodged to be non square? There
| shouldn't be a lot of fancy wiring to screw up if it's all
| WS2812. Can you (delicately) chop a few LEDs out and bridge the
| connections?
|
| (hoping I have seeded this idea, so I'm not the first one to
| attempt this)
| stavros wrote:
| Sure, you can connect the LEDs together however you like (am
| I misunderstanding the question?).
| Lerc wrote:
| Theoretically you can. It's whether it all goes pear shaped
| when you take a Dremel to the board to make it
| OO OOOO OO OO OOOO OO OO OOOO
| OO O OOOOOO O O OOOOOO O
| O OOOOOO O OOOOOOOO OOOOOOOO
|
| And how fiddly it is to stitch up the edges. I shall find
| out in a couple of days when the panels arrive.
| stavros wrote:
| Oh that's what you mean! Yes, you can, but you'd have to
| bridge all the data connections by hand. Much easier to
| just leave those LEDs off in software.
| tiku wrote:
| Perhaps a stupid question but why not just not use those
| LEDs? Shut down in the software..
| bombcar wrote:
| Because you want the panel to fit a non-square shape, with
| no room for "leftovers" - think making it round to fit in a
| doorknob hole or oval to go in place of a car brand badge,
| etc.
| stavros wrote:
| In that case, it would definitely be much cheaper to
| design a custom PCB and get it assembled. It would
| probably take you much less time than all the cutting and
| soldering.
| ramses0 wrote:
| I mean... as a lay-person, you've got point-lights and his
| isolation/diffusion layers in between. If you're 3d-printing
| your diffusion-thingy, then you've got tons of room to play
| games with the shape of the final glow. Even moving light via
| '265mm with 64 Fiber, Optical Grade Plastic Light Guide' if
| you're not hitting the corners well enough.
| Lerc wrote:
| That... is a really good idea. I was thinking of cutting a
| flat piece of diffusing material to shape.
|
| My intuition is that there would be pain in 3d printing a
| diffusion structure because slicers etc. would not be
| optimised for producing a homogenous solid. I would guess
| that 100% infill is actually something like 99.98% with
| tiny voids that stick out like a sore thumb when you shine
| a light through. I might be wrong about that, I'm not a 3d
| printing expert.
|
| The principle of reshaping I think is awesome though. It
| might just be an issue of modulating brightness to counter
| any uneven distribution. It's got me thinking about a
| Faceted approach. 3d Print a faceted basin and then print a
| thin edge divider to sit in it. Fill it with something that
| sets solidly enough and makes a good diffuser (this too
| sounds like a war with bubbles). Take it out of the basin
| when set and you potentially have a nice faceted surface
| with each facet individually colourable.
| sokoloff wrote:
| I think you'd be far better off to make a custom PCB in
| whatever shape you like from the like of JLCPCB, PCBWay, or
| others.
|
| The WS2812s here all connect to each other in series, so if
| you cut the board down, you'll have to replace the cut
| connections with bodge wires. To my mind, that plus the
| cutting is way more work than just making a PCB in exactly
| the shape you want.
|
| You can get cheap PCBs for $5-$6 for qty 5 100mm x 100mm
| boards delivered to your door in the US. Add on LEDs at $0.03
| to $0.05 each and I'd way rather make than modify here.
| phil42 wrote:
| How did you connect the individual smaller LED panels together?
| I guess the cool color patterns and the individual addressing
| comes from WLED then?
| stavros wrote:
| There's a photo of the panels connected to each other, each
| panel has three input and three output pads, and you solder
| those together. The software just sees one long strip, and
| you configure the shape of it so it corresponds to what you
| have in reality.
| MomsAVoxell wrote:
| Nice work! I've done a few LED thingies too ..
|
| https://magicshifter.net/
|
| .. and, I recycled some old scoreboard display panels to make
| something similar to your latest project, also:
|
| About the panels: https://metalab.at/wiki/Blinkofant/LED-
| Display_History
|
| The Blinkophant: https://i.imgur.com/3aPytEp.jpeg
| stavros wrote:
| This is great! Your TLS cert is invalid, though, so the site
| doesn't load properly, I think.
| MomsAVoxell wrote:
| Yeah, expired a while ago, its a pretty old site and we
| have to get the old gang back together to fix it.
|
| Thanks for checking out the magicShifter3000!
|
| I've got a new one designed, currently in prototyping
| stages .. a bit more powerful and a lot more oriented
| towards audio/synthesis. Same form-factor, and probably
| MS3000 and midiShifter will have an ecosystem ..
| stavros wrote:
| If you have the site on GitHub, you can deploy it to
| Cloudflare Pages with a few clicks, and it will take care
| of all of that stuff for you.
|
| Also, a few friends and I have a maker Discord server and
| you'd fit right in, I can send an invitation if you like!
| My email is in my profile.
| MomsAVoxell wrote:
| Server: not my department. :)
|
| But yeah, we'll probably reboot magicShifter soon ..
| tecleandor wrote:
| Where did you get the scoreboards? eBay?
| MomsAVoxell wrote:
| Donated to metalab through a member connection.
| Austria/Vienna has a bit of a 'recycle/re-use/repurpose'
| scene, and this was an early example of a metalab win:
|
| https://metalab.at/
|
| We devoured the panels and did all kinds of funky things
| with them.
|
| https://metalab.at/wiki/Blinkofant/LED-Display_History
| stavros wrote:
| I made something close to MagicShifter a while ago, I didn't
| add an accelerometer, though:
|
| https://www.stavros.io/posts/behold-ledonardo/
|
| I would really like to make it work with an accelerometer, as
| right now it's a bit fiddly to get the right speed for
| images, but I don't know if I can make it work.
| MomsAVoxell wrote:
| Not just accelerometer, but magnetometer too. :)
|
| This means you can basically use the magicshifter3000 as a
| knob. Or, a slider.
|
| Its very fun with MIDI.
|
| :)
| stavros wrote:
| Oooh fantastic! That's the kind of thing I really like to
| see.
| MomsAVoxell wrote:
| Perhaps you will understand what this is, then:
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syP8_lccIQA
|
| :)
| stavros wrote:
| Haha, amazing! Is it based on the accelerometer, or do
| you have a microphone connected somehow? I can't tell
| whether you're tapping the desk they're on.
|
| Then again, the right ones light up more than the left
| ones, so I think you're tapping on the right edge of the
| desk. Very cool!
| MomsAVoxell wrote:
| The accelerometer and the desk, being tapped by me
| offscreen just to be sure things were responding .. alas,
| they are kind of hard to keep in one big pile, but yes
| very fun to play with en masse! :)
|
| (This was some years back, note.)
| scottbez1 wrote:
| On the topic of small LED panels, Jason of Evil Genius Labs has
| been making some _really_ small LED panels [0] with addressable
| 1mm x 1mm LEDs (yes, individually addressable AND only 1mm on
| each side!). Fitting 128 onto a 1 " circle is pretty sweet.
|
| I keep meaning to design some PCBs with them [1] but it's too far
| down my ever-growing list of projects to see the light of day...
|
| [0] https://www.evilgeniuslabs.org/one-inch-fibonacci128
|
| [1] https://www.lcsc.com/product-detail/C5349953.html
| stavros wrote:
| Why are you doing this to me
| karlkloss wrote:
| https://spotpear.com/shop/ESP32-S3FH4R2-Matrix-8x8-RGB-LED-W...
| zokier wrote:
| Those look like normal 2.5-3mm LEDs, that is big difference
| to 1mm2 LEDs. The circle disc from OPs link has 2.5x higher
| LED density, and they could be probably packed even more
| densely in a grid.
| alias_neo wrote:
| Ah, the joy of being a Brit. That first link is just full of
| purple rectangles containing the text "content not viewable in
| your region" (Imgur).
|
| I'm feeling safer already. _sigh_.
|
| Looks like a fun site though, I'll take a look when I'm not on
| my work computer.
| wkat4242 wrote:
| Those are just really small WS2812, I get those at 160 led per
| meter on a strip of 5 bucks per meter. I just mean to say they
| are cheaply available in many form factors. I use them a lot in
| cosplay clothing.
| zokier wrote:
| Kingbright recently released 01005 (0.45mm x 0.25mm x 0.2mm)
| sized LEDs, which afaik are one of the smallest ones easily
| available. One neat idea would be to pack those on DIP14 sized
| pcb, making tiny neat character display. I guess something like
| 5x7 or 6x8 matrix could be doable with small mcu to drive them.
|
| For those 1mm addressable RGB LEDs I've been thinking how you
| could do cool cyberpunk looks by stringing them on some
| hairthin magnet wire and sticking them on your
| body/face/hair/etc. Blend them in with some latex or something
| if needed. Just need to hide the controller/battery somewhere.
| nikkwong wrote:
| This is neat! Any notes on the algo for controlling the output of
| the ws2812s?
| Tempest1981 wrote:
| Maybe WLED plasma effect (number 97)?
|
| https://kno.wled.ge/features/effects/
|
| https://github.com/wled
| stavros wrote:
| Yes, it's probably something like that. WLED has a ton of
| patterns, it's really nice.
| Lerc wrote:
| I have a bunch of these 8x8 panels on their way from AliExpress
| right now for an art project that a part will look remarkably
| like the video. V1 will probably be a 32x32 just like it.
|
| I still haven't decided if I want to have a partition grid
| between the panel and the diffuser to make square edge pixels.
| It's definitely going to have a rp2350 inside. PIO is the best
| thing ever.
| karlkloss wrote:
| https://kno.wled.ge/
| MrGilbert wrote:
| Speaking about small led panels, I also recommend the "Fluid
| Simulation Pendant" from mitxela:
| https://mitxela.com/projects/fluid-pendant
| stavros wrote:
| Mitxela is on another level though, it's not fair.
| MrGilbert wrote:
| Life ain't fair. Take it as a compliment and a challenge! <3
| stavros wrote:
| I will make another small LED panel with ONE MORE LED!
| Havoc wrote:
| Tried my hand at this too. Except more janky and was aiming at
| lots of output.
|
| LED get freaking hot fast at higher wattages and quickly found
| myself dealing with heat sinks etc.
| stavros wrote:
| Do you need to run them at max brightness? I run them at 10% or
| so, they're _really_ bright.
| smusamashah wrote:
| I dont understand it. The resolution is only 8x8. How does the
| animation at the end looks so smooth and way higher resolution?
| stavros wrote:
| The diffuser fakes the resolution, basically, by blending the
| colors together physically.
| smusamashah wrote:
| I believe you, my brain doesn't. Those movements are so
| smooth. The line where two different colours merge have no
| sharp edges and look perfectly curved. Only thing edgy was
| the very last blinking animation where there weren't any
| colours.
|
| Thinking more, if there were only 4 LEDs I can imagine how
| they would look like diffused.
|
| Initially I was thinking if 8x8 can show all those smooth
| details and motions, can it be used to show any other higher
| resolution imagery instead of just moving colours.
| stavros wrote:
| I think the thing that fools us here is the fact that we're
| used to pixels being discrete, so it doesn't "look" low-res
| because the colors blend into each other. If you imagine
| that each LED produces a small circle onto the diffuser,
| and that this circle overlaps the ones around it a bit, it
| gets easier to see through the illusion.
|
| It's much easier to understand when you can change the
| distance of the diffuser to the panel (which I did when
| testing), because then you can see the lights go from
| little squares with lots of dark space around them, to
| this, to big blobs of one color.
| dekhn wrote:
| A diffuser is basically applying a convolution to the
| underlying pixel array (moving the diffuser away from the
| LED increases the convolution width, but unfortunately also
| reduces the intensity).
|
| I don't think you can exploit that to show something higher
| resolution than the original pixel array,
| masto wrote:
| LED matrix panels are tons of fun! I strung a bunch of them
| together to make a marquee across my basement soffit:
| https://youtu.be/W0_3rzvq9Ks?si=aTT_uOZfOYh9NLUi
|
| I have to resist the urge to tile every surface with blinky
| lights. I think part of the appeal goes back to why I enjoyed
| writing programs on my C64 to bounce my name around the screen.
| It's a limited playground, and limitations inspire creativity.
| stavros wrote:
| This looks fantastic. Your basement really has a nice aesthetic
| to it, and that marquee looks great in it!
| cantalopes wrote:
| I wonder what material is diffuser made of
| stavros wrote:
| It's just this:
|
| > a two-layer white square out of PLA
| foofoo12 wrote:
| For the diffuser, there's a nice one or two in all LED/OLED
| monitors. More stuff in there too, acrylic/polycarbonate glass
| and a Fresnel lens. Worth scavenging if you come across a broken
| one.
| stavros wrote:
| Oh that's a great idea! This also reminds me of the video where
| the guy took out the LED panel and used just the light and the
| Fresnel lens to make a window with very natural-looking light.
| mortenjorck wrote:
| I think you mean "LCD/LED" monitors (where "LED" is commonly
| used to mean an LCD panel with an LED backlight, and "LCD" is
| used to differentiate old CCFL-backlit LCD panels).
|
| OLED screens do not have a backlight and thus don't have a
| diffuser.
| foofoo12 wrote:
| Whoops, guilty as charged. Thanks.
| Nevermark wrote:
| For a second I thought this was about custom LED construction.
|
| But apparently, LEDs require advanced processes unlikely to be
| available for makers, anytime in the near future.
|
| However, Zinc sulfide phosphor mixed into epoxy can be used to
| make voltage activated luminescence. For some interesting
| guidance on "doping" for color, I present a 1953 patent:
|
| > zinc" sulphide' activated by both copper ad manganese in
| accordance, with the present invention is strongly
| electroluminescent, the addition of. manganese to the copper-
| activated material resulting in a shift in the color of
| luminescence toward the red end of the spectrum. Thus, the
| materials of the invention, when excited by a fluctuating
| electric field, show colors of luminescence ranging from bluish-
| green through shades of bluish-white, pinkish-white and yellow to
| orange. [0]
|
| Looks like some level of RGB was possible from the get go.
|
| [0] https://patents.google.com/patent/US2743238A/en
| jononor wrote:
| Cool! What kind of voltage ranges are we talking, and how toxic
| is Zinc sulfide phosphor?
| Nevermark wrote:
| Not that toxic, unless inhaled (take precautions) or
| ingested, or heated to high temperature, which produces a
| toxic gas.
|
| Doping of course can change that.
|
| May require 100+ V AC at 500-2000 Hz. So probably not the
| right element to implement 4k in! Or for an early education
| science experiment, unfortunately.
|
| I don't know what the currents would be, proportions or
| dimensions of epoxy, or much else. Some more research would
| be required. But in terms of resistive heating creating gas:
| measure and be careful!
| f_devd wrote:
| A more modern approach of doing the same to use polymerized
| quantum dots (I believe it emits wide spectrum white when a
| voltage is applied), and passing that through a quantum dot
| film to get any specific wavelength.
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