RGB Light Tower

Inspired by the Corsair LT100 Smart Lighting Towers but not willing to shell out $130 for a pair of them I designed this.

UPDATE: Base and lid thickness increased for improved stability. The previous iteration was a little wobbly and possibly prone to breakage at the tower base due to a relatively thin skin on the top and bottom of the base.

2nd UPDATE: There are now v2.5 versions of the towers. These include an 8mm insert to help align and stabilize the two tower halves. You need to make sure your printer and slicer are well calibrated with proper esteps, horizontal expansion, and flow rates for these pieces to fit properly. I suggest printing samples of just the top 20mm of each model to make sure they fit before printing the whole tower.

3rd UPDATE: I've added a calibration print. This is a small sample of how the two halves of the v2.5 towers fit together. You can use this quick print to make sure your printer and slicer settings are calibrated properly so the pieces will slide together properly.

Print Settings

Printer Brand:

Creality

Printer:

Ender 3

Rafts:

No

Supports:

No

Resolution:

0.2

Infill:

20%

Filament: Sunlu PLA

Silk Black

Notes:

Being that this is my first design the settings may not be optimal for construction and/or durability. Suggestions for improvements are welcome.

Post-Printing

Some Assembly Required

The housing is designed to contain a D1 Mini controller in the base and fit a Phanteks Neon RGB strip in the channel. The tower sits at just over 440mm tall when fully assembled so it was designed in three pieces which will need to be glued together after printing. Possible future improvements include stronger base possibly with thicker walls or more infill and an interlocking system for the lower and upper tower portions.

I would recommend a generous glob of hot glue around the base where the tower meets it to provide additional strength. I played around with various support mechanisms but ultimately they just moved the failure point around. Hot glue around the base reinforces the weakest point adequately.

Additional parts required for assembly:

Phanteks Neon RGB Strip 400mm - They come in a pack of two. (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XV5TT1F/ref=twister_B085TPGYLH?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1)

Makerfocus D1 Mini ESP8266 development board flashed with WLED. (https://www.amazon.com/Makerfocus-NodeMcu-Development-ESP8266-Compatible/dp/B01N3P763C/ref=sxts_sxwds-bia-wc-rsf-lq2a1_0?cv_ct_cx=d1+mini&dchild=1&keywords=d1+mini&pd_rd_i=B01N3P763C&pd_rd_r=c714d0db-78df-4319-bdd8-d8bcb06d8cc4&pd_rd_w=LR9El&pd_rd_wg=g3jam&pf_rd_p=52f9c563-bb87-44f4-9d9d-e1c03402d90f&pf_rd_r=CC9KMG3AY8E3758ZKR9E&psc=1&qid=1609881745&sr=1-1-d3e58e83-6458-471c-a87e-175495b96a10)

3.3v-5v logic level shifter (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DCVFYJT/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

USB Type C Connector (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000314458731.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.63ed4c4dOQZ7e5)

USB C cables

USB Power supply rated at or above 2 amps.

I hot glued the USB C connectors into place as well as added a generous glob around the base to strengthen the tower. A little light soldering was also required.

Custom Section

Electronics and parts

By request I've added a wiring diagram. Parts are roughly to scale. There is also a full parts list. Where possible I shopped at Amazon but the USB C connectors just weren't available there so I bought them on AliExpress.

LED Strips: Phanteks NEON RGB Strip https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XV5TT1F/ref=twister_B085TPGYLH?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

This is by far the most expensive component on the list. I chose it because it contains 28 LEDs with great light diffusion built in. The flexible silicone housing press fits perfectly into the vertical channel designed into the tower.

ESP8266 D1 Mini ESP8266 WiFi Controller https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KW54YSK/ref=twister_B076HMLW54?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

These are much cheaper if you buy two. They will need to be flashed with WLED firmware (more on that later).

Logic Level Shifter https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DCVFYJT/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

You MIGHT be able to get away without one of these but your LEDs might flicker or behave weirdly if you do. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but sooner or later they're likely to flicker. It's an inexpensive component that's easy to add to the circuit and will improve reliability.

USB C Connectors https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000314458731.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.1f744c4d7IN1Jw

We don't need anything fancy like USB 3 compatibility which is why I chose this part. All we really need is the voltage and ground connections and one additional wire for data. These pieces have nice, large solder pads for easy work.

• External Parts Needed*

=========================

USB C Charger https://www.amazon.com/Charger-2-Pack-Odec-Adapter-Mystery/dp/B08K92J44K/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=usb+c+power+adapter+2a&qid=1610836804&sr=8-3

You need something that can handle at least 1.5 amps (7.5 watts at 5 volts) which is about the maximum a pair of these towers will draw. A 2 amp or greater charger will work very nicely and leave plenty of headroom. Like everything else I went with USB C for easy connectivity.

Extra USB C Cables https://www.amazon.com/Charging-NIMASO-Charger-Compatible-Samsung/dp/B087M2K64S/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?dchild=1&keywords=usb+c+to+usb+c+cable&qid=1610837014&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&smid=A434K0CW2EIS7&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExRUlGUEtUMjgzQTRHJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwODE5OTczM1MzVjc3MVlJTlAyOSZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwODAyMTg4MkYzR0g1VFdDTzBWSyZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

I suggest you shop this one yourself as the length you will need depends on where you want to place the towers. In my configuration I used the 10ft cable (this is where the logic level shifter does its work) but use whatever works for you. You might want to at least get a pair of cables since the one that comes with the USB charger is ridiculously short.

Detailed Explanation (for those who care to read it)

The upper USB C connector is just used to bring in the +5v DC supplied by the USB C charger. The lower USB C connector goes out to the second tower which is why it has the data line also attached.

The +5v input (red) gets distributed to the D1 Mini, the HV pin on the logic level shifter, the +5v line of the LED strip, and the V connector on the other USB C connector.

Ground (black) is the easy one. Just connect it to everything labeled "Ground", "Gnd", or "G".

D4 is the standard data pin for WLED firmware (more on that in a moment). The D1 mini outputs a PWM signal at +3.3 volts but the LED strips work on +5 volts so use a logic level shifter to boost the signal. Connect the 3.3 volt data (blue) from pin D4 on the D1 mini to any of the numbered LV pins on the logic level shifter. Data out (purple) goes from the matching numbered HV pin on the opposite side and into the LED strip and the 2nd USB connector to pass data to the other light tower. The logic level shifter needs a 3.3 volt reference (yellow) connected from 3v3 on the D1 mini to the LV pin on the shifter.

Wiring for the slave tower is super simple, just go directly from the USB C connector to the LED strip. That's all there is to it.

Possible changes, upgrades, or variations

• Add a capacitor to the +5v in for voltage smoothing although I found that the voltage coming from the USB charger was already smoothed plenty so this isn't required.
• In its current form, the data line is mirrored to both towers. You could optionally run data out from the top of the first LED strip all the way back down the channel and send it on to the 2nd tower but that would require extra wiring and programming and honestly, having a pair of towers matched works fine.
• If you only want one tower, just eliminate the 2nd USB C connector from your build and put the whole assembly inside the "slave base".

Programming

You'll need to flash the D1 mini with WLED firmware. https://github.com/Aircoookie/WLED

There are lots of tutorials on how to flash and use WLED. Happy YouTubing!

If you want your towers to be responsive to your PC audio, I suggest downloading and installing LedFx on your PC. https://ledfx.app/

Again, there are tutorials available on YouTube to guide you through this process. Setup takes just a few minutes.

Wiring Diagram

Category: DIY