“In this slogan, we could summarize the project described in these pages, which like every year is on a Christmas theme but this year is something particularly technological: it is a Christmas tree in transparent plexiglass with luminous games and music that can be controlled by a smartphone.
The electronics include four Neopixel LED strips controlled by the small Fishino Guppy board, equipped with Wi-Fi and therefore perfect for managing the luminous animations and the music of the tree using a smartphone. More precisely, the control is not direct but takes place via Telegram, the app for instant messaging that contends notoriety WhatsApp, but it offers, despite being less known by the general public, interesting Functions for bots: with a bot we command the Neopixel strips and the music of the luminous tree through the smartphone and in these pages we will explain how we will do it. Before proceeding we will focus on the choice of transparent plexiglass as a tree structure, which is not accidental but it derives from the ability that this material has, like glass, to be transversally crossed by light; this allows us to create a structure made up of two fir-shaped silhouettes to cross, along which four LED strips and transverse planes run, stuck perpendicular to the shapes and which will propagate the light that the Neopixel LEDs radiate from the inside. Everything rests on a 3D printed base with transparent PLA, which also acts as a container for electronics.
THE ELECTRONICS
The brain of the Wi-Fi Christmas tree is a Fishino Guppy board. On the PCB there is also an MP3 player and connectors to conveniently connect the Neopixel strips.
Everything is powered by a common AC / DC power supply with stabilized voltage 5V 2A output.”