“I’ve seen a bunch of projects online of people either building their own “Ambilight” for their PC’s or buying them off the shelf. I recently started playing with addressable LED strips like the WS2812(b) and decided to build my own PC Ambilight.
I make use of Apple HomeKit throughout my apartment to control various appliances such as switches, outlets, and lights, so a requirement for this project was to make the Ambilight HomeKit compatible.
Supplies:
Hardware:
- WS2812b LED strip
- 5V 3A power supply
- Wemos D1 mini
- Jumper wires
- 2.1mm x 5.5mm DC jack (male)
- 2.1mm x 5.5mm DC jack (female)
- 270 Ohm resistor
- Heat-shrink tubing (optional)
- Header pins (male)
- Header pins (female)
- 4pin grove connectors
- Soldering iron and supplies
- 3D Printer for control board enclosure (optional)
Software:
Windows
- Homebridge for Apple HomeKit support
- WLED to control LED strip
- Hyperion.ng
* Note: If you have a very big screen and require a long piece of LED strip, consider getting a 5V 6A power supply instead.
* Note: For this project, you require a working Homebridge server if you wish to also control your Ambilight using Apple HomeKit.
* Note: For this project, I opted for the Wemos D1 mini WiFi board. You can however use alternatives such as the ESP-01 or NodeMCU”