2m of cheapest rgb strip arived in mail today (1.78 usd).. Ended cutting the strip in two parts (one for the monitor, and one for the shelf, both individually controlleable)...
Now need to code it to display the most dominant colour on my screen, add some alerts for weather,mails, irc, etc.
P.S. sorry for bad picture quality, just borrowed friends dslr, pointed and shoot... have more pictures/colors but this one was the crispiest
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Could you link where you bought the strip from, and how are you powering it?
For the strip i just went and bought a random ebay deal like this one...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/5M-RGB-300-150-3528-5050-SMD-LED-Strip-lights-24-44key-Remote-5A-2A-Power-Supply-/121537336759?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item1c4c3095b7Now about the way i power it:
When i ordered it i didnt care about the way led strip worked, since my goal was to play with it, and learn how to control it..
Turns out you only need a 12V power sorce (all rgb strip work on 12V which is awsome) ;) , basically you have 4 pins: +, R, G and B. Guess what :eek:
it works when you simply put 12V on +, and when you connect either R G or B to ground (0V) of the power-supply..
--> for example if you put 12V on +, and ground on G, the strip will shine green light :D
--> for another if you put 12V on +, and ground on R AND B, strip will combine Red and Blue and it will shine violet/purple light :rolleyes:
in pictures
http://imgur.com/a/aO40u :)
Since i dont have 12V power supply, i improvised with some batteries to achieve total of 12V :)
Now how do I control it, I basically used a microcontroller connected to my computer via UART (simple serial protocole)..
You can use a simple arduino you can get for like 2-5 usd off ebay.. and you need some Transistors :)
You would need 3 transistors, one for each colour R G and B. I can recommend using IRLZ44N (ebay max 5 usd for like 10 pieces).
Transistors allow your microcontroller to control 12v rgb strip with just 5V your microcontroller can output.. (without transistors, your microcontroller would be fried)..
example how to hook microcontroller with transistor and rgb strip using IRLZ44N
Next you need to figure how to dim your rgb strip.. that is super easy, just google PWM :)
And you need a cheap breadboard (like 1usd) to connect everything on it :)
It would total to about 20$ + some 20$ for the 12V power supply (i guess)
P.S. you can also use a computer PSU, because it can also output 12V :) but I advise you first play with batteries without risking frying your PSU >:D
And you will need some resistors (1$ for like 1000 pieces :D, make sure to get atleast 1/4W )
Also how everything looks on my breadboard...
http://i.imgur.com/Fttw3in.jpg EDIT: its not apporopriate to explain everything in details here.. but this should give you some guidelines..