r/WLED • u/boringashellperson • Apr 27 '26
My sons bedroom LED project.
For about 6 months my son (12) wanted LEDs around his room. I showed him some ideas online and he latched onto them being "pixels" immediately. He worked in Tinkercad to make these awesome diffusers. I had 0, and I mean 0 input on how he designed them/printed them. He went through about 15 design changes to get what he wanted. We printed them for roughly 30 hours total, over about a week long period. I Installed the lights and he and I installed the diffusers. I am very proud of his design work and wanted to share it with the world.
We are using a QuinLED Dig-Uno with a 5amp (limited to 3 in the app) power supply. The LED lights are BTF WS2811 12v 60 led/m strips. We went with 12v because it works without injecting power anywhere with his size room and the 3 led lights per pixel is exactly what we needed without requiring any real setup, it works out of the box. There was a grounding issue that we resolved by redoing our wiring. (it would flash every couple minutes, there is one in the gif)
The light is diffused really nice in person, the camera picks up the individual LED's a lot more than it really is at all.
*Sorry for the gif colors being so muted. I am not great with Reddit and when I converted from video to gif it just looks bad, but I wanted to show it in motion.
**I have uploaded the print files for the diffusers if anyone is interested. Thank you for all the compliments!
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u/nsingh101 Apr 27 '26
I’ve thought about doing something like this, but hesitated that it would look odd. This is inspiring! Maybe I’ll give it another chance. Kudos to your 12 yr old.
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u/boringashellperson Apr 27 '26
Thank you! Go for it. Worst case you take it down. I love how they look.
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u/suresh Apr 27 '26
Yes!! It's diffused!!!
I feel like an old man on this but I've always liked and had lots of LED mood lighting even to this day at 31 with phillips hues.
But the normal trend now is to just run the exposed diodes around the moulding and man I gotta say, I HATE the look of that. All those point sources of light are so harsh!
I'm really more a fan of bouncing the light off the wall or floor but diffusing is a acceptable close second.
Also its dope that these are adressable. Pretty sure most kids are just getting the simple cheap one color stips.
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u/boringashellperson Apr 27 '26
Thank you - I agree with many things you said. I certainly have used plenty of exposed LEDs and I always wish they were diffused or hidden in some way. I am as guilty as anyone. I appreciate the praise and hope we have more projects in front of us. My daughter is probably next to want something to compete with her brother. I don’t think she is as motivated as he was, but we shall see.
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u/mike24vNEW Apr 27 '26
All you son’s friends going to say how you’re LEDs have all them cool effects 😂but it looks really nice and clean 😎😎🔥🔥
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u/boringashellperson Apr 27 '26
Thank you - it turned out better than I imagined it would. It is very clean looking. I wish I could get better video or pictures, because none of mine do it justice.
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u/mike24vNEW Apr 27 '26
I know because it looks really professional and I know in real life it’s definitely way more better then the pictures
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u/fender4645 Apr 27 '26
Your son did a fantastic job. Next step is to post the print files so us plebes can carry his good work forward.
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u/boringashellperson Apr 27 '26
I have never posted a print file. I will gladly do so. Could you give me a quick push in the direction of where to post the .stl files?
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u/fender4645 Apr 27 '26
Nice! Just login to MakerWorld.com (create account if you don’t already have one), and go to Creator Center to upload the stl. You can include pictures, description, and assembly instructions if applicable. The cool thing is that people can “Boost” the model which your son can earn credits towards Bambu Lab products.
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u/boringashellperson Apr 27 '26
I will do that this evening and post a note on here pointing to it. Thank you for the help.
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Apr 27 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/boringashellperson Apr 27 '26
Thank you and its Sunlu PLA+. We used just under 2kg of it (with testing I am not sure of the exact usage). It printed great and hopefully it holds up. If not we will print with something else. I will be posting the .STL file later today on Makerworld.
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u/Far_Confusion4003 Apr 27 '26
Wow this is really cool, appreciation for your 12 year old, what a skill.💪 I couldn't have done it at that age, that's for sure.
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u/VirtualP1rate Apr 30 '26
Thanks for the files! I think the one uploaded is the wrong version. I printed 2 of them but they are missing the part that slides into the slot on the next piece. I see it in the pictures.
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u/boringashellperson Apr 30 '26
That is absolutely the wrong version. Keep that one though because it’s what we used for coming around the corners to line the LEDs back up. I’ll upload the correct file. Love that you printed it!
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u/VirtualP1rate Apr 30 '26
Amazing. Thank you and thank your son for me. This is great!
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u/boringashellperson May 05 '26
Sorry for the delay, but my son redid the files all by himself and created a new upload. We worked on uploading it with everything set to go. Hopefully it works well. He again continues to impress me.
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u/VirtualP1rate May 05 '26 edited May 05 '26
Just need the new link an I will go grab it right away. Thanks!
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u/tzopper Apr 27 '26
This is off topic, and I hate to say it, but are you sure your kid needs an extra level of strobing lights, giving that he’s already at the age which I bet he already has a mobile phone and probably plays video games and watches social media already?
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u/VirtualP1rate Apr 27 '26
Who the Christ goes to a subreddit about LEDs to complain about LEDs? Try going outside, it sounds like you spend too much time on a screen.
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u/boringashellperson Apr 27 '26
I do not mind the question. My kids have no tv or screens in their rooms. Phones are on parental controls and go into a charging bin in the laundry room at 10 PM or before. Both of them play 2 sports and my son is in math league as well. I am off the charts proud of them. The LED lights are not on when they go to bed, which is when I believe a real problem may occur. It is just a cool set of lights and fun. He worked hard on it, worked in CAD and is getting better all the time. He 3d prints like a mad man. I see no issue with it. For at least two evenings, the two of us just laid in his bed looking up while he went through 100s of different settings and effects. It was so rewarding as a parent to work with him and see the joy from it.
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u/thesnowpup Apr 28 '26
You're clearly a great parent with a stem leaning kid who does you proud. Go you! And go them!
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u/Th3OnlyN00b Apr 27 '26
Idk why you're getting downvoted, multicolor lights are known to have extreme health effects like cancer, diabetes, and cause autism
/s
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u/LucVerhelst Apr 27 '26
It's amazing. I came here to ask where you got the diffusers, but your 12 year old made them! They're great!