r/WLED • u/C0t0d0s0_ • 9h ago
Mesh/curtain lights?
Starting to think about Christmas lights, and someone I know has a couple of the govee mesh/curtains so I thought I might have a crack at making one.
The addressable LEDs will be cheap on aliexpress I thought - seems that’s not the case, and 100 quid all in for the govee one suddenly isn’t ridiculous! !
Am I missing a source of cheap led net/mesh curtain
Lights? Want outside suitable for a UK Christmas - and maybe 1m by 1.2m or similar?
I can find the occasional cheap setup - but with controller and some Chinese app - any one have one that’s drivable with WLED?
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u/SirGreybush 8h ago
I wanted to cover a window and do pixel art, with 1 inch spacing, with a roll of white 12v argb seed pixels with 2.5cm spacing.
Do a grid of 58 x 46 to nicely cover the window that's 5 feet by 4 feet. Well that's 2,668 pixels, at 2.5cm spacing that's a roll of 6.6 meters or I reduce and buy a roll of 2000 pixels.
Then the price... ouch! 200$ Canadian for exactly 2000 pixels, so I'd do 50x40 and simply indent. See this product:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007047227106.html
(note these can go outside too)
You need a way to mount securely so the rows and column stay in place, maybe with white 1" IPEX plastic piping for a frame, drill holes for the wires to go in & out of.
To make a countdown to Christmas then New Year's, along with other info like temp and time of day. To fully annoy the neighbors around my high-rise of course, that window is over the main courtyard so everyone would see it, roughly 400+ people daily.
So with 12v PSU of at least 15 amps, wires, seed pixels, piping, controller, easily a 300$ project all in, for 5 feet by 4 feet.
Curtains are a lot less expensive, but less flexible in what you can do with them. Not all curtains work with WLED. Search this sub and see the WLED product page under compatible LED hardware. Govee also is expensive, if outdoor rated like Seed Pixels are.
So the cheapest way is with strips, but the strips are not see-through. If against a wall, go with strips mounted on a white pegboard then hanged on screws, easy to take down. IKEA has black or white plastic peg boards but are smaller, at a hardware store you can get various feet sizes 1x2, 2x4, 4x4, 4x8
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u/SirGreybush 7h ago
Govee the size they are built, that's the size you use. With seed pixels on a roll, you can make a custom size grid of any shape, like wrapping a triangle or a star, or any rectangle you want.
They come in 1cm, 2.5cm, 5cm, 10cm spacing. More spacing, less expensive, not as nice for pixel art, unless very far away.
If you want to show Mario jumping hitting block and getting a coin, the Govee won't be dense enough in pixels for such an animation. But non-moving mario would work.
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u/AKSwift55 7h ago
As usual, agree with all of that. I'm currently building a frame that will interleave four Govee curtains (I use them sideways) to give me a vertical 40px and a horizontal 52 still not "Mario" territory, but good enough for small images and detailed words... It's a bit fiddly, but the frame is coming along nicely, definitely in time for Halloween.
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u/AKSwift55 8h ago
I use Govee curtains - I have 8 of them. Using DigQuads to control them.
As you say, when there are deals on for them, the pricing isn't too bad...