DIY NZXT HUE+! So easy anyone could do it! (update)

[dany_boy]

Welcome to my first tutorial! First of all I do not mean to offend anyone at LTT, it's just a joke (every time Linus does DIY it makes me cringe as an engineer student though). That being said, this tutorial is intended to make it as easy as possible for anyone to build a set of LED lights with a similar feature set as the NZXT hue+. This means that every single LED on your strip can be individually controlled. This opens an immense amount of customization options, all within your grasp with the use of a simple app I coded. Oh and by the way the total materials cost is around $25 US.

 

Before we start a few notes and the obligatory disclaimer: This post is meant to serve as a guide, and I am in no way shape or form responsible for any damage that you may cause to your hardware or yourself. That being said, use common sense and you will be fine. Lastly, I must inform you that the app is NOT color accurate due to the nature of LED lighting, and the patterns represented in the app are there to give you an idea of what they will look like in the LEDs: the two are not in sync.

 

Here is what you will need:

-Addressable LED strip for a pc case I recommend 1m 60 leds. Here is a link on ebay

-Arduino nano as the brains of the operation. Link from ebay

-Interal mini USB type B adapter. Ebay link

-Sacrificial molex connector with 5v wires.

-Small enclosure to protect the arduino

-Some mounting mechanism, small magnets or double sided tape

-16, 18 or 20 gauge wire if you want to have longer runs

 

Tools and others:

-Soldering iron and solder, nothing fancy is needed, but a flat head tip and rosin core solder makes it easier

-Miscellaneous tools, scissors, hot glue, pliers, wire strippers, etc.

-A drill to make holes in the enclosure

-Heatshrink tubing, electrical tape works too

-A working computer with the Arduino IDE and FastLED librarie installed

-Optional: Multimeter to double check voltages and connections.

-Optional: Third hand tool to hold everything in place while you solder

-The folder containing all my code: https://github.com/Dany-Boy55/Addressable-WS2812-LED-controller

With all of that covered let's get going with the software:

Open the file “DIY_LEDSV1.5_Addressable.ino” and plug in your arduino to you pc. At the top of the code you should see a line that says: #define NUM_LEDS 60. Replace the number 60 with the number of leds in your strip. The next line: const String Device_Name = "Case Lights" sets the controller name, replace it if you want but keep it short. Go to Tools→ Board→ ard select your arduino version (nano and ATmega328 for the one I linked). Next go to Control Panel→ Hardware and Sound→ Devices and Printers→ (at the bottom) Unspecified → arduino or USB UART→ double click → hardware. There you should the USB serial port (COM#) where the # represents a number, remember it. Then, on the arduino software, Tools→Port→The port number found earlier. Finally upload the code with the → arrow symbol or Control+U. Some LED’s on the arduino should blink rapidly, when they stop you are done.

Now for the hardware, fire up your soldering iron. Identify the white and red wires coming out of the strip and run some heatshrink down them. Grab your molex and extend the cables if needed. Solder red with red (5v) and black with white (GND). IMPORTANT: double check the voltage coming from the molex, otherwise you can fry the strip. Grab the connector that comes with the strip and the arduino. Solder the white wire to a GNP pad and the green (signal) wire to the pad labeled “2”. Drill holes in your enclosure for the USB cable and the connector. IMPORTANT: don not solder the red wire to the arduino! It is better to put some heatshrink or tape over it to prevent shorts. Fix the arduino inside the enclosure with glue and close the lid.

Before you install your lights it’s a good idea to test them, so open up your case, power the LEDS from the PSU and plug the arduino into an internal USB port. In the files you got from my github there should be a folder named app, open the executable in there. Once in the app, click on “Scan for leds”. If nothing happens try it a second time after a few seconds. You should see your controller appear in the drop-down box, click "connect". From here on it should be pretty intuitive, select any pattern you like and you should see your LEDs come to life. Feel free to play around with the effects, colors speed etc.

 

Now it’s finally time to install your LED strip and do your best to hide the mustard and ketchup cables that connect everything together. Just throw everything into the back or the base of your case and you should be fine. After you finished tidying up, play around with the app and find your favorite colors and patterns.

 

Thank you for reading this tutorial, and even if you don’t intend to build this yourself, I encourage you to download the app and play around with the patterns and settings. If you have any ideas for new features that you would like to see added please let me know. Also if you find any bugs or problems. The next step is to see if I can find a way to use CPU and GPU temps and utilization for colors, as well as music response. I'm making progress and the feature will most likely be added during the Easter holidays. Anyway, should you have any questions I will gladly answer them the best I can.
 

Dany out!

 

[SCHISCHKA]

I dont know why people are using arduino for switching LEDs and relays instead of a DB-25 parallel printer port. Its much cheaper and a hell of a lot easier to program; about $10 for a PCI card

[dany_boy]

1 minute ago, SCHISCHKA said:

I dont know why people are using arduino for switching LEDs and relays instead of a DB-25 parallel printer port. Its much cheaper and a hell of a lot easier to program; about $10 for a PCI card

In this particular case, because the arduino has a library called FastLED, which makes coding for addressable LEDS so much simpler than working with multidimensional arrays and PWM in a non-realtime OS like windows. Plus once set, the arduino can run without a PC there are advantages and disadvantages to both.

Cheers

[SomeGreekGuy]

This is pretty cool, and I've been thinking about doing something like this for a while.

That being said I would have made a few changes that would (in my opinion) be a bit easier for non engineers to understand. Now I'm no engineer, but I know the basics on electronics so please forgive and point out any mistakes I make from this point and on:

-Internal USB 2.0 for power (since my IO uses only USB 3.0, I got the headers free. Case: Enthoo pro M acrylic window edition)

-Raspberry Pi Zero (or arduino- makes no difference) for the logic board

-Old micro SD for OS

-LED cable

Then wiring everything up and you're good to go. Personally though after that I would take it to the next level, and add a IR remote, that way I could change the effects on the strip (from solid color, to pulsing, all the way to flickering depending on the music being played). I would love to hear your opinion on my recommendation.

[0ld_Chicken]

I've been thinking about moving in this direction, thanks for the guide!  makes it seem easier than most others

[dany_boy]

10 hours ago, ky802008 said:

This is pretty cool, and I've been thinking about doing something like this for a while.

That being said I would have made a few changes that would (in my opinion) be a bit easier for non engineers to understand. Now I'm no engineer, but I know the basics on electronics so please forgive and point out any mistakes I make from this point and on:

-Internal USB 2.0 for power (since my IO uses only USB 3.0, I got the headers free. Case: Enthoo pro M acrylic window edition)

-Raspberry Pi Zero (or arduino- makes no difference) for the logic board

-Old micro SD for OS

-LED cable

Then wiring everything up and you're good to go. Personally though after that I would take it to the next level, and add a IR remote, that way I could change the effects on the strip (from solid color, to pulsing, all the way to flickering depending on the music being played). I would love to hear your opinion on my recommendation.

There are certainly better and easier ways to do this, my tutorial covers only one of the options. Regarding your proposal:

-Each LED will draw 20 mA per color at full brightness, if you use the sugested 60 LED strip, with the data taken from the datasheet: (20mA*3.2v (green) + 20mA*3.4v (Blue) + 20mA*2.2v (Red))*60LEDS / 1000 = 10.56W, at 5v from USB, that's 2.1Amps! so not very good idea unless you use less LEDs.

-Arduino and raspberry pi makes a HUGE difference for control board.The pi consumes more power, will get fried with 5v, works with a non-real time OS, and is coded with python. Arduino is much less powerful, will tolerate 5v and 3.3v and most important for this project, has an awesome library called FastLED.

That being said, I still encourage you to experiment and try new things.

Cheers

 

[dany_boy]

Hey guys, I just uploaded the new updated versions of the code that add better usability and more functionality to the project. Some feedback (both negative and positive) would be much appreciated.

• The project now has the ability to retain the last settings selected before system shutdown, meaning that you wont have to re-select your favorite effect every time you boot up your PC!
• The UI received some minor changes to improve usability and aesthetics.
• Some minor bugs were fixed on the arduino side

Cheers!

[dj-lucas]

I got custom Smart Pixels in my PC and I used Blinkstick.

https://www.blinkstick.com/products/blinkstick-pro-smart-pixels

These are very simple to use and you get everything you need of the same website.

I used a Blinkstick Pro with 40 smart pixels in my Tower. (i will post pictures later)

It's completely open source but it also has a fully functional software which you can get here

https://forums.blinkstick.com/t/blinkstick-client-2-0-rc-release/342

 

I got mine setup so the LED's over my CPU are green when the CPU load is at 0% and turn red when at 100% (orange at 50%)

 

Edit 

LOL yea i know my PC is messy inside 

 

[dany_boy]

2 hours ago, dj-lucas said:

I got custom Smart Pixels in my PC and I used Blinkstick.

https://www.blinkstick.com/products/blinkstick-pro-smart-pixels

These are very simple to use and you get everything you need of the same website.

I used a Blinkstick Pro with 40 smart pixels in my Tower. (i will post pictures later)

It's completely open source but it also has a fully functional software which you can get here

https://forums.blinkstick.com/t/blinkstick-client-2-0-rc-release/342

 

I got mine setup so the LED's over my CPU are green when the CPU load is at 0% and turn red when at 100% (orange at 50%)

 

Edit 

LOL yea i know my PC is messy inside 

 

Oh snap, I had no idea that this project existed. They seem to be WS2812 chips as well, though much more expensive. Do they hold information on system shutdown? Or do you need to launch the app on the background at startup? It would be interesting to know... BTW Your system looks good even with the cable mess.

Cheers

[dj-lucas]

3 hours ago, dany_boy said:

Oh snap, I had no idea that this project existed. They seem to be WS2812 chips as well, though much more expensive. Do they hold information on system shutdown? Or do you need to launch the app on the background at startup? It would be interesting to know... BTW Your system looks good even with the cable mess.

Cheers

Yes they are WS2812 chips and yes you can get them much cheaper on other websites. Sadly they do not store information, only there own name and ID as you can use multiple ones at the same time. But as long your USB stays power after shutdown the LEDs will stay on but without any effect, they just simply stay in there current state till the app is running again. 

[You_are_a_cunt]

RIP Night theme users.

 

 

Select text and set font color to auto. Please.

[dany_boy]

10 hours ago, revsilverspine said:

RIP Night theme users.

 

 

Select text and set font color to auto. Please.

Right sorry

[rmast95]

This looks really cool. I did something similar, but slightly less complicated because it didn't use individually addressable LEDs. I will look into this.

 

P.S. might want to change the icon for the program. I can tell it is an LED but it also sorta looks like something else.

[dany_boy]

5 hours ago, rmast95 said:

This looks really cool. I did something similar, but slightly less complicated because it didn't use individually addressable LEDs. I will look into this.

 

P.S. might want to change the icon for the program. I can tell it is an LED but it also sorta looks like something else.

Hehehe now that you mention it, I can't unsee it. I'll change it. thanks for the feedback!

[dany_boy]

For anyone who is still interested in this project, the new revision of the code now hosted on github, with much better functionality and fixes. Here is the link https://github.com/Dany-Boy55/DIY-Smart-LEDs. I'll update the images and guide soon enough.

Cheers!

[delware]

Hi there, I gladly found ur project and ur tutorial here and was more than happy to just follow it but i encountered some problems. I use an arduino uno r3 and a ws2812 led strip, i set it up and tested the strip works fien, but i cant get it to work with ur little app (witch is neat, thanks for the work u put into this project)

 

So my problem is that i can load ur code to the arduino and fire up the app and.... nothing happens the app doesnt respond to anything, cant find a controller or so, can change the settings but thats no good if i cant find a controller, clicking multiple times on scan doesnt help..... So if u could help i would be glad.

 

A few suggestions or ideas (mainly the things i am trying to achieve, tho i dont realy have any programming skills so not realy getting anywhere....)

More channels, what I am wanting to be able to is have different channels and have different effects on those. My main effect goal is one that uses sensor data from the pc (internal hardware sensors) and responds to those, ultimately having the colors of each single led change to have my pc look like a cfd heat simulation, so something that changes the color up the scale with increasing values (temps, fan speeds, loads,.....) to have like a color fade out from one position.......

 

Anyway thanks for ur work here

[dany_boy]

1 hour ago, delware said:

-Snip-

First and foremost, thank you for your interest in my humble and messy project. I am aware of the problems that the current version has. I've been working on fixes and changes in the last month or so. This weekend I'll upload the new version of the code which should fix a number of issues. I'm currently trying to understand how to use the Open Hardware Monitor library in order to have the LEDs react to system information (temps and so on), but so far I have not made any significant progress. I'll do my best to pump that out during the Easter holidays as well as some other neat effects.

Cheers!

[delware]

ok nice, other question how do i hook up the button, the way with the 10k restor or just between ground and a (digital?) pin?

[dany_boy]

5 hours ago, delware said:

ok nice, other question how do i hook up the button, the way with the 10k restor or just between ground and a (digital?) pin?

no resistor needed, one pole to ground the other pole to digital pin.

[dany_boy]

Hello! for anyone still interested, version 1.5 is out!

New features on V1.5:

• Added "Color Gradient" and "Color Fade" effects
• Improved stability for the arduino sketch and fixed some overflow errors
• Extended the rate from 0-20 to 0-50 to allow for faster/slower effects
• Improved the color calculations in the arduino for smoother transitions

I have also made a really rough video explaining how to use the app:

 

[MeDownYou]

not sure why this is a think JLED connectors are on mobo's which just means rgb led's and a connector for like 7 bucks, you can pick a color and solder up a sata/molex connector to link it to your PSU for 2 bucks, or serialize individual led's on wire of specific colors if you know what you want, never quite saw the appeal of the hue and such...but maybe it's just me.

[dany_boy]

49 minutes ago, MeDownYou said:

not sure why this is a think JLED connectors are on mobo's which just means rgb led's and a connector for like 7 bucks, you can pick a color and solder up a sata/molex connector to link it to your PSU for 2 bucks, or serialize individual led's on wire of specific colors if you know what you want, never quite saw the appeal of the hue and such...but maybe it's just me.

I did this over the course of the last 6 months now because its a challenge. Because I like coding and developing things. If you don't like RGB that's fine, but I can assure you that it's a ton of work and even to this day my project is far from perfect. Sure there are cheaper and simpler solutions but they are hard wired, not customizable to the max, which is what I'm after. And since I'm dedicating a large portion of my time into this project, Why not share it with you guys?

[rmast95]

Did you get the Open Hardware Monitor working? I interfaced it with C# before and I could send you my source code if you want.

[dany_boy]

2 hours ago, rmast95 said:

Did you get the Open Hardware Monitor working? I interfaced it with C# before and I could send you my source code if you want.

Yes I got it working now, its just a matter of interfacing with the GUI and the arduino of course. Should be ready by this Friday.

Cheers!

 

[tlink]

might be a bit of a stretch but couldn't you technically add something like sound reactivity? maybe via optical audio(reason i say optical is because it might be hard to deal with different signal strengths on different computers) out and a light sensor or just a small microphone to the arduino with a configurable sensitivity. and maybe even something like a temp sensor so it reacts to temperature. just spitballing, its late and i'm tired so don't judge me for obvious impossibility's