Summary of Arduino (Optic Fibre)
This article details a DIY project to upgrade a $5 RGB lamp by replacing its random color cycling with Bluetooth-controlled functionality via an Arduino. The author disassembles the lamp, rewires the internal LEDs, and connects them to a Bluetooth module for smartphone control, enabling specific color selection including mixed hues like magenta and cyan.
Parts used in the Gmail Lamp Hack:
- RGB LEDs
- Arduino
- Bluetooth module
- RGB lamp
- Soldering iron
I just brought a new lamp and after a week, I’m tired of looking at it randomly change colours between red, blue, green. What can you expect from a cheap lamp brought at 5$ . Looking at the lamp I realized that I could make a Gmail lamp, that shines green every time I got a unread mail.
But after some time I changed my idea, and started working on a simple hack. The hack is relatively simple, we can use an Bluetooth device to communicate with my lamp and make it glow which colour I like. And further to the upgrade the lamp just doesn’t glow red, blue, green but also an addition of a few other colours. The additional colours is a mixture of the three primary colours. And at the end of the day I was happy with my lamp and it looked quite cool controlled with my android mobile phone.
Step 1: Parts
Major Components in Project
Lets start with getting all the required parts
1)RBG leds
2)Arduino
3)Bluetooth module
4)RBG lamp
TOOLS
-soldering iron
Step 2:
Time to disassemble the lamp, after disassembling I found this tiny board with three leds. I de-soldered all wires going to the board and started soldering wires across the leds and connected all the cathodes of all the leds together as seen in the circuit. If you have a RBG led you could go with that instead of three leds. Follow the circuit and you would have a lamp ready to be powered.
Step 3: Colours
Time to set the colours you like, you could stay with standard red, blue, green. Here is a simple list to get the colour you prefer.
-Red
-Green
-Blue
-Magenta (red+blue)
-Cyan (blue+green)
-Yellow (red+green)
These colours are programmed in the code and to get the respective colour all you have to do is enter the first letter and the lamp glows
For more detail: Arduino (Optic Fibre)
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How can I stop my cheap lamp from randomly changing colors?
You can hack the lamp by using a Bluetooth device to communicate with it and make it glow specific colors controlled by your phone. -
What major components are required for this project?
The major components needed are RGB LEDs, an Arduino, a Bluetooth module, and an RGB lamp. -
Can I use a single RGB LED instead of three separate ones?
Yes, if you have an RGB LED, you could go with that instead of using three separate LEDs. -
How do I program the lamp to display specific colors like Magenta or Cyan?
These colors are programmed in the code, and to get the respective color, you just need to enter the first letter. -
Which tools are necessary to disassemble and modify the lamp?
A soldering iron is required as a tool to de-solder wires from the board and solder new connections across the LEDs. -
How does the upgraded lamp handle color mixing?
The additional colors are created as mixtures of the three primary colors, such as red plus blue for Magenta.
