I'm at concept stage of a project at home to control SK6812 RGBW pixels used as home lighting with a neat wall rotary "dimmer"..
My idea is that I buy a blank switch Faceplate to mount on the wall. Fit a rotary encoder (with momentary push on the shaft) in the panel with a "dimmer" type knob on the front. Behind the facia will be an Oak to receive the encoder data and send the required 32bit string to each pixel in the chain.
The concept is no-one needs training how to use it, because at its simplest it defaults to acting purely as a rotary dimmer knob would. However being based on this hardware allows me to programme them to be as fancy as I can dream possible!
Power is already dealt with at the mains level with a separate standard light switch which powers the 5v transformer. Switching the transformer on provides 5v to the Oak and to the 3m string of SK6812RGBW pixels (144px per metre). Oak boots and runs white to all the LEDS. Dimmer then works as expected on the lights.
The fancy comes comes next... With the push momentary switch, I can toggle modes too. Different modes means you need to know which mode you are in, so will also embed an LED (or possible more than one?) behind a thinned section of the plastic so it glows through but is invisible when off, to act as a mode indicator.
Current Modes I'm thinking of:
- Dimmer (default) - LED in panel ramps up and down a few times in white to show dimming action.
- Colour Temp (allows changing the mix from Neutral White to a warmer yellow white, or cooler blue white) - LED indicator fades from cooler to warmer white a few times.
- Rainbow Colours (allows any colour of the rainbow to be chosen) - LED indicator fades through rainbow a couple of times.
- Night Mode (allows quick picking of dim red for sleeping with suitable ) - Pulsing dim red panel LED
- Disco Mode (allows choosing a range of disco type flashing, scrolling, walking patterns up and down the length if strip!) - Some suitable flashy motif on the panel LED.
In terms of programming, I'm picturing the modes would revert back to dimming mode probably if left for 10/15secs without any input, so it behaves like a dimmer for anyone who finds it on.
Being based on an Oak allows things like disabling Disco Mode based on time or even parental over-ride (the kids will have a 3m strip each in their bedrooms! Plus we already have 2x 5m runs in the lounge). I have Blynk, so Wifi control by phone works well (from anywhere in the world if needed!)
Someone could suggest that a phone is all that is needed with Blynk, and theoretically that is true... and was working fine in the lounge this last year, but only I could change the lights which doesn't pass the wife acceptance test.
I already have the lightswitch wired to main socket in a cupboard to power the transformers in each room, and cat5 back to the blank plate. I need to choose and buy a suitable transformer, and also suitable rotary encoder for each room. I need to start work on coding the Oak (starting simple). I have the SK6812RGBW strip already.
Anyone got any thoughts?
