…I used the addressable RGB LED strip from Adafruit, called Neopixels, to provide the lighting effects. The LED strip was wrapped around a PVC pipe in a spiral so it could provide light on all four (4) sides. The spiral spacing gets tighter near the top to either to vary the lamp density for a cool effect or I got lazy since this was done at 1AM on a Monday morning – I’ll let you decide.
A Teensy 3.1 controls the strip using the Adafruit Neopixel library. Two (2) sets of three (3) rechargeable NiMH batteries were used. At full charge, a bank provided 3.82 Volts. While the micro controller was running happily, the LEDs were noticeably dim. While the vellum paper diffused the lights effectively, the distance to the acrylic was relatively small, so brighter LEDs would have decreased the desired gradient effect anyway….
After seeing the results, I think I’ll create a lamp for myself as well….
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