Tutorial: Add 12v Programmable Cafe Market Lights to your Outdoor Space
Add colorful, arduino controlled lights to your outdoor space. Install outdoor cafe market lights with edison-style bulbs and addressable LEDs inside, and control them with code to create an amazing ambiance in your yard.
These lights require 12v, and most microcontrollers need 5v power. This guide will show you how to use a QT Py SAMD21 and a DC Power BFF add-on to power both the lights and the controller from one power source.
From the guide:
Cafe-style light strands with edison bulbs are a beautiful way to decorate your patio. They are a fantastic and classy way to light up any outdoor space. Wineries, bistros, and night markets use them to create a cozy, intimately lit space that’s warm and inviting to diners, and they look fabulous in backyards of just about any size.
These lights are a programmable, addressable version of the cafe market lights you can find at the hardware store. Add Arduino or CircuitPython code and you can turn your lights on in party mode, sending warm rainbow animations across your yard.
These lights require 12v power, and also need to hold up in an outdoor environment. This guide will focus on how to power a 5v microcontroller and 12v lights from the same setup, and also show how to use a waterproof enclosure to keep your lights safe from rain and weather.
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