DIY Wireless LEDs Made Easy: Step-by-Step Guide

And I said - "It would be really easy to make your own"...

So here you go - a complete working set of DIY LEDs with the driver circuit knocked up on some Breadboard.

I am cheating slightly and using one of my ESP32 as the oscillator, but I'm sure you've got a supply of these ready to hand if you watch the channel regularly.

To make your own, you'll need some 2.2mH inductors, 220pF capacitors and some LEDs.

I'm sure you've probably got these already - but just in case (and for the affiliate clicks!)

----

[stevetobias]

I have thought about building a chess set with wireless LED lights built into the pieces and the coil/s in the board with 2-4 x 18650 batteries.

[oasntet]

As always, the build-vs-buy question is usually less about cost and more about specificity - you can tailor the build to a very specific project, whereas finding a pre-built version to meet some projects might be impossible. Plus the fun and learning of doing the build yourself, of course.

[jensschroder]

Take an ICM7555 with R1 = 1k8 and R2 = 4k7, parallel to R2 a diode from pin 7 towards pin 2 and 6. And a capacitor 1nF to GND. That should be about 222 kHz.
Mayby a high Ohm poti..
Already has 5 volts level for the MOSFET.
If it is not enough, two logic inverters in between, which usually have powerful outputs. First one inverter and the 5 inverter in parallel for the 4000 or 74xx series.

The components are cheap and can be soldered onto a small circuit board. Then there are hardly any hidden capacities and loose contacts.

[MelissaMaya]

It's not really difficult, i also explained how to make these leds in my channel, but using SMD components, just like the ones they sell (in my kit, the emitter was working at 180khz for a change) and even smaller (the comercial ones uses CD43 inductors, and i managed to use CD32 inductors, a bit lower range and dimmer light, but still working). I'm glad more people is spreading this knowledge arround for DIYers.
Great video!

[stephendavies]

Congratulations on producing an incredibly clear, well informed and crisp video -really a masterpiece of technical explanation.

[vameza]

Amazing project!!!! Mainly because how you explore how evaluate the components needed in order to make work properly!!! Thank you for sharing!! Perfect for a science

[Alluvian]

This is nice. I was looking all over for how to do this like 5 years ago and came up pretty empty. I don't have the electrical skills to figure it out myself. I do love the very compact design of the original leds.

[large]

Would these LEDs work through a wooden door of approx. 4 cm thickness? It would be interesting to have the LEDs wirelessly controlled from inside of e.g. a garage to lit the key hole.

[WistrelChianti]

Just some rough calculations on "without a gate driver" (sorry this one intrigued me). Looking at that trace, total time is ~660ns with fully on making up about a third of it. So at 222kHz you'd be spending about 5% of the time turning the thing on and off. Possibly not the end of the world but probably not superb either. (Apologies if I totally stuffed up on theory there - was just a guess)

[DLCreations]

There is no This explains how the movie version of Logans Run Lifeclock worked. City encompassed by the coil to power them. When they escaped they didn't work anymore.

[marcelbauer]

Absolute great project! I have a lot ideas for that. Thanks for the Video. Is it possible, that you can make a video or a scematics (or someone else can?) for an easier version of the sender without an ESP? Like the idea, but this a bit an overkill. Some mention a 555 or something else?, but i am a novice in electronics, so maybe someone can help. Thanks in advance :-)

[ggx]

please do a video on how to track human using ESP 32 cam with servo motors, I try to make a robot like a vector robot so I use your DIY Alexa video for robot talking system now I want how to detect objects and how to track a human.I waiting for your video, please reply

[alexstone]

The cost could be improved significantly, using bjt push pull for the gate driving, making an oscilator using an opamp (lm358 is dirt cheap) and you could probably get away with using cheapo mosfet like AO34xx which are cheap even in my country and can even do 5A and turn on even with 2.5V

[sashmezh]

I don’t get it. Why use ESP32 if the original didn’t have it? What does it replace here? Why is a different microcircuit used here than in the original?

I really want to repeat this project, but I have very little money and I want to do it as cheaply as possible, so i don't want to buy nothing extra.

[vinny]

Sometimes it's just cute to see people using age-old techniques asif it's something totally new and amazing :-)

[someoldguy]

Good stuff, but for those of us who don't have electronic parts lying around already, or who would have no use for the excess that comes with buying in bulk, it's actually cheaper to buy from the Chinese. Still, it's good to have the option!

[markissboi]

Everyday there's Someone getting idea's and playing about comes up with new idea's $
Just how much entertainment do us humans need before we Choke the earth with rubbish
Volcanos i think are the best Garbage disposal units just need one close by

[damson]

This could have been done with a 555 timer with the appropriate passive components, and a mosfet. the microcontroller is overkill.

[Hasitier]

Would it be possible to use a simple 555 timer as oscillator? So you would not need a MCU and also no gate driver because you can run the 555 at 5v without problems.

[BeOurBee]

Would a small metal dish underneath the coil increase the effective range, or would that interfere with the signal by muddling up the frequency?