What does the ceiling above your bed look like? You spend a good amount of time lying there. Is it interesting? Thought provoking? Does it capture your attention?

I was very much in the "No, why would it, and what are you doing in my bedroom?" category for all three of these questions a few years ago. Well, my answers have since evolved, and this light is how I went about it.

I built this light in or around March of 2021. I know this because I found the receipt for the materials, dated late Feb of that year. It was a year into the pandemic, vaccines were becoming available, we were all still shut in at home much of the time, and I decided it was time to pretty up the ceiling.

For some..wide..definitions of 'pretty', perhaps?

I don't actually recall the idea genesis for this lamp, which makes for a terrible build write-up. What I do remember is that it was a few months after we had made the Tube Lights, and I was experimenting with different sorts of diffusers.

These lights are simple in design, just a clamshell crafting globe (these), diffuser material which varied per light, some 4-conductor wire, the controller (this one is on an esp8266), and a power supply to tie them together. Each globe splits in half, and I cut a strip of about 16 LEDs to feed in and around whichever diffuser I stuffed into each one.

I used 4-conductor wire so that I could have each sphere independently connected via a terminal/manifold block, but still wire them in series. (+5v, G, D+ and D-). I ran the wires back to three manifolds mounted on the ceiling, which I conveniently forgot to take pictures of, but they are these:

Power go in, Power go out.

The blocks are fed by a 5v 15a supply, also mounted on the ceiling. This supply is overkill for just these lights, but it supplies some other projects as well. For the data wires, I just removed the bridge from the manifold, and connected each globe in a Z pattern.

I made six globes total, two with each diffuser type. Fiber Fill, Peanuts, and LCD Diffuser.

The fiber fill came out the best. The peanuts are neat because you get a real sense of 'depth' with them. The Diffuser material came out the least impressive. It has a 'hammered glass' look, but doesn't wow like the others.

They are suspended on ceiling hooks with armature wire that I purchased for the purpose and ended up being VERY overkill. These are so light, poster putty would have been enough. Still, the hanging look is neat from underneath, and when the windows are open, the breeze can make them sway, so they are still hanging on the wire on hooks.

I wanted the wiring to be more 'organic' looking, and less 'wires hanging on the ceiling', so I tried to route them in a branching pattern. It was moderately successful. I may wrap the wires to give them a more trunk-and-branch look in the future, but they are fine for now.

This is roughly the view from looking up from the pillow.
View from the foot of the bed.

This was a fun project, and definitely gives the room a "different" sort of look. The patterns on these lights can work in sync, with effects flowing from one globe to another, or they can operate as six independent lights, each playing different effects. I also have a mode set up where they can sync into Canvas, which is mounted on either side of the screen in our room, and share effects from those lights as well. Both lights can also tie into the Hyperion setup in the same room, which makes for a neat effect!

This article is part of a series on LED Art as I attempt to document all of the different LED projects I have built over the years.
More will be added as time goes on. The list of currently available articles can be found here: https://dzw.zentormey.com/tag/leds/