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Feb 4, 2018 | By Tess

Bored of having to look at your weather app to see what the temperature outside is? Looking for a more fun way to see that it’s raining outside than looking out the window? Maker "Gosse Adema" has got you covered.

The Netherlands-based maker has uploaded an Instructables tutorial for an awesome 3D printed “Weather/Matrix Lamp,” which is not only colorful and bright but can also keep you updated about the weather outside in real time. Think of it as a digital, more useful lava lamp.

The lamp, which integrates an LED matrix controlled by a Raspberry Pi, is programmed to show the temperature through a vertical range of colors (blue at the bottom for cold and red at the top for hot), as well as precipitation and wind conditions. For instance, if it is raining, the user will see blue lights dropping downwards; if it is snowing, the drops will be white; if it is windy, lights will more horizontally across the lamp.

If it is both rainy and windy—which it often is in Gosse Adema’s home in The Netherlands—the lamp will show lights moving downwards and sideways. Impressively, the lamp has even been programmed to display the current wind speed and direction.

If you’re interested in making your own weather LED matrix lamp you will need some supplies, but the good news is that Gosse Adema has done a lot of the programming legwork so it shouldn’t be too complex of a project.

Among the supplies you’ll need to assemble the weather lamp are a matrix of ws2812 LED lights (288 LEDs in total), a 3D printed LED holder (STL files are provided), a glass casing for the lamp (which Adema took from an existing lamp), a Raspberry Pi Zero W, a 5 Volt power source, 3 mm diameter wire, a 3D printed lamp base (which houses the Raspberry Pi), a power distribution board, and soldering equipment.

And while I won’t go into the details of the make here, Gosse Adema provides a more than detailed step-by-step guide on his page, which can be consulted for everything from the lamp’s 3D design, to its weather programming, to its electronic assembly.

What is apparent in the tutorial is the painstaking care that went into the project, as Adema explains exactly how he used NeoPixel simulation software to carefully design the light patterns for the weather conditions, used Weather Underground’s API to connect the lamp to real-time weather updates, and tweaked the lamp’s power management until the power supply and current draw were optimally matched.

The maker has also included Python code in the tutorial which can transform the 3D printed LED lamp into either an emergency light or a lava lamp. Adema adds that makers can also adapt the lamp’s programming to add a clock or social media alert function.

All in all, the 3D printed weather lamp is worth checking out. And, if you’re ever looking for a fairly ambitious project for a rainy day, this could be the perfect thing.

 

 

Posted in 3D Printing Application

 

 

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