Description

    A fun, difficult project that might make you pull your hair out. It's a real accomplishment when finished though! This one requires intermediate/advanced skill level. Also lithium batteries can be dangerous to work with so be VERY CAREFUL!

Intro

    This project requires soldering skills and a computer to program the associated microcontroller. Soldering is not too difficult and there are plenty of tutorials to help with that. Take great care when routing wires. If bent multiple times they will break and possibly short out. Again, be careful. All that said, let’s get started!

Printing

    0.2mm layer, 2 walls, 15% infill, 45 degree bridge, no print tower, no support. There is a filament change but that's not too hard to do. Just insert a ‘pause’ at the proper layer.  White will diffuse better but I liked the vibrant look of clear.

WLED flashing

    ‘Flash’ the microcontroller with WLED firmware. Simply plug it into your computer and go to [https://install.wled.me/](https://install.wled.me/) and click install and select the appropriate port that your microcontroller is plugged into. If you need help with this you can always go to the knowledge base on that website for further instructions and/or the WLED discord. Super helpful folks there. Enter in your Wi-Fi credentials after flashing the unit and now you will have access to the user interface. Click Config tab, then click LED Preferences. Change the ‘Length’ to 80 LEDs(more or less. You may have different lenths depending on how you cut/wrap it.) Click Save on top. Now feel free to use any of the cool effects in the library and even create a playlist! Remember, its battery operated so the brighter you make it the less time it will run. I set mine at 20 on the slider

                                                                                                                      Wiring

          This is the tricky part. Glue in the switch, charge board(into the bottom slot), and PH 2.0mm plug as pictured. DO NOT use too much glue or you will glue the switch open or closed! I recommend color coding the wires so as to not get confused. White for ground, red for 5 V+, green for data signal(GPIO2). The LED strip itself will already come with the end wired so you can just cut the plug off (about 40mm length). White is ground, red is 5V, green is GPIO2. Strip the red and white wires about 8mm or so. Green can be stripped at 3mm. Place aside.

           Now inspect the battery's plug orientation against the mounted plug to verify - and + side. Solder a white/red wire from B- and B+ of charging board to the correct pins of the PH 2.0mm connector respectively(make these wires as tight as possible). CHECK THIS TWICE as it's VERY important! Now solder a red wire from OUT+ of charge board to one side of the switch(cut to length and make it as tight as possible). Solder one end of another red wire (50mm) to the middle pin of the switch. Leave other side wild(unconnected) for now. Solder a 50mm white wire to the OUT- of the charge board. Leave other side wild. Now slide the ESP32 C3 in the top slot upside down and backwards as pictured. Solder a 50mm red wire to ‘5V’ pin, 50mm white wire to G pin and strip the other ends about 8mm. Now twist the red wires from switch/5V/LED strip and solder them together. Do the same with the white wires from OUT- of charge board/G pin/LED strip. Protect the bare ends with electrical tape or heat shrink tube(see picture). 

       Now for the fun part. Plug in the battery and test function of switch and LEDS. Once confirmed all is working, slide the battery in the light core carefully. You may have to gently ‘squish’ the side with the charge wires to get it to fit. Tuck all the wires in as carefully as possible. Hot glue the light core to the base.

        I designed the light core with exact dimensions so that every time you wrap around the corner(in a spiral fashion) it will be in the middle of the little LEDs. Do this part carefully as this strip does not like getting bent more then once and ABSOLUTELY does not like getting bent right at the LEDs. If you’re using raw length of LED strip material with no wires pre-soldered to the end you will need heat shrink tubing to protect the soldered end, as the pads break off VERY easily without this support. The length is approximately .5m or 80 LEDs. The top part gets a little messy(see picture) but it won’t really matter in the end. Still looks cool.

Assembly

     I designed the walls/top/bottom with little alignment holes that you can use 3mm lengths of raw filament to line everything up (thanks pilfit). Makes assembly much easier. Assemble base to back wall(with the slots) with superglue. Assemble separately, three sides/top with superglue. 

Test one more time to make sure everything is functioning properly. Once confirmed you can glue the rest together. Enjoy the beautiful, mesmerizing light!

Parts List

ESP32 C3 controller- [https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805781327184.html](https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805781327184.html)

WS2812B LED strip(160/m pitch)- [https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256806510961905.html](https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256806510961905.html)

102530 battery(with PH 2.0mm connector. ‘102530’ is the dimensions so be careful not to deviate)- [https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256809917075229.html](https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256809917075229.html)

Slide switch(5mm)- [https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256806149664764.html](https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256806149664764.html)

Charger board(USB C)- [https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256806441171319.html](https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256806441171319.html)

PH 2.0mm connector(2 pin)- [https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256802283569294.html](https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256802283569294.html)

22 AWG LED 3 wire- [https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256801728933470.html](https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256801728933470.html)