instructables

Arduino Christmas Candelabra

by ptollgren lazarov

In Sweden, all workplaces have a tradition of having
Christmas lights in the windows during Christmas. I
wanted to do something extra with the traditional
Christmas window candelabra with white light and do
something modern with it.
coloured and the white light used when the candlestick
is "normal" becomes really white and not a mixture of
RGB.
Supplies:

SK6810 LED WRGB with PCB

It was a 1 meter long candlestick with 20 lights with
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/25-x-SK6812-LED-RGBNW-
SK6812 (WS2812 but WRGB (+ White) instead of RGB)
5...
and an Arduino Mini Nano. Everything is powered by a
normal 2.4 A usb charger or a power bank. If you want to
Arduino Mini Nano
use WS2812 instead of SK6812, it works ne. You can
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/331697013838?
only adjust the code a bit because SK6812 addresses 4
hash=item4...
colours (WRGB) but WS2812 only 3 (RGB). The advantage
of WRGB is that the colours become more pastel

https://vimeo.com/576921842

https://vimeo.com/576921813

Step 1: Fixing the Christmas Window Candelabra

You can use any standard 110 / 220V Christmas window
candelabra you want. The important thing is that it has
the right number of lights. Most are normally 7-9 lights
but there are those that have more.
NOTE! make sure it is not plugged in before you start
working with it. Start by tearing out all the power cables
from the candelabra. You can usually access the cables
from the bottom. Many have a plastic or paper strip that
covers all the electricity in candelabra. Sometimes you
loosen the feet on candelabra and then you close the
strap to the side, on others they are stuck with a few
screws.
You now see all the cables and they will all be removed.
You will not use any of them so use cutters. Even the
power cable to the wall socket must also be removed.
Now push out the lamp holders from below with
tweezers or a screwdriver. They are just pressed into the
candlesticks. Remove all metal from them.

Arduino Christmas Candelabra: Page 1

Arduino Christmas Candelabra: Page 2
Step 2: Connection of Electricity and LEDs

I have used SK6812 which is mounted on a small PCB Each LED has a Din (GREEN) and a Dout (BLUE). The LED
that also acts as a cooling plate. All LEDs need 4 cables. + closest to your Arduino (LED1) should connect its Din
(RED), - (BLACK), Din (GREEN), Dout (BLUE). (GREEN) to the Arduino Mega (Pin D3).
LED1s Dout (BLUE) must be connected to the next LED
I usually carve a small piece of wood or use epoxy clay to (2) Din (GREEN).
make a small surface that the LED can sit on. I use a drop LED2 BLUE -> LED3 GREEN. The last LED does not
of heat glue to secure it, but I only do that after I have connect its Dout (Blue) to anything.
tested so that everything works.
If everything is connected correctly, you have 3 cables
NOTE! It is important to paint the inside of the that go to your Arduino Mega Nano.
candlestick with something opaque that does not let RED -> Connected to all RED cables on all LEDs
any light through, otherwise candlesticks that are made BLACK -> Connected to all BLACK cables on all LEDs
of plastic will light up from the inside as well, which does GREEN -> Which is close to Din on LED1
not look so nice. It is much easier to do this before
attaching the LED. NOTE! You can not test if it is properly connected by
connecting power to the LEDs. This is done with the
All RED must be connected together and all BLACK must Arduino later.
be connected together. The easiest way is to have a RED NOTE! Do not glue lamps or anything else yet!
and a BLACK wire that goes from one side of the
candelabra to the other, and then you connect each LED VOLUNTARY
to them. To ensure that there is even current to all lamps, a
capacitor is normally soldered to the end of the current
There is very little current used so you can use thin loop. For Arduino and LEDs, it is usually 600-1200uF 6-
cables. However, it is important that it is multi-wire and 10V.You can reed more about it at
not a solid cable. Solid cables detach very easily from the
soldering points and you do not want to have to open https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-neopixel-uberg...
everything again to re-solder a cable.

Arduino Christmas Candelabra: Page 3

Step 3: Arduino Mega Nano

Arduino Christmas Candelabra: Page 4

Arduino Mini Nano is a very small Arduino so try to carve I have added that it should show the color white for a
out a cavity that it can t in your candelabra. Keep in while and then burst into a running rainbow and then
mind that you need to be able to connect a USB mini return to white again. SK6812-Rainbow
connector to power it.

NOTE! To protect your Arduino, you need a 330-470 ohm Here is the result. It's quite di cult to capture it right on
resistor between the Pin D3 and LED1. Read more about lm.
it at https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-neopixel-uber...

RED -> Connects to Pin 5V

BLACK -> Connects to GND or to the shield of the USB
mini female.
GREEN -> Connects to D3
THE CODE
Base for the code is taken from Ed Nisley (ednisley)
https://gist.github.com/ednisley/431b654cc1bbf590...
I have also tried to make a version of Erik Katerborg
Packman Lamp (
https://codebender.cc/sketch:368369#Pacman%20Lam
p.... but unfortunately it will not be super good with
WRGB as the yellow Packman color will be more green
than yellow. But SK6812-Packman is rewritten for
SK6812 for those who want to try.

Download

https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FX1/SS6G/KRAN2BN3/FX1SS6GKRAN2BN3.ino

Arduino Christmas Candelabra: Page 5

 Download
https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FDT/5X52/KRAN2BN4/FDT5X52KRAN2BN4.ino

Step 4: Diffuser for the Candlestick

Now that all the electronics are working and the lights
are on, it's time to attach all the LEDs and put on a ball of
some kind on top. I bought a cheap Christmas light string that had clear
balls with white yarn strings on. I think it turned out
Many people use ping pong balls as a di user for LEDs. nicer than ping pong balls. No matter what you use, you
Ping pong balls have a dark edge from the manufacture attach it with heat glue.
and you have to keep that in mind if you use them so
that the edge is symmetrically placed on all LEDs. The next project will be to add a speaker that plays Nyan
Cat when it shows the rainbow ;)
Here is Bitluni's guide to a ping pong wall and he goes
through how to work with them in the best way.

//www.youtube.com/embed/fz2QAV9z_o8

Arduino Christmas Candelabra: Page 6

https://vimeo.com/576921880

Thanks for sharing!

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