Hi, it's Matt.
Today I'm going to try and change this cloud shape IKEA lamp
from a boring light bulb into a multicolor one that I can change
with Philips hue.
I've seen this before in IKEA and not bought it because I thought it was boring,
but this one I found in the bargain bin it was less than half price.
I think it was about eight quid.
It didn't have a box, but it has the cloud bit of plastic
and that's, I suppose, all I need if I'm going to change it
from being a white bulb into being something more multicolour.
And my original plan was to use a microcontroller
not helped by the fact
that the Raspberry Pi Pico W has only been released a few weeks ago
and I looked into how I could make a light fitting
that was remote controlled by Philips Hue, using
something like the Pico W or an ESP 32 or other types of microcontroller.
And the answer is no one's done that
and I'm not going to try and do it from scratch.
That's way too much effort just for a colourful light fitting.
So then I thought, well, somebody is probably already
making LED strip that can be controlled from Philips Hue.
So I looked on Amazon and bought a couple.
One didn't work.
This one does seem to work
and I can get it to connect to Hue and control it with the app on my phone
so what I'm going to do is put this in this and I should end up
with a multicolour light fitting that's in the shape of a cloud.
Let's see how it goes To start.
Let's take off the back.
It's nice and easy because it's just got some clip.
There we go, we've got
two pieces.
This one's got the bulb on it
so I can take that bulb off by pushing it
and holding the clip in.
I think.
Tadaa!
So I've got this light, which I suppose I could put in something else
at some point, but right now I don't need it.
Didn't break anything.
So if I need to
mount anything on the back of this, I can use this piece of plastic for it.
Next step is to get these lights out.
This is a real of LED tape
with a little USB power supply and a remote controller on it.
And if I plug it into a USB battery and I'll show it working.
So I should now be able to change the colour by dragging the app
to red or blue
white.
So that's remote controllable, probably not coming across too well on camera.
So the control part of this works.
I just need to put this in the lamp.
Now my plan was to put it all round the edge.
So then, rather than shining
straight out through the bulb, it's going to shine in.
And when it's on the wall,
we should get rays of light coming out around the side.
Hopefully that's the plan.
At least.
Now, before I continue, let's plan what I'm doing with the wires.
So I've thought of two ways that I can power this.
I can power it either by putting a small USB battery in it
or by running a
USB extension cable down to a power supply below.
I think I might just start sticking it on
and see what happens.
I'm taking a very gung ho tactic to this.
I normally like to plan, but
where's the fun in that?
I have released it from its
sticky prison.
That sounds wrong.
I'm going to start sticking it round and round and round and round.
Oh, I've just remembered I was planning on testing this without sticking it first
to see if it actually looked any good with the LEDs in that position.
So let's pause the stacking process to check that.
That's a good glow.
I like that. Yes.
I shall continue with the sticking.
I thought about making lighting fixtures before
with LED tape and stuff,
but I've never got around to it because I haven't been bothered
to actually program the microcontroller.
But if you can just buy an off the shelf thing
that connects to a standard
lighting control system,
then why not?
Well, that was quick.
I've got most of it in
and I can
cut this
along
the cut-line,
slice
and stick it down.
There we go.
It's all the way round.
I can stick the little controller onto the back here, clip the back on
and that's all really.
So let's test it with the battery.
I mean,
we've got it good straight away, really, haven't we.
And look at that.
And if I rest it on the desk.
Let's change the colours.
So we've currently got it on blue.
Let's make it red.
It's more of a pink. That's more of a red
or we can go yellow
or green
can change the brightness.
I just need to clip the back on and put it on a wall.
Did this come with… It came with sticky!
Yep. I can just stick that straight on there.
And that's what we've ended up with.
The controller is stuck on the back bit of plastic where the bulb used to go.
We've got LEDs all round the outside
and the USB cable.
Let's stick it on a wall!
Well that all went surprisingly well,
it took me an hour, including filming,
which means you can probably do it in about 20 minutes.
I've hung it on the wall using Command strips - Renters' favourite -
and I've also got a little USB battery bank in there, hence the shadow.
It doesnt look like that in person.
You can barely see it in person.
I'm going to put links below to the IKEA lamp
and to the remote controllable LED strip as well.
That uses the Zigbee standard.
So as well as Philips Hue,
it'll probably work with Alexa and other Smart home stuff.
So if you like shouting at your lights to turn them on and off again,
you can do that too, probably.
Well, thank you very much for watching I'm @MattGrayYes on all the socials
and you can buy my merchandise at mattg.co.uk [Singing] That'll do!