Official PCB for Luciferin, Dynamic Bias Light for Your Monitor.

Luciferin adds a dynamic bias light to your monitor like Philips TVs with Ambilight.

Luciferin is a software that bundles a PC software (Firefly Luciferin) and a firmware that runs on a microcontroller (Glow Worm Luciferin).

The idea is that the PC software capture the image on the screen, sends it to the microcontroller that manages the LEDs you put behind the monitor.

It's very easy and very cheap.

There are people who already have boards capable of driving LEDs, if you are among them, you can continue to use your board as long as it is based on ESP8266 or ESP32.

If you don't have a board to drive LEDs, you don't want to design your own PCB and you have a soldering iron, this is the right place where to start.

This is a guide on how to create an official PCB for Luciferin that will be upgradable in the future, you will be able to swap your current ESP8266 microcontroller with a new one even if the PIN layout of the new microcontroller does not match, but let's start!

To create the PCB you only need a soldering iron, all welds will be easy to make because there are no small components.

This is all the components you need, they are very cheap, you can buy from Aliexpress or where you prefer.

This are the components you need.

• D1 Mini board (ESP8266) or TinyPICO (ESP32) with Luciferin module for TinyPICO.
• 74AHCT125N (logic level converter from 3.3V to 5V) NOTE: align the notch correctly before soldering.
• 1500uf 16V capacitor
• 100nf capacitor
• 3x 330 Ohm resistance
• WS2812B 5V LED strip
• Fuse holder (search for Keystone Electronics 3557-2)
• Full size "ATO" fuses. (WS2812B consume up to 0.060A each LED. This means that if you have 100 LEDs your strip needs 6A, you want a fuse value that isn’t too high because it gives less protection but too low values might pop the fuse while nothing is wrong. For example with a load of 6A a 7.5A fuse will be ok).
• Header pins (2.54mm)
• Jumpers (2.54mm)
• 5x 2pin terminal block (5.08mm)

If you don't know where to buy this products here a link that will help you finding all this cheap parts.

This are the printable PCBs. Simply download the zip file and print it at your favourite PCB manufacturer, it's very cheap.

Here you find a guide on how to print a PCB at JLCPCB.

If you want to use a TinyPICO ESP32, you need to print the Luciferin Module for TinyPICO.

Other modules will be available in the future to support more ESP boards.

Solder all the components in the right place by following the silkscreen that you find on the PCB and you are ready to go.

If you want more information on the PCBs or on the project you can find a complete wiki on GitHub.

If you have questions you can join our Discord community here.

Now it's time for another small guide, how to install the firmware on the ESP device and use Luciferin on your PC.

There is an instructible here on how to do it.

Patrick Blom, aka pbl0m, is the designer and the author of this case, all credits belongs to him.

The case can be downloaded on Thingverse or Thangs.