I wanted to build a control box for 2 LED strips of WS2812s. This is for a display in a bedroom, but I also wanted it to be controllable from mobile/desktop, along with multiple colours and brightness controls!

How to break it down into components

First I needed to work out the different components I needed and how they would be put together, to make sure they fit in the location I wanted but also portable enough if I ever wanted to take them away.

• ESP32 - Simple and effectively using WLED
• Two LED strips to be used
• Two LED diffusers. They are aluminium with a diffusing cover. They are readily available on Amazon/Ebay/Other locations.
• An enclosure for the ESP32 and allow the LED strips to plug in
• 2 x 3 Pin sockets and plugs
• 1 x PSU socket for a 5v power supply
• A PSU that can plug into the enclosure.

Components

Enclosure

Male/Female 3 pin DIN connectors and 2.1mm PSU connector

These were placed in the honeycomb to create a simpler picture

The 3 pin connectors were chosen to connect the LEDs so each one had a +v, -v and data line.

ESP32 Terminal adaptor for the enclosure

To keep things as simple as possible I used a ESP32 terminal adaptor and stuck this to the inside of the enclosure.

Drilled some holes for the connectors

Created a cable to plug into the enclosure and to WS2812B LED strip

I got hold of 2 x 3 pin JST extension cable and by using one half created a cable to connect to the LED strip and enclosure

Then attached to the LED strip

To tidy things up I then used some heat shrink around the new cable.

Some soldering

As the terminal adaptor could take two ESP32 sizes, and I had the smaller of the two, I can use breadboard cables to solder all the positions and then just plug into the terminals I needed.

Install WLED

If you following the installation procedure found here it sets up all the elements you need and then you can configure to use the GPIO pins you need.

All set up and working

You can use the WLED interface to change colours and enable patterns

Finally Installed and Working

All installed for the location. The LEDs and diffuser has been cut to the correct length.