These hexagonal RGB LED panels are offered for the experimenter or as an add-on to an existing kit ...
BACKGROUND:
Recently I was involved in helping some Architectural students with a room lighting problem. We are talking a small model room, around 400mm x 400mm - NOT a real life size room!
We used a nifty smart RGB LED lighting system from Jaycar Electronics (Catalogue LA4180) which allows for the remote control of the LED colours and intensity via a WiFi link with a smart phone. This kit was perfect for our design purposes and it actually does work really well using the Tuya app on the phone although I must say that sometimes the WiFi connection was a bit flaky but that issue had nothing to do with these panels.
Actually there are a multitude of suppliers of this type of smart lighting system but they were all "off shore" and time was of the essence for the project so we purchased locally (and paid a bit more as a result)
The kit comes with SIX Hexagonal panels which can be interconnected in whatever shape the user requires and this matrix of panels is then connected to the small "control box" where all the "smarts" live (WiFi, lighting control etc)
Our design project ended up using only two of these panels, so I have FOUR left over - completely unused and complete with the interconnecting "USB biscuit" and round stick-on pads for mounting (if needed)
As the project is now finished with, I am offering the left over FOUR panels (individually) to those who may have one of these kits and wish to add more panels (you can connect up to 20 panels to the one controller) OR just for general experimentation.
I am very much "into" sustainability, a manufactured component (no matter how small) represents an appreciable amount of embedded energy and to waste that embedded energy is a very bad thing, even worse is to bury it in landfill and subsequently poison our environment!
What is embedded energy?
Embedded energy is a measurement of the total energy that was used to create a component, a module or a complete piece of equipment originally and should include all processes used in the manufacture of the item, from obtaining the raw materials, processing them, making the product and then shipping to another manufacturer in the "chain" or being supplied directly to stores as a finished product for retail sale.
Here is what I can tell you about these hexagonal panels (from personal experience, not just reading off the box!) ...
UNIDENTIFIED MANUFACTURER - Hexagonal Shaped RGB LED Panel
Country of origin: China
These panels WERE part of the LA4180 kit from Jaycar Electronics
ONLY the RGB Hex panel is being offered, along with one interconnecting biscuit and one stick on pad per panel.
Colour: RGB 16 million colours are possible by mixing the primary colours (all under App control) and when used with the controller, each panel can colourise independently of the others - they do not all need to display the same colours.
The hexagonal panel is completely sealed, however I found that if the top section is carefully lifted (using a thin bladed screwdriver) the top side catches release and Waa Laa! you can see the PCB inside. Not only that, but by unscrewing 3x small screws, the PCB comes out of the housing relatively easily.
This "operation" confirmed that the panel is indeed "dumb" with no ic's or transistors - just the LED assemblies, SMD current limiting resistors and the USB ports. The PCB is single sided fibre glass, nothing hidden on the other side!
Diffused front panel, slightly elevated towards the centre i.e it is not a flat front - this has the small clip locks around the side which allow for release of this section.
Control inputs are via standard USB sockets, six of them arranged around the edge of the panel
Interconnection between panels is made via the USB ports using a small White "biscuit" which is effectively a Male to Male interconnect BUT it does have cross-over tracks on the biscuit and possibly (not sure) internal embedded electronics on the biscuit. I am unsure about the embedded electronics because the biscuit is directional (reverse the connection and it does not work) and a simple DC Ohm test from one side to the other shows one "finger" does not directly connect to the other side of the biscuit. In our project we wanted the panels to be distant from each other so we still used the biscuit but in conjunction with a stock standard Male to Female USB extender cable - that worked fine.
The light produced is of a reasonable intensity and when using colour mixing across a single panel, the colour change gradient is nice and even. Overall, the light generated is "soft" and certainly not intense - suitable for mood lighting especially.
A funny story here ... while undertaking my R & D on this smart lighting system, the lights kept changing "randomly" ... after a while (at 70+ things take just a little longer to happen!) it dawned on me ... the controller can switch to "audio control" and I didn't realise I had turned this feature on ... it was picking up the audio from my sound system while I was working - lesson learned, in future it is best to undertake R & D in silence so that the lights don't dance all over the place!
DIMENSIONS:
EACH HEXAGONAL PANEL IS:
87mm across (one side to the other)
Depth of the top hexagonal section is 12mm, the circular base (that has the USB connectors inside it) is 74mm diameter x 11mm depth. If you were to mount this through a chassis hole, this is the size hole you will need (that is how we mounted these in the architectural project)
Weight (per panel): 46g (easy to create support for these)
COSMETIC CONDITION:
NEW Old Stock
Clean
NO physical damage to any of the panels or the USB connectors
Yes, one panel has a "dob" of clear glue on the top section (Woops!) but I would consider this to be insignificant and certainly does not affect the operation of the panel in any way.
Obviously (from the photographs) I opened one up to take a look inside and made sure these were indeed "dumb" panels with all the control being made externally, I closed it all back up and this opened panel is again like it just came out of the box!
As I have four of these panels and each is offered individually, they are now packed into individual sealed clear plastic packets along with 1x White interconnect "biscuit" and the double sided adhesive dot.
Because I don't want to be left with an orphan or two of these, an automatic discount is applied for purchasing all four.
