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$5 WiFi Busy Light - 2021 HaD Prize Entry

The smallest WiFi connected Busy Light can be placed anywhere in the house and even battery powered!

jonJon
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With many people working from home for the foreseeable future, a way to notify everyone else in the household if you can be disturbed behind closed doors is crucial. A WiFi connected BusyLight using a Wemos D1 Mini and two NeoPixels can be placed outside the office door or anywhere else in the house. A GUI for color selection allows instant updates from the computer.

This project was conceived during the Coronavirus pandemic, when Work From Home was no longer a dream, it was a requirement. This super simple, 3 component BusyLight takes only a few minutes to put together but is immensely helpful when you don't live alone. It allows family members to know if they should disturb you behind closed doors. Since it's wireless, you could put one downstairs and save people the trouble of going upstairs to check if you're busy. The code could also be modified to allow control over USB, allowing for usage in an office or environment without WiFi.

Standard Tesselated Geometry - 74.59 kB - 07/12/2021 at 21:57

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Standard Tesselated Geometry - 55.55 kB - 07/12/2021 at 21:57

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StopIcon.ico

Icon for GUI

x-icon - 15.04 kB - 07/12/2021 at 21:57

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BusyGUI.pyw

GUI with buttons for Green, Yellow, Red, and Off.

x-python - 1.19 kB - 07/12/2021 at 21:57

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  • 1 × Wemos D1 Mini
  • 2 × NeoPixel
  • 1 × M2x6 Screws
  • 1 × 3D Printed Case

  • 1
    3D Print Case

    Print the bottom of the case and the lid in white.

  • 2
    Install components

    Solder wires between the NeoPixels and connect to 3v3, Ground, and D8 on the Wemos. The NeoPixels are rated for and labeled 5v, but will work perfectly fine on 3v. 

  • 3
    Attach Lid

    Use 4x M2x6 screws to attach lid.


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Discussions

Joris wrote 12/05/2022 at 11:14 point

Which Neopixel lights did you use for this project?

  Are you sure? yes | no

Jon wrote 12/05/2022 at 13:36 point

The exact ones I used don't appear to be available on Amazon anymore, but these are the closest I could find. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01D1FFVOA

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Rob Eden wrote 08/24/2021 at 18:47 point

I built one of these and it's worked great!

Code for auto-controlling the light based on camera/microphone activity on Mac can be found here: https://gist.github.com/robeden/fb61e395743b668e447c768dc5b1dab4

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Dan Maloney wrote 07/12/2021 at 23:29 point

Was prepared to make a crack about using a 555, but it really looks like it is about as minimal as could be and still be wireless. Nice work!

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