Wanting something similar to the Ikea “Dioder” for my room, I figured I would make one myself since it seemed like a fun microcontroller project. Using timer interrupts I made a simple PWM function that can have as many outputs as I have pins; however, three were enough to control an RGB LED array. In addition to this I read a potentiometer with an ADC to control the colour output.

In addition to the pot, there are two buttons for control. Originally they were for Pattern and Speed, but after a few revisions I found the flashy patterns to be annoying. It’s easy to program any pattern, but they aren’t very practical so I removed most of them and changed the speed button to control how white the colour was.

Finally, I used headers for the outputs so I can add or remove light strips whenever I want. They’ve been attached to the back of my bed for a couple years now and I’ve never turned them off.