Electrical wiring lights with arduino

Other Hardware General Electronics
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hey there!

i'm a newbie at electrical wiring and etc. etc.

i am creating a light installation for my graduation work at art university and would like some help with the electrical wiring.

my components are as follows:

1 x arduino uno

4 x led light strings

1 x motion sensor

i have wired one light string to be connected to my arduino uno but want to add the other three light strings and completely unsure how to

i can't seem to understand how much wattage an arduino can hold – do i need a separate arduino for each light string? or do i just need a bigger power supply and then wire the lights together?

here are some images of what i have going on

i hope someone out there could help me <3 im in the gutter and would loooove some help

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In order to answer we need the specification of your led strings.
Most people here do not like to download stuff from unknown sites.
Paste your pictures in the forum.
If you are not allowed, read some posts and your trust level will automatically be upgraded to the level where you will be allowed to do so.

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Please post links to LED strings you'll be using.

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The Arduino can only directly "power" a few "regular little" LEDs. But it can control many LEDs as long as the power/energy comes from somewhere else. There are different kinds of LED strips (and then variations of these)...

Addressable LED strips have a built-in driver for each LED. You supply power to the LED strip, plus a data-control signal from the Arduino.

Non-addressable LED strips just need power and you can use a MOSFET (or relay) and then the data-control from the Arduino can switch the MOSFET on-or-off (or dim with PWM). An RGB non-addressable LED strip needs 3 MOSFETs (one for each color).

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IMG-1114
IMG-11141920×2560 225 KB

IMG-1118
IMG-11181920×2560 280 KB

IMG-1119
IMG-11191920×2560 364 KB

IMG-1120
IMG-11201920×2560 377 KB

Image from OP.

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We need a link to the specs/datasheet, and that documentation may not be available if you bought something that's not intended to be used with the Arduino.

Or sometimes people by things from eBay or AliExpress and the documentation is incomplete.

Since you are at a university, sometimes it's helpful to team-up an electrical engineering student. :wink:

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What is the three legged thing (transistor/darlington/mosfet?) supposed to do?
Did you use that to control 1 string with Arduino? Please share a schematic.
Maybe it is easier to build a relay to directly control the 220V to your LED string.
Otherwise you will need a current controlled 300 mA max 4V power supply.
Since it is only 300 mA you might get away with a series resistor somewhere in between 3 and 10 ohm. Try 10 ohm first, see how bright it gets...

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Hi, @keobe

Can you please post a copy of your circuit, in CAD or a picture of a hand drawn circuit in jpg, png?
Hand drawn and photographed is perfectly acceptable.
Please include ALL hardware, power supplies, component names and pin labels.

Are you just turning the lights ON and OFF, or are you PWM controlling them to give levels of illumination?

Thanks.. Tom.. :grinning: :+1: :coffee: :australia:

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So you've just bought these from a regular, non-tech consumer store - they're not sold with "hacking" in mind ?

It looks like they just plug into a mains outlet?

In that case, your best bet is probably to find some mains sockets that can be controlled from an Arduino.

Playing with mains electricity is potentially lethal - you really need to have someone competent on hand to check & verify your work before you apply power!

Your university supervisors really should understand this - you should seek guidance from them ...

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Something like this:

That one's for US 120V.

You want something that can switch a mains socket from a logic-level signal.

There are loads of "smart sockets" that can be controlled over WiFi - if you fancy diving into WiFi ...

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Hi @keobe ,
The Arduino is not a power supply..
You should be using the original power supplies provided and figure out how to control that mosfet which appears to be a IRLZ44N..
or control mains..
But yes, please be extra careful, keep one hand in your back pocket, so you don't become a path and get dead..

good luck.. ~q

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i have altered the plug so it is no longer plugged into a mains outlet...
the power source is now a USB cord into an apple iPhone charger that outputs 8V.

my university is closed at the moment which is why i'm coming to the internet for help since i have to deliver my project before the semester starts.

i study art by the way and it's slightly difficult to find a lot of available people who know how to work with arduino's and wiring etc. - so i am trying the best i can :slight_smile:

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But you must have realised that such help was going to be needed?
Did you not factor this into your project plan?

Anyhow, going back to your earlier photo of the plug, and zooming in:

image
image827×949 76.3 KB

It looks like this gives out 3V. Or, perhaps, 4V?

Do have a meter that you could use to check?

It is capable of up to 300mA.
These things are usually built down to a price, so it's unlikely that they would provide a (greatly) over-rated supply - unless they say that one plug can power multiple chains?

So it's probably safe to assume that your LED chain needs 3V at close to 300mA.

That voltage is fine for an Arduino - but not the current.
You will need something - eg, a transistor or relay - to switch the lights on & off.

Not really suitable, I don't think.

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Hi, @keobe

Can we please have a schematic?

Thanks.. Tom... :grinning: :+1: :coffee: :australia:

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