Circadian Pi Desk Light

Optimize your work and sleep with a circadian rhythm desk light

by Mikey Sklar

published February 18, 2019, last edited January 21, 2025

posted in Raspberry Pi CircuitPython Programming/ MicroPython / CircuitPython

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Beginner

Project guide

CircuitPython Code

Pi Config

Make sure your Pi is running the latest version of Raspbian and has the following Adafruit blinka and neopixel libraries installed.

Prerequisite Pi Setup
Updates for an existing Pi
1. sudo apt-get update
2. sudo apt-get upgrade

Library installation

sudo pip3 install adafruit-blinka
sudo pip3 install adafruit-circuitpython-neopixel

Code

This script is intended to turn on blue light in the morning for a four hour window, then turn the lights off for most of the day. In the evening, it will turn on red lights for a four hour window and then the LEDs will be turned off for the night. You can customize the timing, color and duration by modifying this script.

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# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2019 Mikey Sklar for Adafruit Industries
#
# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT

import datetime
import time
import board
import neopixel

pi_pin = board.D18
numpix = 144
brightness = 1.0
pixels = neopixel.NeoPixel(pi_pin, numpix, brightness=brightness)

# morning BLUE light hours
# BLUE light is stimulating
start_morning = "06:00:00"
end_morning = "10:00:00"

# evening RED light hours
# RED light is calming allows melatonin production to increase
start_night = "18:00:00"
end_night = "22:00:00"

color_change = False

while True:
    date_string = datetime.datetime.now().strftime("%H:%M:%S" )

    if date_string == start_morning:
        color = (0, 0, 255)
        color_change = True

    elif date_string == end_morning:
        color = (0, 0, 0)
        color_change = True

    elif date_string == start_night:
        color = (255, 0, 0)
        color_change = True

    elif date_string == end_night:
        color = (0, 0, 0)
        color_change = True

    else:
        time.sleep(1)

    # update neopixel strip with new colors
    if color_change:
        pixels.fill(color)
        color_change = False
        time.sleep(1)

# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2019 Mikey Sklar for Adafruit Industries
#
# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT

import datetime
import time
import board
import neopixel

pi_pin = board.D18
numpix = 144
brightness = 1.0
pixels = neopixel.NeoPixel(pi_pin, numpix, brightness=brightness)

# morning BLUE light hours
# BLUE light is stimulating
start_morning = "06:00:00"
end_morning = "10:00:00"

# evening RED light hours
# RED light is calming allows melatonin production to increase
start_night = "18:00:00"
end_night = "22:00:00"

color_change = False

while True:
    date_string = datetime.datetime.now().strftime("%H:%M:%S" )

    if date_string == start_morning:
        color = (0, 0, 255)
        color_change = True

    elif date_string == end_morning:
        color = (0, 0, 0)
        color_change = True

    elif date_string == start_night:
        color = (255, 0, 0)
        color_change = True

    elif date_string == end_night:
        color = (0, 0, 0)
        color_change = True

    else:
        time.sleep(1)

    # update neopixel strip with new colors
    if color_change:
        pixels.fill(color)
        color_change = False
        time.sleep(1)

Page last edited January 21, 2025