Our oceans are full of life, and few species are more fascinating than the jellyfish. Jellyfish are more than 600 million years old, having survived all five mass extinction events. Some are deadly, some have bioluminescence, and one species may be immortal.
This tutorial will show you how to create your own luminescent jellyfish out of iridescent vinyl and NeoPixel LEDs. Easily add endless light patterns with the free, and easy-to-use WLED software, with no coding required. You can even make multiple jellyfish and sync them up over your WiFi network.
Difficulty
This is a fairly easy project with no coding and just a little soldering. The end result is out of this world.
This guide will show how to use either our powerful Feather ESP32 V2 or our teeny tiny and affordable QT Py ESP32 Pico get your lights up and running in minutes.
Build two or more jellyfish and sync them together to run simultaneous animations through your swarm. Sounds tricky, but it's two clicks in WLED. This software is free, powerful, and so easy to use that it feels somehow like you're cheating. Get access to around 100 different LED animation patterns that can be paired with dozens of color palettes. WLED gives you speed and intensity control as well. There is no end to the variations of patterns you can create with this amazing software.
Which Board Should I Use?
Other than size and price, distinguishing features are that the Feather has built-in charging for lithium-ion or lithium-polymer batteries, an “enable” pin for adding a power switch, and mounting holes to firmly stay put. Battery charging can be added to QT Py with the “charger BFF” add-on.
There’s also a broader add-on ecosystem for Feather…including FeatherWing boards packed with NeoPixel and DotStar LEDs. Most other FeatherWings might not be useful with the core WLED firmware…but if you get into writing custom WLED usermods, there might be opportunities for combining lighting with things like relays and motor control.
For the Jellyfish
- Lantern tops: 30 gauge iridescent vinyl
- Large tentacles: sparkly iridescent sequin fabric
- Small tentacles: silver tubular crin
- Stability: 18g steel wire
- Clear packing tape
- Metal bowls to use as a form
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