When working long hours at my desk, I realized my regular lamp wasn’t cutting it — sometimes too dim, sometimes harsh, sometimes just annoying color temperature. So I decided to build a small DIY “smart desk light” using affordable hardware and a bit of code.
What I wanted
Adjustable brightness and color temperature (warm ↔ neutral white)
Simple controls: via web browser or phone — no proprietary apps or cloud accounts required
Low-cost and easy to replicate for others
What I used (hardware + software)
An LED strip or LED module (12 V or 24 V), with a constant-voltage driver
ESP32 microcontroller — cheap, powerful, Wi-Fi enabled, great for IoT
MQTT as the message-passing backbone (can be local or cloud-hosted)
A tiny web dashboard (HTML + JS) to adjust brightness / color temperature / schedule / on-off
Optional: a light sensor or motion sensor for automatic on/off or adaptive brightness
What Worked Well
The desk light has much more flexibility than a fixed lamp: I can dim, change color, schedule, or even make it react to ambient light.
Compared to “smart bulbs”, this DIY version is fully under my control — no proprietary cloud, no unexpected firmware update, no lock-in.
Power consumption is low and heat is minimal — good for long coding sessions, night-time work, or ambient lighting.
What to Watch Out For
Cheap LED strips or power supplies may flicker or have uneven brightness — choose quality parts.
Wiring and safety still matter, even for low-voltage DC systems. Use proper connectors and insulation.
If you want true color tuning or high fidelity, pick LEDs with good color rendering (CRI), or use white + RGB mixes.
My take — Why I think DIY Smart LED Projects are Great for Developers
If you write code, play with hardware, or like customization — DIY LED lighting is a perfect mix of software + hardware + real-world effects. It’s cheap, fun, useful, and easy to evolve: you can add sensors, schedule tasks, and integrate with other home automation tools.
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