An LED Sphere YOU Can Build

[@Luckingsworth]

Time to make the v1 size using v2 leds for the max experience 😁

[@DrZzs]

That would be awesome! The question is, is it going to be cost effective to spend that much money on covering the large sphere?

[@TomPinkus]

@@DrZzs is cost effective what you're going for or having the coolest LED experience on your street? I say go for the coolest experience... as they say GO BIG OR GO HOME!!!

[@DrZzs]

You have an excellent point! We are considering it, but we also have tons of other awesome projects planned. @TomPinkus

[@paulforester6996]

​@DrZzs it is cost effective. For me, cause I'm not paying for it. Lol Thanks for the video.

[@DrZzs]

Can't argue with you there! That is part of the reason we do these projects. Some people don't want to tackle them but still would like to see the end result. So we may have to bump this to a higher priority.

[@lordgarth1]

They are cool but I find the uneven spacing of the rows in both versions distracting.

[@DrZzs]

Yeah. It's difficult to get it perfect, but that's not going to stop us from trying. Thanks for watching.

[@lordgarth1]

@@DrZzs I just hope you keep trying to refine it!

[@DrZzs]

We will keep on trying! Thanks!

[@AaronNovak1]

This bothered me too. Also makes me wonder if animations would be smoother if the leds and rows matched better

[@DrZzs]

Perhaps, but I am not sure how you would line them up. You could pick a point and have that location lined up but then the rest of it wouldn't line up. In the end I thought that was too much work for a single location to be lined up. In all honesty, in order to make it look better we just need more pixels per inch. The 6 pixels per inch just isn't cutting it.

[@jeremypringle5368]

A foot of snow on the ground and the ceiling fan inside running at max speed. My kids must be over there!! LOL. Great job on the project. Very cool.

[@DrZzs]

Ha! Kids! What are you going to do? Actually the ceiling fans is because of all the electronics I have running in my office! Thanks for watching!

[@moeburn]

ceiling fan in reverse on a low speed in the winter will help bring the warm air from the ceiling onto the ground, preventing cold feet and making people less likely to turn on the home heat, saving you energy. ceiling fans use a surprisingly low amount of electricity, especially on low. Clockwise in the winter, counterclockwise in the summer, for the most common blade pitch direction.

[@engg-ed]

You can put a thinner diffuser screen on the outside to get the even light.

[@russzaccari7761]

This video has convinced me that I want to create a matrix panel with the 1M x 144 LED strips. Keeping it in 16x9 should make for an interesting panel.

[@DrZzs]

That's awesome! If you haven't already then join the discord channel and post your progress. We'd love to see it!

[@lesrehklau1965]

Great job, I like it Drzzs, a scaled ball drop for new years, what a fun project, I want one 🙂

[@DrZzs]

Go for it! When you begin make sure you post the progress in discord!

[@theone2be33]

The Vegas Sphere is the coolest thing I've ever seen. Is very cool you've been able to make your own.

[@stefan_from_hope_bc]

2:15 The voice over says that the Las Vegas MSG Sphere has one LED per square foot. That sounds unreasonably low. The information that I found on the Internet is that the outer area is 580,000 square feet, covered in 1.2 million "pucks" containing 24 LED's each. So I'm calculating 50 LED's per square foot, or 0.3 LED per square inch.

[@jezmck]

Are the pucks single colour? Perhaps there's a difference here between LED and "pixel".

[@manukalias]

15 minutes of LED's Nirvana ❤❤❤ Loved you more, to have a supportive daughter like mine 😍😍 May God Bless You All 🙏🙏 Lot's and lots of blessings and wishes from India 🇮🇳🇮🇳🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@DrZzs]

All the best! Thanks

[@rejectthetyrannyofprecedent]

Phenomenal work. Love the video, love the final product! About those details you went over.. I'm just getting into this hobby. As in, I just got a couple of light strips, a power supply, and a few ESP32 boards. I have no idea what I'm doing yet, so this project is like watching a grad student dissertation as a freshman high school student.. And I loved every moment of your explanation. Credit to your communication and presentation skills!

[@DrZzs]

Wow! That's a great compliment! Thank you so much! Make sure you join our discord channel and then you can ask all the questions. You'll be building one of these in no time.

[@ClownHammerLW]

Wow looks great, now I really want to try it

[@DrZzs]

Thanks! You should! If you do it make sure to post your progress in the discord channel.

[@ClownHammerLW]

Will do. Should be a fun build

[@ronm6585]

Awesome! Thanks guys.

[@DrZzs]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@martinwilde777]

is there a way we can get your xlights video and sequence files for the v2?

[@redstonecommander5190]

14:04 looks like you’re larger pixelated version got a level one color bug on other animations

[@knowyourjoe8826]

Looks really cool! I need a one!

[@DrZzs]

Yes you do! Take a look at the patreon to get access to it!

[@GoldenAgePuritan]

A diffusing outer layer would bring it all together. Maybe a stretchy white cloth material?

[@Wythaneye]

Mind. Blown.

[@richardbriansmith8562]

Awesome sphere Awesome Video 😊

[@DrZzs]

Thank you! Thanks for watching!!!

[@fuzzywzhe]

Great. You have your own eyesore in your backyard. At least it's just confined there.

[@rogiervdheide]

Nice concept to use the strips. I would like to see your v2 with an opalescent cover.

[@Sirotinsky]

Are files for 3d printer available to download?

[@Quepiid]

I want to make one but not sure if there is enough detail there for me to follow

[@thazsar]

Would be nice if you could find led strips in black to give it a similar look to the V1

[@DrZzs]

That would be nice. We chose the white so that it would shine better, but I don't think that was necessary any longer.

[@pacauzin]

if you add a light difuser it would be perfect

[@the3sounds]

Never seen anything rated at 1 DPI before. Nice job fellas!

[@DrZzs]

That's us. Pushing the boundaries of what is possible! HA! Thanks for watching!

[@StabbinDutchman]

Wonder how it would look with a slight defuse layer

[@DrZzs]

It's a catch 22 because it would blend it out but you would loose some detail. Thanks for watching!

[@G4CEFITNESS]

That came out amazing! I'm not good with the board aspect of things so do you sell a kit where all I have to do is plug the lights into and go with it? Great video! Thanks

[@rickyboobie54]

I was thinking of making a totem to walk around a festival with how are the different graphics controlled can i switch them on the fly with a phone ?

[@DrZzs]

Yes. You can upload the sequences to FPP that runs on the Kulp board then you can have them play one by one or you can switch them on the fly using your phone, but I think you need internet connection to go between the two. The phone is easy. I don't know about the Kulp. Perhaps there is a way that you can connect directly to it, but I don't know just yet. However, if you join the discord channel there will absolutely be some people that can answer your question. -Grzzs

[@PaulA-jd9oy]

What size wire did you use, and did you need to do any power injection?

contratz, It looks awesome. What about coat it with diffuser layer ? Did you try with that ?

[@shanerankin5126]

I really want to make this. Any reason why this can be controlled by the Dig Octa being ran by a Raspberry Pi with FPP on it?

[@Pyromancers]

Could be easier design with a few vertical high density LED strips and it all spins and uses persistence of vision to create images?

[@lightsonadmiral]

Nice work guys! V2 could be an awesome tree topper.

[@DrZzs]

That would be cool! Just need to figure out how to weather proof it. It could be done.

[@lightsonadmiral]

For sure. I wonder about a clear/transparent flex-seal or something. Weatherproof pixels. Something like that.@@DrZzs

[@DrZzs]

The pixels are already IP67 so they should be good. All that is really in question is the soldering joints. You would need to silicone the solder joints and then put the electronics into a case. Not that bad honestly.

[@lightsonadmiral]

Sweet, lets do it! @@DrZzs

[@zakpack]

Using this as a topper would be great. Doesn't look any bigger than a 36" star. The electronics could then be in a waterproof case and placed on the tree pole instead of within the sphere. This would decrease the weight of the sphere. The more I think of this the more excited I am for doing this project. I just received my @mattosdesigns medium Tilt-Up Tree which will stand about 8 feet high and I think that this would be more unique than just another star. High much filament was used to print this? More than 1KG spool?@@DrZzs

[@made.by.morten.laboratories]

Very cool project ! 😀, what kind of filament would you recommend?

[@DrZzs]

I used PLA, nothing fancy. It works just fine. I would use whichever filament you perfer.

[@darzoom]

Great work Y'all!

[@DrZzs]

Thank you!

[@Stephen-Jones]

I think your all seeing eye was faulty, the snow didn't melt nearby 😂 Thanks for another great vid and making me want to make one now 🎉

[@DrZzs]

Our pleasure! We didn't put the magic into the eye. We can't find the ring.

[@ninerbuddy]

can this be ran by a digquad or digocta? does digquad or diguno have fpp options?

[@DrZzs]

No, sorry. an Octa might be able to do it, but that's because it has 8 outputs. Uno or Quad can't run this many pixels. I guess we forgot to include that there are 6300 pixels. That's too many for an Uno or Quad.

[@djendjen8083]

what if you put a defuser on it ?

[@JorgeBonilla-z4e]

Is the bigger sphere broken?

[@airpeguiV2]

As a rough estimate, how much power do the V1 and V2 consume? They look super bright! Even though they aren’t at full brightness!

[@lionelbrown5846]

Hey what are you up to? You should bring that thing to Las Vegas. I will post it on the top of my 4 runner in the good lot with a price tag on it.

[@kashifa723]

This is incredible! I love the detailed tutorial too! I just wanted to ask since this is the first video I’ve seen of y’all, have you used WLED and how would you compare it to the LED software you’re using? What would be the advantage one has over the other, and is that why you used this specific setup building the sphere?

[@DrZzs]

WLED is amazing software and it works really really well, but it is limited. If you want to display more complex things than just colors then that when you break out the big guns like we did on this project! Thanks for watching.

[@SirPoonga]

Do you plan on making an enclosure for the electronics? I am worried about weather.

[@DrZzs]

No. At this time I don't have any plans on making an enclosure. If you wanted to make it weather proof then you would need to put the electronics in a box and then silicone the solder joints.

[@the_RCB_films]

I wish people would do this for game consoles. Imagine playing games made for this :0

[@Devthedev.]

12:21 stick with it song

[@brianmorgan7207]

Looks like I'll become a Patron member, cause I want to build this? Great job.

[@DrZzs]

Awesome! I look forward to sharing this with you!

[@helipilotuh1]

You should make one the perfect size for a snowman head, and maybe cover it something transparent that looks like snow.

[@DrZzs]

That's a cool idea! Would you build a snowman around it so that it is real snow and then the head is the V2 display?

[@helipilotuh1]

@@DrZzs that was my thought! Could do frosty animations or something funny like that. No snow where I live though lol.

[@DrZzs]

There should be snow here, but alas not much this year.

[@stl1981]

When I find someone close with a 3D printer, I’m making one !

[@jimturnbull2343]

I totally agree with you I want to build the sphere also but need to find the printer

[@G_____]

Try your local library

[@Pauluz_The_Web_Gnome]

The little one is useable..much muc better than the big brother!

[@csongorvarga]

This new one turned out great! How the total number of pixels compare to the v1?

[@DrZzs]

6K for the V2 and 20K for the V1

[@AKJammer1]

@@DrZzs A lot cheaper!! I'm just getting into the LED world, but this is on my todo list.

[@DrZzs]

Excellent! When you make your sphere make sure to post your progress in discord! We'd love to follow it.

[@sebassanchezc-1379]

AWESOME

[@DrZzs]

Thanks 🤗 and Thanks for watching!

[@critical_always]

Can the plastic of the frame handle the heat from those LED's?

[@DrZzs]

Great question and yes! We just used pla, not pla + or anything special and the LED's are barely warm. The LED don't dissipate too much heat.

[@philippeesteve7654]

Superbe !

[@tonymalagisi3352]

hey I'm interested in building one of these it's awesome,, where can I find the 3d printed files and the xlights models

[@DrZzs]

If you join the Fans! or higher on Patreon you'll get the files. The files are on Patreon in the digital files area. Same with the lights model.

[@josephwisniewski3673]

Actually, it's a 2.54x increase in resolution, which is measured in pixels/linear distance (inches, cm, mm, etc).

[@ManolisG-yp7gl]

Can you send me the 3d design for the sphere? I am making one...

[@jakefairley6993]

They said in the video the files are available for their patreon backers

[@Eddesignful]

Are ip30 and ip65 lights significantly different?

[@TheAnimeist]

Bravo!

[@Техаѕ]

hey where did you get those video files for the spheres? did you make them yourself or get them from somewhere? it would be really cool to have them if thats possible!

[@Scar32]

where did you get the content that you put on the sphere? I have a little 3D model on my computer that I can slap video on it but it would be cool to have sphere made content to put on it. I also would like to make a paper sphere so that I could shine a projector though the bottom so it would be good for that as well!

[@dejanstanisic8966]

I think that you can get a much better result if the led stripes are black. You have too much light reflection from that white color. Older version is better in that sense.

[@DrZzs]

Yeah, I see your point. We thought white would help reflect the light better, but I don't think we need that much reflection especially since the brightness is typically only around 5-10%. Thanks for watching!

[@Grant-jv6hw]

How do I get my hands on these files? It’s so cool I need to build this

[@DrZzs]

You can purchase them from the Drzzs shop (link in the description) or you can join the patreon (link in the description). We'd love to see what you do with your build so make sure you are posting your progress in our discord channel (see link in the description).

[@redstonecommander5190]

Maybe you should create a Christmas decoration out of this project you make you know make a similar project, but with a little bit of a hook sticking on the top of the sphere called the magic ornament. It is supposed to be a 12 foot diameter sphere that can become any object you want toachieve with the same stuff you use when it comes to the replica Las Vegas sphere

[@hannes7794]

Now do this but as big as v1.

[@SirPoonga]

How many LEDs is the v2? I think I saw about 6k?

[@DrZzs]

Yep! Good counting! 6063 LEDs. Thanks for watching!

[@scarfa21]

so do you provide detailed instructions with your patreon?

[@aminshams]

This is amazing! I'd love to create one of these and take it to burning man this year. Any thoughts on if it'd be possible to run this off of a battery? How heavy is the sphere?

[@DrZzs]

Cool idea! I'm sure you can run it off of a battery. How long??? I have no idea. Obviously it would depend on how big the battery is. As far as weight goes we can get you a more scientific number, but I would say about 10 lbs. The heaviest component is the power supply. That takes up half the weight. When you build it make sure you post updates on discord!!!!

[@aminshams]

trying to reply but it keeps disappearing.. anyway, i might need to play around with it to see if i can make it lighter! my goal is to attach it to a 15' telescoping pole.@@DrZzs

[@DrZzs]

Interesting. Most of the weight is in the power supply so if you can just put the power supply on the ground and then just run power to the sphere. That should keep the weight down!

[@666firewall666]

How much PLA did you need for the print?

[@DrZzs]

I don't know exactly, but I know it is less than 1kg. Thanks for the question

[@SirPoonga]

If this is going outside I would not use PLA. Either PETG or ASA. PLA degrades fast in weather.

[@DrZzs]

I've never used a 3d print outside so that is good information.

[@1MooreOpinion]

Do you have a link to purchase the file for a CNC?

[@DrZzs]

Yes. If you sign up for Patreon you will have access to the CNC files.

[@ThePaintPaperHustle]

Dude this technology put into a car in small ways would be absolutely sick!

[@kiwigeeknz]

It’s only really 6 x the resolution if the size was the same. 6 x the pixel density yes, but not resoloution.

[@DrZzs]

dang it. You are right. We worded that incorrectly. Thanks for the heads up.

[@kiwigeeknz]

@@DrZzskeen to know total pixel count for both. I think you gave the pixel count on the big one. Really cool project. I have a half sphere.

[@DrZzs]

Wow! Great work. I probably just missed it, but just in case, make sure you are posting your progress in the discord channel.

[@mortenmoulder]

I wonder if it would be possible to design a flexible but rigid PCB with the LEDs already attached. Hmm. Not sure if that exists

[@DrZzs]

Ya, if the LED strips were more rigid... There's certainly no off-the-shelf solution.

[@mortenmoulder]

@@DrZzs I was thinking ditch the strips and just make a PCB directly with the WS2812b or whatever on them. Use the PCB as the rigid part. But they probably won't be too rigid.

[@tin2001]

I'm fairly sure the aluminium backed PCBs like you get in normal white room LED lights would be able to be rolled (in a forming machine, not by hand) into rings... But the LEDs would need to be soldered on after rolling, and hand soldering hundreds of LEDs to aluminium PCBs would suck. I think I'd stick with the self adhesive flexible strips... Unless you plan to mass produce these.

[@DrZzs]

Yeah soldering 6000 LEDs would take forever!

[@mortenmoulder]

@@DrZzs Get them preassembled by the manufacturer. All the electronics I design and sell come directly from the manufacturer with the components on the PCB

[@Pegaroo_]

How many meters of strip did it take to build?

[@DrZzs]

70 meters of lights!

[@gedgicat2063]

Great video, and great update to the sphere project. Did you make any progress with the pre-made unit? It would be great to see more effects at different distances to give people a better understanding of the visual they should expect. Perhaps something that looks more jittery when too close so it is easier to see the target viewing distance sweet spot. 👏👏👏 Keep the updates coming

[@DrZzs]

Not much progress on the prebuilt units. Right now we are just offering the plans. Thanks for watching!

[@MrMadeinthe80s]

Id use black background LED strips instead of the white.

[@DrZzs]

We thought white would help reflect the light better, but I don't think we need that much reflection especially since the brightness is typically only around 5-10%. Thanks for watching!

[@james10739]

1 led per foot i expected closer as good as it looks in video

[@DrZzs]

Yep. 1 per foot. You have to be pretty far away for it to look really good.

[@rogerc7960]

Can it play KZbin 360 videos?

[@DrZzs]

Sure. It can play any video. Not sure how it would look. Guess we’ll have to try it and see.

[@tiarealbering9630]

Try add a white diffuser over the whole globe. No more lines

[@tapewerm6716]

Now you just need to raise it up high enough to piss off all the neighbors! lol

[@JoeyOsteShleven]

Nice job! This is actually a size my wife wouldn't throw divorce papers at me for trying to build. I'm sure you have been asked this, but I am curious if you guys considered cob lights to help diffuse the light?

[@DrZzs]

HA! So true. It is so nice that they put up with our crazy shenanigan's!!!!

[@phreshxmetal]

Awesome project, but how did this become a Bambu x1c ad? Lol

[@DrZzs]

Thanks. We have to try and offset the costs of our projects that way we can bring you bigger and better projects in the future, but I honestly love the bambu printers. That is why we chose to promote them.

[@Wastelandgoose]

Man I want one orb size so I can ponder on it 😂😂

[@grassrj]

Do you sell these?

[@griper00]

incase it in resin

[@SteveNicklin]

whats the diameter of the V2?

[@DrZzs]

50cm or about 20inches

[@BPTtech]

3amps?

[@DrZzs]

I'm sorry I don't follow. Are you asking how many amps this pulls?

[@BPTtech]

@@DrZzs yes

[@DrZzs]

Of course that matters on the which color you have displayed and the brightness. I haven't measured it but theoretically is should pull about 6 amps.

[@jerrylundberg]

How about a local workshop

[@Devthedev.]

Make it react to sound

[@GHILLIESARCADEANDMORE]

Cool

[@DrZzs]

Thanks for watching!

[@dinoscheidt]

I wonder, in a complete different approach, if three cheap DLP projectors and sheets of fresnel (the stuff people do invisible cloak meme videos with) inside could yield similar results

[@DrZzs]

We will have to research this and see what we can come up with. Good suggestion!

[@enoz.j3506]

Anyone can do this,...mm i dont think so !!!! & i am a qualified electronic engineer ,with 20 years.experience, yes ive done similar projects. it takes a lot of man hours ,with good soldering skills & knowledge of components + well expensive, The mechanical POV LED Globe would be more suitable for beginners, it's a lot cheaper and less time consuming to build. This does look well cool though. I was unaware of the las vegas one. Keep up the good work, love it.

[@DrZzs]

Respectfully, I firmly believe that anyone can accomplish this! It took us numerous failures to grasp these concepts, but failure is simply a stepping stone to learning. Starting a project from scratch is undoubtedly challenging, but we've tackled many of the toughest aspects and with a supportive community, there's abundant big brains available. I concur that the journey from the beginning wasn't smooth sailing; it took two of us two to three months to navigate through it all. Even then, we relied heavily on our community to figure out the Xlights model. Thanks for watching and the comment!

[@ihavekalashnikovyoudomath9275]

What you invented is the modern disco ball

[@drawzeywazig9096]

What buttons do i use for a smart home? I'm thinking right now I want matter/thread switches so I can directly use home assistant to link them to output devices without a system in between. But I also want those switches to be wired, I also want them to be compatible with future switches. I don't want to replace wires if there will be a better switch out there. I also want like half of my switches to have 4 buttons or more. I want a few to have a dimming option. I also don't want them to use wifi so I dont overload my router. Where the hell do I start. What do you recommend?

[@377omkar]

Chinese manufacturer taking notes 😅

[@LEDSolution-SylvaChen]

Your idea is great, and we also have similar works. We can communicate and exchange ideas.

[@caffeinatedfunctionality]

While that is cool, I have to day strips are just prone to failure. It might last a small amount of time before having to replace it. I bet using the nano pixels or fairy lights as some call them, this would make it last longer but regardless this is awesome

[@DrZzs]

Interesting. We may have to try that too sometime!

[@valzzu]

cool

[@DrZzs]

Thank you! Thanks for watching!

[@andrew-q5h9w]

put a diffuser over it

[@やまもも-g4x]

😂Sphere has been kidnapped

[@usermk6sn2cf3c]

Can it run DOOM?

[@DrZzs]

That would be something to try!