Aurora Ring

A LED ring alerts system of when the aurora (northern lights) might be visible from the UK

This project is base on API by AuroraWatch UK

Hardware:

1. WeMos D1 Mini — A tiny ESP8266-based board that run Arduino code, and has built-in WiFi support
2. A RGB LED Ring, I recommend using the 24 NeoPixel LED

Software:

1. WebSockets - WebSocket Server and Client for Arduino (v2.0.2 or newer)
2. ADAFRUIT_NeoPixel - Controlling single-wire-based LED pixels
3. SimpleTimer - A simple library to launch timed actions

Installation

Arduino Environment Configuration

Make sure you have Arduino 1.6.7 or newer. You can download the latest version from www.arduino.cc. You will need to set up your Arduino environment for ESP8266 development, I use the AdaFruit tutorial. From the Arduino IDE, install the WebSockets and AdaFruit NeoPixel libraries (Sketch> Include Library> Manage Libraries)

Connecting the NeoPixel Ring to the WeMos D1 Mini

Connect the NeoPixel Ring to your WeMos D1 Mini as follows:

• NeoPixel VCC ↔ WeMos 5V
• NeoPixel GND ↔ WeMos G
• NeoPixel IN / DI ↔ WeMos D2 pin

Setting up the code

Update aurara_ring.ino with your Wi-Fi network id and password. If you are not using ring with 24 LEDs, update NUM_PIXELS with the number of LEDs

const char* networks[][2] = {
        { "ssid", "password"}
    };

const int NUM_PIXELS 24

If you need to set more the one network, set it like this:

 const char* networks[][2] = {
         { "ssid1", "password1"},
         { "ssid2", "password2"},
         { "ssid3", "password3" }
     };

Testing the hardware

For testing the ring, change testRingMode to true.

const boolean testRingMode = true;

The projecr on instructables

For this project I was inspired by Uri Shaked article "How to Connect Your T-Shirt to Slack Using Arduino"