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Show HN: Remote-Controlled IKEA Deathstar Lamp

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Re: Show HN: Remote-Controlled IKEA Deathstar Lamp

#61

Can the Deathstar lamp firmware be customized to add new modes, like an automatic opening and closing cycle synced to music or other triggers?

The firmware is based on ESPHome, which integrates particularly well into Home Assistant, a popular home automation software; therefore I would recommend to implement such features on a higher layer than the firmware. See here how to e.g. implement a "sundial" function: https://gitlab.com/sephalon/deathstar_lamp#home-assistant-in...

Re: Show HN: Remote-Controlled IKEA Deathstar Lamp

#62
post #16

Cool project indeed. I used to own the first model and thought about how one could motorize the lamp. I used to own the one which didn’t have the reflected coating on the inside panels. At least in Germany they changed that a few years back from plain white to silver or gold reflection. And now the lamp is also available in bigger sizes. I bought it like most because of the interesting design. But was never really pl…

Part of the reason for automating it was that I wanted to integrate the lamp into my home theater setup: When the movie starts, the lamp slowly closes and synchronously dims out (guests always react with a smile to this). Pressing the pause button dims it up again and gives one just enough light to find the bathroom ;-)

That sounds awesome. How much noise makes the motor during open/close cycle? I remember that the plastic had quite some friction on its own.

Re: Show HN: Remote-Controlled IKEA Deathstar Lamp

#63
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Part of the reason for automating it was that I wanted to integrate the lamp into my home theater setup: When the movie starts, the lamp slowly closes and synchronously dims out (guests always react with a smile to this). Pressing the pause button dims it up again and gives one just enough light to find the bathroom ;-)

That sounds awesome. How much noise makes the motor during open/close cycle? I remember that the plastic had quite some friction on its own.

Yes, noise is a problem, which unfortunately makes the lamp quite unpopular with my girlfriend ;-) Some is indeed coming from the folding mechanism itself, but the majority of noise is actually caused by the stepper motor, despite limiting the current to the necessary minimum. One could try to switch to a more advanced (i.e. silent) stepper motor driver than the A4988 (I mainly picked that one because ESPHome already has a driver for it), or use a servo motor instead.

Re: Show HN: Remote-Controlled IKEA Deathstar Lamp

#64
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find your comment very confusing! You don’t understand why people call it the Death Star but as soon as you got the lamp you started calling it the Death Star but you struggle to see the resemblance? Surely you’ve answered your own question…?!

No. This is a case where I am confused by my own behaviour as well! Clearly there is something about it but it's not something I'm conscious about.

As others have said, I think it’s because it looks like the Death Star. I don’t even know Star Wars and I googled what the Death Star looks like and immediately thought “oh, right, this is why people call it the Death Star lamp…”

As an amusing side note, iOS autocapitalises “Death Star”.

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