component

Larry LED Nameplate

Unreviewed

by Kyle Bergstedt

72x24mm USB-C desk nameplate with 44 white LEDs spelling LARRY in a 3x5 pixel font. Plug in any iPhone charger and it lights up.

Overview Files Versions Dependencies Discussions Activity
larry-led-nameplate / README.md
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Overview

A white LED desk nameplate that spells LARRY in a 3x5 bitmap pixel font. Designed as an Adom molecule (72 x 24 mm, 4-pin machine contact) so it can be manufactured on the InstaPCB workcell.

How it works

  • 44 white LEDs (0603) arranged in 5 letters: L-A-R-R-Y
  • Each LED has its own 220 ohm current-limiting resistor (0402)
  • All LED+resistor pairs wired in parallel from VBUS to GND
  • USB-C connector on the east edge with 5.1k ohm CC pull-downs
  • 100nF bypass cap on VBUS for decoupling
  • Total draw: ~400mA at 5V (2W) — any phone charger handles it

How to use it

  1. Grab any USB-C cable (iPhone charger works)
  2. Plug one end into the board's east edge
  3. Plug the other end into a 5V USB-C power source
  4. LARRY lights up white

Bill of Materials

Component Value Package Qty
LED white 0603 44
R 220 ohm 0402 44
R_CC1, R_CC2 5.1k ohm 0402 2
C_BYP 100nF 0402 1
J1 TYPE-C-31-M-12 USB-C 1

Pixel font

Each letter is a 3-wide x 5-tall grid at 3mm pitch:

L:        A:        R:        R:        Y:
X . .     . X .     X X .     X X .     X . X
X . .     X . X     X . X     X . X     X . X
X . .     X X X     X X .     X X .     . X .
X . .     X . X     X . X     X . X     . X .
X X X     X . X     X . X     X . X     . X .

LED counts: L=7, A=10, R=10, R=10, Y=7 = 44 total.

Design details

  • Board: 72 x 24 mm, 2-layer, 1.6mm FR4, round edges
  • Molecule type: 4-pin with MachinePinMediumStandard
  • 4 corner machine contacts: MC_VCC1/MC_VCC2 (north), MC_GND1/MC_GND2 (south)
  • Scaffold contacts feed the same VBUS/GND rails as USB-C — board can be powered either way
  • Pixel pitch: 3mm LED-to-LED, 4mm gap between letters
  • White LED Vf ~3.0V, so 220 ohm at 5V gives ~9mA per LED
  • USB-C on east edge using UsbCReceptacle wrapper (TYPE-C-31-M-12, JLCPCB C165948)

Built with

Authored in tscircuit (TSX), previewed with adom-tsci, published to the Adom Wiki.