**Building a Custom Fan with Arduino**

The author of this article has built a custom fan using an Arduino microcontroller and various components such as a 6 mm thick Beach plywood, scissors, glue, handsaw, files, drill, acetone, sandpaper, LiPo battery, protection circuits, LEDs, resistors, Arduino mini, and switch. The fan's rotating shaft was vector graphic for the design used to cut out the shape from the plywood. The author used a combination of manual and automated techniques to create the rough shape and curve on each side.

The finished stick is not aesthetically pleasing, but it fits snugly onto the motor shaft and spins without any difficulties. However, this was achieved at the cost of creating an unbalanced mass center, resulting in vibration. This issue was addressed by adding a small magnet to one end of the fan and attaching it to the protective grill of the motor. The author adjusted the code to react to changes in the input voltage value, which is generated by the sensor.

The author used an Arduino mini microcontroller as the brain of the system, connected with five red LEDs with 200 ohm resistors. The LED lights emitted a decent amount of light over the complete voltage range of the LiPo battery. Before sealing and soldering the components together, the author tested the circuit and made any necessary adjustments.

The power source for the fan is an 80 Mah LiPo battery, which provides sufficient power to drive the motor at approximately 450 RPM. The author connected the battery to a protection circuit that prevents over-discharge, ensuring the system's stability and longevity. The circuit also consists of a small switch, which allows the user to turn the fan on and off.

The Arduino mini is programmed using standard C++ code, with the author adding additional functions to display different patterns on the LEDs. However, even after uploading new codes, the pattern did not stay still, as the LED frequencies were not in sync with each other. To address this issue, the author acquired a U18C whole effect sensor, which has a 10 kilohm pull-up resistor and can detect changes in voltage value when exposed to a magnet.

The author mounted the sensor to the fan's stick, sold it together, and connected its output to pin 7 of the Arduino mini. The code was adjusted to react to changes in the input voltage value generated by the sensor, allowing the LED pattern to stabilize. After making these adjustments, the project is complete, and the author was satisfied with the results.

The article concludes with a message from the author, thanking readers for watching the video and considering supporting them through Patreon to keep producing content like this. The author also encourages readers to stay creative and looks forward to seeing them in their next project.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enI recently found this old small fan in my basement which offers two speed modes to cool me off rapidly sounds exciting right well not really so in this video Let's modify this fan with a couple of LEDs to create a Persistence of vision display or POV for short in order to create patterns words or many other things if you get creative let's get started first off I remove the protective Grill by unscrewing one screw and also remove the propeller from the shaft with a bit of force but before designing the later rotating popsicle stick though we need to understand how puv Works a good example is my 4x4x4 multiplexed RGB LED cube while it looks like all LEDs emit a green light at the same time it is actually just one layer at a time but by going through the layers in a matter of micros seconds our eyes simply fuse those single layer lightups together due to its inertia the same applies to our rotating LEDs while it looks like I use dozens of them when the fan is spinning there are actually just five of them which turn on and off in a matter of micros seconds as well if you're wondering why exactly five of them it is the minimum number to draw ladders and now that we understand the theory a bit more let's build this thing already I firstly measured out the possible diameter of the new propeller which I set to 17 cm with the help of inkscape I then created such a rectangle with a height of 2 cm which correlates with the height of the alino pro mini I will use as the brain of the organization next I rounded off the edges added five five mm holes at the end of one side for the LEDs and finally added a 6 mm hole in the center of the vector graphic for the rotating shaft of the fan then I printed the design used scissors to cut it out and glued it to a leftover piece of 6 mm thick Beach plywood afterwards I used the handsaw to make the rough shape and files to create the curve on each side through the help of a drill I complete the shape by creating the necessary holes and used acetone and sandpaper in the end to remove the remaining paper AES now the finished stick will definitely not win a beauty competition but on the other hand it fits knuckly onto the motor shaft and Spins without any difficulties only problem was the newly occurring vibration which is the result of a mass Center which does not correspond with the center of rotation or simply puts the popsicle stick is unbalanced but since this is just a prototype pipe we will take care of that later for now I got myself an 80 Mah LiPo battery as a power source and a fitting protection circuits which will prevent it from over discharge then I grabbed five red LEDs with 200 ohm resistors which will emit a decent amount of lights over the complete voltage range of the battery additionally I use the already mentioned adrino mini and a small switch at first I position the LEDs in the holes bent the pins and sold all of the cathodes together after a short test I sealed the deal with hu and sold the resistors to the pins two 3 four five and six of the uino and while I was at it I also sort the wire to the VCC and ground pin next I glued the Arduino to the woods and connected the resistors to the anod of the LEDs in this constellation then I glued the slide switch and LiPo battery to the other side of the stick so the wire of the plus terminal and VCC pin of the Arduino to the switch and connected the minus terminal of the battery directly to the ground pin through wire and that is basically the whole circuit pretty simple as a first test codes I lit up the LEDs one after the other in two alternating directions to upload it to the uino I used an ftdi breakout which pins I just pressed onto the corresponding pins of the uino after bringing the stick into position position it was time for the first results which already looked more exciting than the usual boring fan and best of all the vibration is gone as well because I balanced out the mass Distribution on both sides by accident now to speed up the light pattern I decreased the time between the LED changes which resulted in a triangle wave at least at certain moments most of the time though the pattern does not stay still and seems like it's rotating as well the reason for that are the different frequencies while the motor reaches around 450 RPM so 7.5 Hertz the triangle pattern has a frequency of 242 Hertz which is not an even multiple of 7.5 Hertz that means that the pattern doesn't have the same starting point in every cycle it always moves a bit to the right and left which creates the movement before fixing this problem though I also created a couple of functions to dis play different ladders I simply stored the necessary led states for each lad in an array and then activated them through two full Loops after uploading the new codes the results were once again not that great because the pattern does not stay still to get rid of that problem I got myself a u18 whole effect sensor with a 10 kilohm pull-up resistor after hooking it up to my laap bench power supply according to my finished schematic of this build you can see that by bringing a magnet close to it the output State changes its voltage value which we can use as an indicator for start point of the light pattern so I glued the IC to the stick sold the output to pin 7 of the uino and took it up to power of course you can also find a parts list schematic codes and better pictures as always on instructables after mounting a magnet to the protective Grill of the fan adjusting the Cod so that it reacts to a change of the input voltage value and doing some final tests this project is finally complete and it surely does look awesome I hope you like this video If so don't forget to hit that Thumbs Up Button consider supporting me through Paton to keep such videos coming stay creative and I will see you next timeI recently found this old small fan in my basement which offers two speed modes to cool me off rapidly sounds exciting right well not really so in this video Let's modify this fan with a couple of LEDs to create a Persistence of vision display or POV for short in order to create patterns words or many other things if you get creative let's get started first off I remove the protective Grill by unscrewing one screw and also remove the propeller from the shaft with a bit of force but before designing the later rotating popsicle stick though we need to understand how puv Works a good example is my 4x4x4 multiplexed RGB LED cube while it looks like all LEDs emit a green light at the same time it is actually just one layer at a time but by going through the layers in a matter of micros seconds our eyes simply fuse those single layer lightups together due to its inertia the same applies to our rotating LEDs while it looks like I use dozens of them when the fan is spinning there are actually just five of them which turn on and off in a matter of micros seconds as well if you're wondering why exactly five of them it is the minimum number to draw ladders and now that we understand the theory a bit more let's build this thing already I firstly measured out the possible diameter of the new propeller which I set to 17 cm with the help of inkscape I then created such a rectangle with a height of 2 cm which correlates with the height of the alino pro mini I will use as the brain of the organization next I rounded off the edges added five five mm holes at the end of one side for the LEDs and finally added a 6 mm hole in the center of the vector graphic for the rotating shaft of the fan then I printed the design used scissors to cut it out and glued it to a leftover piece of 6 mm thick Beach plywood afterwards I used the handsaw to make the rough shape and files to create the curve on each side through the help of a drill I complete the shape by creating the necessary holes and used acetone and sandpaper in the end to remove the remaining paper AES now the finished stick will definitely not win a beauty competition but on the other hand it fits knuckly onto the motor shaft and Spins without any difficulties only problem was the newly occurring vibration which is the result of a mass Center which does not correspond with the center of rotation or simply puts the popsicle stick is unbalanced but since this is just a prototype pipe we will take care of that later for now I got myself an 80 Mah LiPo battery as a power source and a fitting protection circuits which will prevent it from over discharge then I grabbed five red LEDs with 200 ohm resistors which will emit a decent amount of lights over the complete voltage range of the battery additionally I use the already mentioned adrino mini and a small switch at first I position the LEDs in the holes bent the pins and sold all of the cathodes together after a short test I sealed the deal with hu and sold the resistors to the pins two 3 four five and six of the uino and while I was at it I also sort the wire to the VCC and ground pin next I glued the Arduino to the woods and connected the resistors to the anod of the LEDs in this constellation then I glued the slide switch and LiPo battery to the other side of the stick so the wire of the plus terminal and VCC pin of the Arduino to the switch and connected the minus terminal of the battery directly to the ground pin through wire and that is basically the whole circuit pretty simple as a first test codes I lit up the LEDs one after the other in two alternating directions to upload it to the uino I used an ftdi breakout which pins I just pressed onto the corresponding pins of the uino after bringing the stick into position position it was time for the first results which already looked more exciting than the usual boring fan and best of all the vibration is gone as well because I balanced out the mass Distribution on both sides by accident now to speed up the light pattern I decreased the time between the LED changes which resulted in a triangle wave at least at certain moments most of the time though the pattern does not stay still and seems like it's rotating as well the reason for that are the different frequencies while the motor reaches around 450 RPM so 7.5 Hertz the triangle pattern has a frequency of 242 Hertz which is not an even multiple of 7.5 Hertz that means that the pattern doesn't have the same starting point in every cycle it always moves a bit to the right and left which creates the movement before fixing this problem though I also created a couple of functions to dis play different ladders I simply stored the necessary led states for each lad in an array and then activated them through two full Loops after uploading the new codes the results were once again not that great because the pattern does not stay still to get rid of that problem I got myself a u18 whole effect sensor with a 10 kilohm pull-up resistor after hooking it up to my laap bench power supply according to my finished schematic of this build you can see that by bringing a magnet close to it the output State changes its voltage value which we can use as an indicator for start point of the light pattern so I glued the IC to the stick sold the output to pin 7 of the uino and took it up to power of course you can also find a parts list schematic codes and better pictures as always on instructables after mounting a magnet to the protective Grill of the fan adjusting the Cod so that it reacts to a change of the input voltage value and doing some final tests this project is finally complete and it surely does look awesome I hope you like this video If so don't forget to hit that Thumbs Up Button consider supporting me through Paton to keep such videos coming stay creative and I will see you next time