Stap 1: Requirements

• 5v angel button (Link)
• Oled display (Link)
• ESP8266 D1 Wemos (Link)
• USB hub (Link)
• USB-C adapter (Link)
• USB to USB-C cable
• Rotary push button (Link)
• Female dupont kabels

Stap 2: Software

The docking station is controlled by a (small) microcontroller with Wi-Fi. Another microcontroller can also be used, such as an ESP32(With Bluetooth capabilities). The microcontroller can be flashed using a microUSB cable. A hole is reserved for this connector at the top of the case.

The environment in which I've developed the firmware is PlatformIO, however another IDE (which supports Arduino firmware) could also be used for it.

The firmware can be downloaded at the bottom of the page and the code can be found in main.cpp.

At the top of this file the pin configurations are found. If you choose to use other I/O of the microcontroller, these can be adjusted here. Furthermore, it is important to look at the define "NUM_LEDS". This determines the number of LEDs of any connected LED strip. In this project, a LED strip with chipset WS2812B has been chosen, if you want to use a different one, you must also adjust it in the define at the top of the page.

The firmware ensures that the LED strip is turned on and off based on two factors;

• The signal from the desktop (PC_STATUS)
• The rotary push button

As soon as the LED strip is on and has the status: "ControllerBoxStateRunning", the brightness can be adjusted with the rotary button by turning to the left or right.

Stap 3: Case

The case in this example is printed in PLA (Black), but it could also be printed in other materials. The STL files can be downloaded at the bottom of the page. The components can be put together using threads (which I melted with a soldering iron) and screws.

The other components can be glued together, this was chosen because this prevents the casing from being printed on supports. The hardware can be attached using, for example, hot glue.

In order to be able to attach the USB adapter you will have to encase it in the printed housing. This in combination with a small spring (from a pen, for example) keeps the whole in place and ensures that the USB connector can move up and down.

Stap 4: Electronics

The electronics can be connected as follows:

Microcontroller:

• D0 -> I/O of LED motherboard (PC status). Since my pc has an output voltage of 5V I converted it to 3.3V
• D3 -> Rotary Button (10k ohm resistor to power supply)
• D5 -> Rotary pin A (10k ohm resistor to power supply)
• D6 -> Rotary pin B (10k ohm resistor to power supply)
• SDA(IO21) -> SDA of OLED
• SCL(IO22) -> SCL of OLED

Connection diagram can be found below in the pictures

Angel Button:

Depending on the type of angel button, in this case the + and - of the LED could be connected directly to the motherboard and the NC connection could be connected directly to the power switch of the motherboard.

For the USB hub I removed the case around the PCB and only used the PCB of the USB HUB. A USB cable is connected to this that can be connected directly to your desktop.

By gluing female headers(3 pin and 4 pin) in the case, a connector from the motherboard (4 pins) can be connected to the docking station. The 3 pins are intended for the power supply and digital input of the LED strip.