Orderly POV display using ESP32

Chinese youtuber [corebb] presents the second version of his POV display. The previous version used 5050 size SMT addressable LEDs, which didn't offer great resolution, so he redesigned to use a much higher number (160 to be exact) of APA102 LEDs. These are 2mm on the side making them a little harder to handle so after some initial solder paste wobbles he decided to use a contract assembly house to do the trickier for him. It failed because they didn't "get" the part and placed them the wrong way! Not to be deterred, he tried another modified solder stencil and finally managed to light the entire strip properly.

Based on an ESP32 (using the Arduino stack) and an SDC board for control, and a wirelessly charged LiPo cell, the build is pretty neat. Two hall effect switches are mounted at the beginning of each of the two arms, probably as a lining

Real-time video streaming? Check!

with a magnet on the case somewhere, although it's not clear. The schematic and PCB seem to have been designed with JLCEDA, which is a repackage of EasyEDA. We can see the appeal with the strong integration of this with the JLC and LCSC services. It looks like it's even managed to get streaming video working - showing live video from a webcam - which is quite an undertaking to achieve when you consider the amount of real-time processing involved. . As hinted in the video, trying to increase the resolution beyond this point is not viable with the processing capability of the ESP32.

A resin printed case completes the build, with a threaded mount added to the back, to allow typical camera mounts to be used to hold the thing up. A smart decision, in our opinion.

We love the POV displays here, this spherical POV display is particularly fabulous, but you don't need fancy hardware if you have a handy ceiling fan and some spare protoboard.

Thanks to [mrx23dot] for the tip!