Rotating LED Sphere – Building a RP2040 POV Display Step by Step

In this video, I show you how I built a rotating LED sphere based on the RP2040 microcontroller, capable of displaying videos, animated GIFs, and static images using the persistence of vision (POV) principle.
This project is inspired by the Las Vegas Sphere – but fully DIY and powered wirelessly, without slip rings!
You’ll learn everything you need to build your own POV LED display from scratch: from the mechanical design and electronics to the firmware, web interface, and video processing.

key features:
64 RGB LEDs form a 170 mm diameter rotating sphere
Interlaced display resolution: 64 × 256 pixels
Supports videos, GIFs, and images from SD card
Controlled by RP2040 with high-speed PIO-based LED driver
Wireless power transmission via Royer converter – no slip rings!
Optional ESP01s microcontroller for Wi-Fi remote control via web interface
Open source: All PCB files, firmware, and 3D models are available on GitHub

chapters:
0:00 Introduction
2:24 Web Interface
5:28 Video Conversion
7:19 Inside the Device – Components & Function
10:06 Display Assembly
19:10 Electronics Overview
29:07 Software and Code
30:38 Final Thoughts

Project ressources:
https://github.com/lhm0/rotating_sphere
https://github.com/lhm0/rotating_sphe...

A great source for LEDs is www.LED1.de . This is the LED I am using in this project:
https://www.led1.de/shop/led-rainbow-...

I have developed a series of POV displays. Please refer to

DIY Rotating LED Display: An Arduino-Powered Time and Weather Display Project. POV Propeller Display
   • DIY Rotating LED Display: An Arduino-Power...  

DIY rotating color LED display - ESP32 and RP2040 microcontrollers. POV (persistence of vision)
   • DIY rotating color LED display - ESP32 and...  

Rotating Display pico - how to make a POV display controlled by a Raspberry Pi Pico. DIY.
   • Rotating Display pico - how to make a POV ...  

#POVdisplay #RP2040 #DIYelectronics #LEDsphere #opensourcehardware #LED, #DIY, #Arduino