RGB Catear Build Instructions

This guide aims to explain in simple terms how to assemble the c3cat catear build kit. To follow it, you need soldering equipment, a heatgun, a pair of striping pliers, catears as well as one of our build kits.
If you did not get a hold of one of those kits, take a look at our BOM.

The general project assembly looks like this where each of the components must be connected via soldering points.

┌─────┐                          ╭───╮
│ ESP ├┄┄╼ ╾┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄│   │
└─────┘
         ╱ ╲         ╱ ╲          ╱ ╲
     pluggable      long         catear
     connector      cable        & leds
          

Flash the microcontroller §

We recommend to use WLED as a firmware on all our catears. It offers a wide range of features for display and animation and can be controlled comfortably from your smartphone.

1. Take the microcontroller out of its packaging and connect it to your computer.
   Depending on your choice of linux distribution, you may need to ensure that you have appropriate permissions to interact with the serial device. Check your distros documentation if you are unsure or things are not working as expected.
2. Go to WLED-Install and follow the instructions there.
   If your browser supports the Web Serial API (i.e. is Chromium based), you can flash the microcontroller directly from it by pressing the Install button.
3. After flashing, you will be prompted to choose a WiFi connection. You can skip this step in which case the controller will open its own hotspot to connect to later.
4. Flash WLED using the web installer.

Solder cables to LED strip §

One of the most important steps is to electircally connect the microcontroller to the LED strip. We will start with the LED side.

Basically, the LED strip has three connections. One for data, one for ground and one for voltage. Each of these three functions requires a separately soldered connection.

Make sure to solder to the input side of the LED strip.

1. Prepare the long cable for soldering by removing its insulation.

   Strip about 1cm of insulation from one end of the long cable using your striping pliers.
   The three cores inside should be stripped with something softer and finer. Your fingernails are excellent for this purpose.

2. Expose the contacts of the LED strip.

   Peel back the protective paper from the in end of the LED strip. Also peel back the glue covering the protectors but only from the contacts, not from the whole strip segments.

3. Solder the three cable cores to their corresponding connectors on the LED strip. We use these combinations:

   Red

   +5V

   Yellow

   Data

   Black

   Ground

4. Put a 2cm piece of the large black heatshrink over the soldered connection.

   You need to cut the 2cm piece off the included heatshrink yourself. To apply it, place it over the soldering point so that all bits of connective material are covered but so that you hide as few LEDs as you can manage. In that position, use your heat gun to fix everything into place.

Solder Cable to pluggable connector §

The other side of the long cable now needs to be connected to the pluggable connector.

1. Remove the insulation from the unsoldered end of the long cable and grab the male end of the plugs (the one with the pins).
2. Put the remainder of the large black heatshrink on the long cable. Also put one equally long piece of the small black heatshrink on each of the pluggable connectors cables. Do this without applying heat.

   The small heatshrinks need to be put in place now because they cannot be applied after soldering.

3. Solder all the cable cores together in pairs and apply the prepared heatshrink afterwards.. We use these combinations:

   Red

   Red

   Black

   Black

   Yellow

   White

4. Apply the prepared heatshrinks. Make sure that you wrap each cable core in heatshrink individually and then put an additional heatshrink over the whole connection as a whole.

Solder Pluggable Connector to Microcontroller §

Now you need to solder the other (female) part of the pluggable connector to your microcontroller.

1. Solder the female side of the pluggable connector to the microcontroller.

   Red

   5V

   Black

   Ground

   White

   GPIO 2

Finalize the Assembly §

1. Place the microcontroller in the included case.
2. Cut off two 1cm long pieces of the clear heatshrink and put them on long cable of the LED strip without heating.
3. Attach the LED strip onto your favourite pair of catears. The end of the LED strip should align with the outer corner of one of the ears. After you have aligned the first part, glue the remaining strip firmly onto the ears.

   The strip contains its own glue strip on the bottom. To use it, peel off the protective cover (without also removing the glue coating) and start attaching it to your catears.

4. To secure the LED strip, pull the two 1cm pieces of clear heatshrink over the ends and apply them there. Additionally, use the larger part of the clear heatshrink to secure the long cable to one of the ear holders.

   Be careful to not apply too much heat. Otherwise, the plastic of the catears themselves might start to melt.

Congratulations! You now have a freely customizable pair of RGB catears :3

Don't feel pressured to wear cat ears – you're perfectly fine without them.
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