Weather lamp: Cloudy-A forecast light

We like Raspberry Pi projects that combine craft with cleverness. Cloudy-A is an internet-connected lamp that changes colour depending on the weather.

Cloud-A is “a script for light animations for two LED strips according to the weather forecast,” says Gregor, the project maker.

Build a lamp that responds to weather forecast

Gregor followed this Bright Side YouTube tutorial to make the lamp itself. It’s a simple cloud lamp made from a recycled plastic bottle covered in cotton wool. “

There are actually quite a lot of good tutorials,” said Gregor. “I just chose this one because it resembles most closely my own process and uses the same kind of container

Instead of putting a regular coloured lamp inside, Gregor used two LED strips. His script then uses the WeatherUnderground API to get local weather results. It then changes the lamp colour.

• Build instructions for Cloudu-A on GitHub

“Put the Raspberry Pi, the breadboard or perfboard and the LED-strips all in and have everything attached to the multiple socket strip,” said Gregor. “I used a rectangular clear 5 liter bottle. I cut three sides of it open just where it reaches the biggest diameter under the opening.”

“On the side opposite to the attached side I also made a hole for the power cord. Then I made another hole in the exact middle of the bottom (a soldering iron can help) and put the fishing line through that and the hole at the top of the bottle,” said Gregor.

“I have done this with a Raspberry Pi 3 since there were no Pi Zero’s to be bought anywhere,” said Gregor. “But since this is probably a bit overkill for this project, I would recommend trying this with a Raspberry Pi Zero.”

We think it’s a very stylish project and great for kids. Let us know if you have luck building one or have created something similar for Raspberry Pi.