Organic Motion Sensor Wall Sconce Light

Introducing the Acceptus wall sconce—an organic, sculptural lighting solution designed to transform your home's ambiance. This innovative sconce mounts seamlessly on any wall, creating an instant welcome as you enter a room. Perfect for those weary from long workdays, especially during the dark and cold winter months when returning home can feel uninspiring.

The Acceptus features intelligent motion-sensing technology that brings warmth and comfort to your living space. As you open the door or walk by, the sconce detects your presence, gently fading on to create a soft, inviting glow. No more harsh overhead lights or dark, unwelcoming entryways—just a subtle, comforting illumination that greets you and instantly makes your space feel more welcoming.

Here is a list of materials you will need to re-create this project: 

1. Wood, I used Edge-Glued Cherry (12in x 24in x ¾ in)
2. Satin Frosted Acrylic Sheet (12 in x 18in x ⅛ in) 
3. Arduino Nano ESP32
4. PIR Motion Sensor
5. Ultra Flexible LED Strip, I used the warm white
6. 12V AC adapter
7. Solderful breadboard
8. Solder
9. Wire (red, black, yellow)
10. Multi-purpose screws

In this project I used the following tools, however I will list alternatives as I understand not everyone has access to all of these. 

1. Laser Cutter (alternatively you can use an acrylic cutter and score out the shape)
2. CNC (alternatively you can use a band saw and a handheld jigsaw)
3. Handheld jigsaw
4. Power Drill 
5. Sandpaper
6. Masking Tape
7. Epoxy 
8. Clamps
9. Wood Glue
10. Soldering Iron
11. Helping hands

Download the following illustrator files to your computer. File AcceptusLight_BASE is the file you will use to create the wood base of the light using the CNC machine and AcceptusLight_PANELS is the file you will use when laser cutting the panels for the light. 

Note: If you would like to create your own organic shapes in illustrator for your light you can! Just skip this step and move to step 2.

Bring your AcceptusLight_BASE vector file into the Aspire program to create the toolpaths for the CNC machine. We will be using a combination of pocket and profile toolpaths. See the diagram provided for more details. I recommend using an upcut drill bit to leave a nicer finish on the top of your project. Once you have your toolpaths ready save it as a Gcode file and upload to the machine. Remember to add tabs to your file! 

Place the wood onto the bed of the machine and position the drill bit. The file I provided and used in this example should take approximately 37 minutes to cut. Once the job is complete, we will use the jigsaw to remove the tabs. Next we will sand everything down to a nice finish.

Now grab your wood glue and glue the two wood pieces together. Clamp and let dry.

When the wood glue is dry, drill a small hole. I used a ⅛ drill bit. This will allow the wire of the LED to attach to the breadboard which will hide on the back of your light. Set aside.

Use AcceptusLight_PANELS to cut out the frosted acrylic panels with the laser cutter. Once this is complete you can set these pieces aside.

Before you begin assembling the pieces we need to start working on our circuit and code. Below you will find a picture of the circuit and the code. Copy the code and upload it to your Arduino Nane ESP32 by plugging it into your computer. Assemble your circuit using the soldering iron, solder, helping hands, and wires. You will be wiring your AC adapter, PIR sensor, Nmos Transistor and Arduino nano. DO NOT WIRE YOUR LED LIGHT YET!

Okay now we have all the parts ready for assembly! Let’s grab your wood light base. Feed one set of the LED wires through the hole we created. Now attach your LED wires to your circuit at the back of your base. Trim LED strip with scissors.

Before we attach the panels, let's just test the code and circuit wiring. If there is any troubleshooting required it is easier to do before we permanently attach the panels. Place the motion sensor, circuit board, and ac adapter into their designated spots. Then plug it in and see if it works!!

Note: If for some reason your light is not working, double check your soldering. 9 times out of 10 you incorrectly soldered a wire. So I would start here when troubleshooting.

The easiest way to do this is to measure how far apart you want the screws to be. I did about 2 and a half inches. I measure this on a piece of masking tape and used that as a guide for each pieces so they lined up perfectly. Be careful when drilling through the acrylic, too much torc can cause the piece to shatter, so just go slow.

Using the epoxy, attach the back acrylic piece (the big one) to the boarder of the wood base. I found the epoxy dries transparent which gives it a nice finish, I used the epoxy made by Gorilla Glue. Poor out the epoxy onto a plate, mix the two parts well and using a small tool cover the wood boarder and place the acrylic on top. Wait for it to cure, mine took about 5 minutes, before moving on to the next step.

Now it is finally time to attach everything! Line up the holes of the acrylic with each other. Place multipurpose screws through the holes and again drill them down carefully. Don't go to far into the acrylic as it can cause cracking. Now once your screws are secure you can cover them with small falt beads to give them a nicer finish.

Well now we are all done! All that's left to do is place it beside your door on the left side, the light should trigger when the door swings open. I hope you had fun making this project :)