"Beating" LED Heart T-Shirt

As you all may or may not know, I love LEDs! Now, since the title of the contest is "Show Your Heart Valentine's Day Project", what could be more appropriate than a Beating LED Heart on a T-shirt?

Here's how YOU can show YOUR Heart on Valentine's Day!.... or force your valentine to show his/hers. ;-)

Step 1 Get the Materials

You Need:
A T-shirt that you are willing to sacrifice in the name of love
99 3mm red LEDs (1.8-2.1V @ appx 10 mA)
two DM7474 IC's (flip flops)
one DM7402 IC (2 input Nor gate)
one ne555 timer
one 224 pf capacitor
one .47 uf capacitor
two 4.7 uf capacitors (over 9 volts)
.01 uf capacitor
one variable resistor (100k ohm max or a 47k resistor)
one 470 ohm resistor
two 1k ohm resistors
one 560 ohm resistor
1 nine volt battery + clip
Foam
Tape
Hard Drive cable (or wire)
Telephone cable (not needed but helpful)
Another T-shirt or some fabric
Needle + Thread (or a sewing machine)
wire cutters
Soldering Iron
Solder

pm me for the original heart template, I don't know how to attach original jpegs

Comments

[Dekubaba94]

How can you wash it, and isn't it too stiff to wear?

[kscientist]

is it possible to use a shift register(IC 7495) instead of flip flops??? if possible type of operation has to be used?

[kscientist]

can u help me??
am doing a star of this same pattern....i dont want any heart....if i do in this same pattern n if i add few more leds wil tat affect the circuit stability ?? can u plz help me ....

[stasterisk]

Hey - check out this kit the electronics goldmine is selling.

[T3h_Muffinator]

Awesome! I love the whole human touch capacitance addition.

[Goodhart]

Did you see what ThinkGeek has in this line (wireless LAN detection, mutual shirt detector, etc)

[computer_guy]

Wait, how are you going to wash it?

[linkz]

how much did this all cost?

[linkz]

oh and where can i get the materials from?

[Shifrin]

Wow, this is really great! It would make a great Valentines day gift! To bad I have no one to give it to... : ( ~Shifrin

[T3h_Muffinator]

Give it to yourself! (That's what I did =) )

[Shifrin]

Will do : )

[john917v]

Awesome! That is a great idea for a V-day project.

[T3h_Muffinator]

Thanks! I thought so too, but then I didn't have anyone to give it to... XP

[phenoptix]

Sweet work, I like it a lot, pop by if you fancy doing any more LED mods and I might be able to help you out.

[T3h_Muffinator]

I actually wanted to make an smd version of this... so that you didn't have large bulbous bulbs sticking out of the shirt.... Any ideas??

[phenoptix]

Ideas, no... SMD LEDs yes! PM me and I'll get some to you so you can have a play. Using kynar wire will neaten it up a bit too!

[T3h_Muffinator]

Hey! So check it, I'm starting to make a bunch of LED pins for the holidays. Your LEDs should be in there, somewhere ;)

[phenoptix]

Fantastic- I'll keep an eye out for them!

[naru_rules]

can u translate wat i need into something i can understand

[T3h_Muffinator]

Well, tell me the parts that you don't understand, and I'll "translate" them for you

[avin]

Hello, me again :P I almost forgot to tell you, you wrote wrong here on your specification. You said on the specification "one DM7492 IC (2 input Nor gate)", it was suppose to be DM7402 right? :P DM7492 isn't a NOR gate chip ;-)

[T3h_Muffinator]

Oh, wow! That was a HUGE mistake, if someone didn't get the right chip, they'd screw everything up!

Thanks for finding it, Avin! I'm fixing it now =)

[avin]

Hi this is nice :P i am planning to make it on a PCB and i am wondering if i can replace those 2 LED that you use to drop the voltage to 5V with resistor? if so what value should i use? is it 100ohm? PS: the wireing on PCB is hell :P i will probably end up with burning every single LED :P

[T3h_Muffinator]

Well, I'd seriously consider just using a diode with a 2 V drop. You don't really want any resistance there, although it might work. You don't have to use an LED to drop it, you could just use a glass diode or something. PLEASE post pics when you're done, and include the pattern for your PCB! I think it's awesome that you're actually doing this. ROCK ON! -Josh

[avin]

what do you mean by glass diode? is it zener diode? i am also alittle bit confused over the 560ohm resistor in serie with all those leds. My calculation says that you are giving each LED 0.34mA on the outer ring with 42 LEDs, am i missing something here? 0.34mA sounds abit low....?

[T3h_Muffinator]

A glass diode could be a zener, just any diode with a 2v forward voltage (drop) value. I'm pretty sure that I'm sending at least 20mA through the leds on the outer ring. I'll check my calculations out on paper and scan 'em in for you this weekend. I hope this helps -Josh

[avin]

Hello again, so i end up using a Green LED to drop the voltage down to 5V into those IC :P and here is some picture that you wanted to see. The routing is very messy :P i was too lazy to fix it so i let most of the work be done by auto-route.

[T3h_Muffinator]

OH MY! I'm loving the progress. This is REALLY cool. I just can't believe someone is actually replicating my work. I really want to thank you! Btw, Could I have the schematic "print" that you used to etch the board? I'd be willing to team up with you and make different designs as well. PCBs are MUCH easier than perf boards. This is just SO cool. Thank you thank you thank you! I really hope Mei Ling likes the heart! Send her my regards ;) -Josh Gordonson p.s. If you need help with anything, no matter what, ever again, just drop me a line either through PM or [e-mail] p.s.s. You have no clue how happy I am to see someone replicating my Instructable. You, my friend, are SOOOOOOO AWESOME. Okay, I'm so excited that my hands are quivering.... THANK YOU!

[avin]

Your instructables was a good idea :) i like it hehe

[chatterbox14730]

Does it involve a battery pack?

[T3h_Muffinator]

Well, if you look at the 4th step, you can see the 9V battery clip hanging off the circuit board. I guess you could call that a battery pack.

[phasingtwins]

great job you should give your wiring more slack so they won't break in your pocket ;]

[T3h_Muffinator]

Thanks for the advice, I actually did that yesturday. I don't think any more wires are going to break =)

-Muffin

[phasingtwins]

gg

[phasingtwins]

nice

[mever]

Great project Muffinator, love the detail you put into the instructable. Your notes are so good i only need the video to see the end result. Still its nice to see you got the video uploaded to YouTube. It dose make it easer for people to see. The hard work on this really shows.

[T3h_Muffinator]

Thanks man, I really appreciate your feedback. In fact, I make "stuff" for feedback and for the sake of learning how to make it. I love seeing smiles on people's faces after they see what I build.

[mever]

same here, comments are like brain food. Alot of experience to learn from.

[Zujus]

Very nice job! ;) Idea is just great! ;)