Colour changing USB light

Here is a light made from a plastic bottle, fishing line, an old USB cable and a slow colour change RGB LED.

The nylon thread (fishing line) does not have quite the same effect as real optical fibres. There is more light signal degradation along its length so it doesn't have the same bright point at the end of the fibre. Although the diffusion of light along its length still looks kind of neat.

I included an optical fibre that I plucked from my Christmas tree as a comparison.

Step 1 Materials:

• small plastic bottle
• nylon fishing line or jewelry thread
• usb cable
• 5mm RGB slow colour change LED (I got mine on eBay) and a resistor
• spout from a cooking oil bottle
• paint
• pebbles
• clear drying glue and clear packing tape
• twist ties
• plastic bottle with desired circumference (see step 4)

Tools:

• pliers
• scissors
• paint brushes
• soldering iron
• glue gun and glue
• ruler and measuring tape
• something sharp to use to poke a hole in the plastic bottle.

Comments

[t00nt0wn]

"If you are just using one LED, solder the red wire to one end of the resistor."

What if I want multiple LEDs? I don't plan on using a color-changing one, just standard blue ones, about 10 of them. Thanks!

[ChrysN]

You would need to hook up the LEDs in parallel. Use the LED calculator (http://ledcalc.com/) to determine which resister you will need as it will be different than the one I needed.

You can use either configuration, I tend to use the one at the bottom with one resister it just seems easier to put together.

[robgonzo]

That's pretty cool!
Fiber optic filament is pretty cheap btw.
http://www.thefiberopticstore.com/purchase/endglowfilament.htm

[ChrysN]

Thanks for the link! Those are great prices. I was just using stuff I had lying around the house.