DIY Flux Capacitor

Step 3 Wire it up!

This is the part where I regret not making a schematic of the LED motion unit before I used three sticks of hot glue sealing it back up. It is absurdly simple; something like 4 diodes, 4 transistors, and a couple of resistors in the circuit. You don't need to worry about that, though, unless you plan to build the circuit yourself. Just buy the LED christmas lights linked to in the parts list (or something similar) and it has all the electronics (except the switches I added) in that little white box.

This part entails pretty minimal soldering/electronics experience. You're going to need two switches, one to toggle the whole thing on and off, and one to switch modes - a momentary on/off.
The momentary switch just replaces the built in one, wired directly under it on the circuit board. The power switch goes between the wall and the circuit, using either wire.

Be sure to use electrical tape or heatshrink tubing to cover the exposed wires, and that none of them come in contact with each other or the sides of the fusebox.

I just used the built in holes on my fuse box to mount the switches. Pretty convenient.

For now you can just let the LED wire dangle.

Comments

[EragonShadeslayer]

So are you saying that the circuit diagram from Rook's page is for programming the self built circuit? which is more movie accurate, Rook's or yours? I don't know where there is a video of Rook's in action.

[sponges]

 The circuit diagram on Rook's page does not need any programming, as it uses off the shelf parts. He also says that he has not tested either of the designs he listed.
As far as movie accuracy goes, my christmas light hack looks good, and has multiple modes, several of which are close to the movie; I am not sure you need much else to be movie accurate in a stand alone flux capacitor. In a car-mounted capacitor you would want it to be tied into the time circuits, as well as run on 12 volts, neither of which this one can do.
I did, however, get the colors wrong, but that was on purpose.

[fortneja]

So you didn't actually need the circuit diagram off Rook's page right? All you needed to do was wire in the momentary switch and the power switch. The LED pattern is created just with how the lights are arranged right?

[sponges]

That's correct. All you need for electronics are the two switches and the LED lights I linked to. The Rooks link is for a detailed movie analysis of the aesthetic parts, and the schematic I refer to is just the one that comes with the lights, and would only be useful to someone who wanted to recreate that circuit instead of buying the lights. BTW I'll get around to putting that up here pretty soon.

[trebory6]

So what do you do with the rest of the LEDs on the string that you don't use for those nine LEDS that are visible? if that made any sense. haha

[sponges]

you just "cram " them behind the metal support panel. They light up and they simply look like a reflection of the Fluxing arms. It actually looks BETTER with them, because the overall effect is to make it brighter.