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Now that the holidays are fast approaching -- and a string of LED lights goes for just four or five bucks -- it’s high time to get out your wire cutters and heat-shrink tubing, and make a set of flashy lights that you can control from your Arduino!
In this instructable, I’ll show you how to construct a string of 30 lights (arranged in five groups of six) that you can power from a 16-volt wall wart transformer. Hook it up to a circuit of transistor drivers, and you’ll be able to make the lights bounce, chase and dance via sketches (programs) you’ve uploaded to your Arduino.
Above is a video of one set of lights doing a simple chase pattern. Keep in mind that you can make any other pattern by changing the Arduino sketch.
What You Need:
-- a string of LED lights, single or multi-color, about $5
-- around 50 feet of 18 or 24-gauge two-conductor speaker wire, about $10
-- six general-purpose NPN switching transistors, about $5
(I used 2N3904-type silicon transistors salvaged from an old amplifier)
-- six 4.7K resistors and six 180-ohm resistors, about $5
-- one 5.1v zener diode plus one 180-ohm, 1-watt resistor, about $2
(or use LM7805 voltage regulator to power the Arduino from the same source)
-- a breadboard or circuit board, heat-shrink tubing, a scrounged wall wart delivering at least 16v DC, and an Arduino
Tools: Soldering iron, solder, wire cutters and stripper, electrical tape. A multimeter is handy too.
Depending how fast you work (once you have all the materials), this project might take a long evening or a weekend. Ready? Let’s get started…
In this instructable, I’ll show you how to construct a string of 30 lights (arranged in five groups of six) that you can power from a 16-volt wall wart transformer. Hook it up to a circuit of transistor drivers, and you’ll be able to make the lights bounce, chase and dance via sketches (programs) you’ve uploaded to your Arduino.
Above is a video of one set of lights doing a simple chase pattern. Keep in mind that you can make any other pattern by changing the Arduino sketch.
What You Need:
-- a string of LED lights, single or multi-color, about $5
-- around 50 feet of 18 or 24-gauge two-conductor speaker wire, about $10
-- six general-purpose NPN switching transistors, about $5
(I used 2N3904-type silicon transistors salvaged from an old amplifier)
-- six 4.7K resistors and six 180-ohm resistors, about $5
-- one 5.1v zener diode plus one 180-ohm, 1-watt resistor, about $2
(or use LM7805 voltage regulator to power the Arduino from the same source)
-- a breadboard or circuit board, heat-shrink tubing, a scrounged wall wart delivering at least 16v DC, and an Arduino
Tools: Soldering iron, solder, wire cutters and stripper, electrical tape. A multimeter is handy too.
Depending how fast you work (once you have all the materials), this project might take a long evening or a weekend. Ready? Let’s get started…
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Step 1: Major Surgery
Got that nice new string of working LEDs handy? Get out your wire cutter and slice it up! Make a cut about halfway between each socket and the next one. If there are molded resistors in the string, remove them. Most strings consist of three wires: If you save the longest wire, you can use it later. When the cuttin’ is done, your pieces should look like this:
Now, you should have at least 30 bulbs in their sockets, with pigtails of wire attached. Go ahead and strip about 1/4 inch off the insulation on each wire. You’ll be connecting the lights shortly.
Got that nice new string of working LEDs handy? Get out your wire cutter and slice it up! Make a cut about halfway between each socket and the next one. If there are molded resistors in the string, remove them. Most strings consist of three wires: If you save the longest wire, you can use it later. When the cuttin’ is done, your pieces should look like this:
Now, you should have at least 30 bulbs in their sockets, with pigtails of wire attached. Go ahead and strip about 1/4 inch off the insulation on each wire. You’ll be connecting the lights shortly.
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