LED Light Up Sims PlumbBob Costume (That green pylon above their head)

After years and years of "wanting" to make the green plumbbob from The Sims series, I finally did it! The cool part about the "costume" is that you can wear whatever you want and still be a Sim! I used Dan's instructable, at this link here, in order to get an idea how I wanted to wire the LEDs.

[Final pic]

I was able to leave the light on for about 6 hours straight without changing the 2 9V batteries. A word of caution, this costume is meant to be worn at night, the light is faint when seen in the daylight, see the 2nd pic what happens when a flash is used. I used 3 LEDs and stuck to the typical 350mA current specified by the manufacturer. Adding more current will simply burn them out faster so don't do that =)

Step 1 Materials

I pretty much bought everything I needed. I was able to find scraps of wire from an old car alarm, but most of the materials below can be substituted. I'll outline my decisions WHY I chose what I chose, because I did experiment with a few different things first. It's a long list but your mileage may vary and you might luck out!

The Light
3-4 High Powered 1 Watt Green LED's - you can't use normal LED's, they simply aren't bright enough. The ones I purchased were: Luxeon Star LXHL-MM1D. Typically rated at 3.42 forward voltage and 350mA. I think their lumen rating is about 25 lm +/- 10%. A different datasheet (for the same product, weird right?) rated them at 50 lm. I don't have a tester, but I'll stick with the lower figure.

3021 BuckPuck - Purchase the one that fits the mA rating of your LEDs to save costs buying resistors. The buckpuck regulates the current to the LEDs, it provides a constant source of current regardless of the size/voltage of your battery pack.
 -- You might be able to get away with a PowerPuck, a smaller version of the buckpuck, but the max input voltage is 8v. Only good enough for 2 LEDs...
Both can be found either at: Future Electronics (cheaper prices and more selection/product info, but slow shipping) or The LED Light (prices are slightly higher, but shipping was FAST [2day from NV to CA]).

Resistors - depends on which buckpuck you buy

Wire - to solder the LEDs together, and a longer length to run from the light, down the pole, and into your battery pack. This depends on your height!! I used around 24ga

Altoids Tin - To house everything

Electrical Tape or shrink wrap

RadioShack PCB (optional)

SPDT or SPST Switch - Rated at least the voltage of your battery pack

(2) 9V Battery clips - this also depends on the eventual battery pack

Thermal Paste - Helps in cooling. These suckers NEED this

Large Binder Clip - my ghetto heatsink

Smaller Binder Clip - my way of securing the light to the structure

GE Silicone - To waterproof the light

Optics for LEDs - Usually you'd purchase lens holders and lenses for the LEDs but since I wanted the light to be dispersed and not focused, I just left them naked. The viewing angle of the LEDs is 110°

The Structure
3/16" Wood Dowels - or something lightweight and sturdy and cheap! These were 12" long in packs of 20 at my local craft store. Again, depends on your plans

Hot Glue & Gun - to assemble/hold the sticks together

The Covering
I spent a lot of time on this. I ended up using the white parts of plastic bags and just fused them together. Cloth proved to be too grainy, not waterproof (in case it was a rainy Halloween), and a little heavier.

The Pole
You'll need to find something to "wear" the plumbbob. It needs to be lightweight, and substantially sturdy. I tried using wire hanger, but it was too flimsy to hold the plumbbob at a sufficient height. I used a rod from window blinds (the one that opens/closes the slats)

Comments

[thatsgreat2345]

I made this but instead of using green LEDs I used green cellophane and used a 70 lumen head lamp glued to the bottom of the diamond, then I put it on the spot setting.
To make it glow better I glued green strips of cellophane to the top half, so they were running vertically, that way the light would hit, and reflect/refract whichever you feel like and glow all the way up to the top.
It was a success for halloween, except people thought I was the green lantern half the time.

[thatsgreat2345]

Image didn't seem to post, here is a link http://i.imgur.com/m4GJC.jpg

[mrsayao]

Do you have one of it glowing??

[mrsayao]

Awesome!! I tried cellophane before too but wasn't satisfied with the glow, but it seems like you worked out the kinks I ran in to. Your costume looks awesome, glad to know I sparked interest! LMAO @ the Green Lantern comments. A lot of my younger cousins didn't know what I was that year either...

[thatsgreat2345]

It took me awhile to figure it out, I ended up cutting triangles about 3.75-4 inches long with a 7-7.25 inch height and gluing on panes 1 at a time. I triple layered the celophane and it was not looking very god so I stuffed it with tons of celophane and it wasn't working well then I reduced it and then through trial and error found the right amount to hang down.
http://imgur.com/a/tsVu8#0

I was in charge of the camera so I didn't take any outside but here is an album in my bathroom. I forgot about lighting it actually, and was going to use a skinny mag light but didn't leave space for it otherwise I would have glued the dowels to it. That is why there is a dead spot on the bottom because I had to shove my head lamp down there and it was too wide to go to the bottom.

Thanks for the idea though, it was a great success for those that knew I was a Sim. If they didn't know the sims I was either green lantern, a black dragon fish(the ones at the bottom of the ocean that attract things with light like in nemo), and I also go link (legend of zelda).

[mrsayao]

Angler fish! Yeah my tut is kind of shoddy, I know. I took pics of everything, but it's just the explaining that gets me, especially when in the end half of it was thrown together just to make it work. Good job!

[thatsgreat2345]

No the instructable was great, I only really needed the idea and the pattern print out with the hexagon and proper angles on it was what I really needed since I don't have a protractor and didn't feel like doing it digitally.

My only critique is I didn't see how you got it to sit so high above your head and stay still. I used a long, 3/8" wide wood dowel, a wire hanger, and put shirt on I didn't care about, an had a friend duct tape the hell out of it around entire toros( yeah I couldn't breath well haha). It's the only way I could get it to stay.

[Twinmum]

Being a Sims player, I totally get this. Love it.