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Costumes rule. Glowing costumes rule even more. To make the king of glowy costumes - you gotta look just one place...inside your computer :). By following this instructable, you'll have the knowledge and ability to make an LED lit garment that looks just like the ones in the new Tron flick.
My goals in making this costume were to make a robust, easily washable, waterproof, Tron style suit which was energy efficient to minimize battery weight and hardware bulk. To do that, I had to dodge the commonly used EL wire implementations and switch to LEDs.
Even if you aren't interested in making a Tron suit, I would highly recommend reading the section on lighting implementation - I did not individually stitch each LED with conductive thread...instead I used a combination of silicone coated LED strips and faux leather to produce a beautiful, diffuse light without seeing those pesky LED points.
My goals in making this costume were to make a robust, easily washable, waterproof, Tron style suit which was energy efficient to minimize battery weight and hardware bulk. To do that, I had to dodge the commonly used EL wire implementations and switch to LEDs.
Even if you aren't interested in making a Tron suit, I would highly recommend reading the section on lighting implementation - I did not individually stitch each LED with conductive thread...instead I used a combination of silicone coated LED strips and faux leather to produce a beautiful, diffuse light without seeing those pesky LED points.
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Signing UpStep 1Other Lighting Options - Why not use EL Wire?
Most Tron-ish garmets are made with this stuff called EL wire or EL tape (which is based on the same technology). Although EL technologies are great for a lot of reasons, I feel that they aren't very well suited to wearable apps. I built an old school Tron suit using EL wire, and found the following problems with it:
- EL Wire is super fragile! Bending it too tightly or repeated bending motions (i.e. wrapping around body joints or placing into a washing machine) will cause the EL wire to fail. And when you try to repair any EL wire damage, you quickly find out that...
- EL Wire repair isn't pretty! To repair EL wire, you splice in solid non-glowing wire to the broken sections...which completely destroys the effect of a single, unbroken line.
- EL Wire is pretty dim! You won't be able to see EL glow at all during the day, which leads to the next problem...
- EL Wire looks lame if its not illuminated! You can get fancy and do some work to hide EL wire, but in general, unlit EL wire looks like just that - wires on the outside of a garment. So, if its not glowing, its generally pretty ugly.
- You need an AC inverter for mobile applications! EL wire runs on AC current, and any battery pack you can buy will be DC. Therefore, you need to add more bulky hardware, and there are more things to break while wearing your creation!
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Mind you, I know very little about this stuff. Just trying to create a cool costume! Thanks!
I have a sheet of cloth backed vinyl and was hoping to attacht it to a cotton shirt, Will the iron adhesive be strong enough? or should i look at fabric glues?
or a program that i can use to view and scale the images?
http://www.christmas-light-source.com/White-Micro-Drop-LED-Battery-Operated-Light-Set-_p_2039.html
http://www.christmaslightsetc.com/p/Battery-Operated-Micro-Fairy-LED-Lights-18-Blue-Lamps-4-Spacing-Green-Wire-40111.htm
http://www.christmaslightsetc.com/p/Battery-Operated-Christmas-Wide-Angle-Lens-20-White-LED-Lamps-4-inch-Spacing-Green-Wire--19256.htm
A suggestion- has anyone looked into side-emitting waterproof LED strips? They seem to exist for indoor 'architecture' lighting, i.e. my first search result may have the LEDs a bit spaced out but still looks pretty good: http://aptlight.com/productsview.php?id=90&proid=118
I actually looked at side emitters too :). They *might* work. You'd have to do some experimenting with how far away from the white sections of the garment they'd be placed. This was my problem - too close to the see through part, you'd see points of light. Too far away, you'd see nothing. There may be a happy medium that I didn't take enough time to discover.
BTW, the strips I used were made for cars, so waterproofness is easy:
http://www.oznium.com/side-emitting-led-strip
I am confident i can do everything described in your project i just dont have any experience in mobile battery power sources so i need to know something before i start making mine only to find i cant afford an expensive mobile battery source LOL.
I want to buy this led strip(http://www.amazon.com/HitLights-Lighting-Strip-Blue-Meter/dp/B005GL55IU/ref=sr_1_16?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1318204155&sr=1-16) and i will cut and extend the single led strip with no solder strip-to-strip connectors(http://www.amazon.com/LED-Strip-Connector-2-Conductor-2091/dp/B00452BCRY/ref=sr_1_8?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1318222313&sr=1-8) where needed.
So my question is if i am merely cutting and extending the same strip of led lights what do i buy for battery power? All i know is it needs 12vDC power. It prob needs power for about 4 hours, but the less expensive the better.
Thanks so much for your project here and help :)
you solder the ends of the led wire to the ends of the trail tech then connect it
but what is the other plug for???
i bought a replica motorcycle suit (that doubles as a costume) from udreplicas so it's not foam rubber like in the movie but i like it cause it serves a dual purpose
question: sheet or anyone out there, wud u be willing to take my suit and put the lights on it. (WOULD $1000 SEEM FAIR OR MORE?) i realize doing this by the halloween party on oct 22nd 2011 is probably impossible but i wud be willing to pay extra. the party is the biggest in buffalo ny (2000 people) if no one can do it by then i wud still be interested so i cud where it next halloween. the suit already has white reflective strips on it so the layout is already made. it wud just need the lights. the motorcycle suit can't be washed so if it's easier it cud just be a permanent sew in. i can't find anyone on the web who is willing to do this or that's as good as u steel. if anyone knows who can do this please list or email JEFFEREYMCQUISTON@GMAIL.COM thank you. SORRY FOR THE LONG COMMENT
Could a battery like the one you used cause serious harm if the terminals contact the skin (worst case, wet skin on opposite sides of the torso)? I realize it's not likely and that most risk could probably be avoided with proper waterproofing, but I'm thinking of the worst possible scenario here.
Thanks!