The Charge of the Light Array

This is an array of the empty dog food cans, each with a single LED light inside and a colored lens on the opening. The LEDs are controlled by motion detectors triggered by interaction from the viewer.

By using LEDs as a light source for each of the cans, the power requirements are low. The circuit uses a small amount of components for driving the LEDs, and this instructable will describe in some detail how it uses motion detectors, transistors, resistors, and LEDs to create the interactive light show.

I am a novice at electronics and have only recently created my first circuit design and built this project with success. Anyone interested in electronics could easily reach my level of expertise as a successful novice by reading and doing, my one bit of wisdom learned is that if you can afford better tools, that is the way to go.

As an artist, I really do not want to promote one store or product over another, but my community does not have the best selection of stores where I can find good electronic components, so I list Radio Shack as just "Shack," replace with your favorite store or supplier.

Components:

64 dog food cans (washed)
32 green 10mm Super bright LEDs (www.evilmadscientist.com)
32 blue 10mm Super bright LEDs (www.evilmadscientist.com)
50' hookup wire (Electronic supply, guessing since I did not count usage)
10 cedar panels (Hardware store)
2 aluminum angle bar (Hardware store)
2 aluminum bars 1/16 inch thick (Hardware store)
8 1/4 w 1K resistors (shack)
8 PNP transistors (Shack)
8 DP-001 Motion Detectors (www.glolab.com)
8 Fresnel lenses (www.glolab.com)
5' heat shrink tubing (for a professional end product, coordinated colors are cool)
1 9V 800ma power supply (Shack)
1 switch (Shack)
1 round PCB (Shack)
31 brass #8 screws (Hardware store)
31 brass #8 nuts (Hardware store)
31 brass #8 washers (Hardware store)
32 glass lenses (Original idea was for paper, vellum, and mica or any form a silhouette masking)
1 Extension cord

Tools:

Hot glue gun (better than duct tape)
Wire strippers (do not rely on teeth, the tool pictured here is the best tool for the job)
soldering iron (don't cheat yourself here, I became better with a better iron)
solder (flux)
Heat gun (only necessary if you are heat shrinking your wire solders)
helping hands (optional but highly suggested)
magnifying glass (optional)
Breadboard (optional, but necessary tool for anyone serious about electronic circuit design)
1 39K resistor (sensitivity programming DP-001)
1 2.7K resistor (dwell programming DP-001)
1 drill
1 multi-size drill bit (a must over a standard drill bit)
1 screw driver
1 hammer (optional, smashing a toe removes the boredom and tediousness of soldering 64 LEDs with 128 wires)
1 Caliper or scale
1 wood glue
2 long screw clamps

Electrical notes:

Vcc = source positive
Vdd = FET positive, the power supply provides positive to the detector, the NFET transistor on the DP-001 outputs a positive value at the terminal we call this Vdd
Vss = source negative.

As an artist working mainly in oils and recently in more high-tech pieces, I have also wanted to incorporate a little green into my work. I have two pugs and they seem to like eating everyday, which leads to a waste from food containers, so I started saving the cans for some future project I knew that I would come up with when I had a larger collection.

Another artist friend, who works in fused glass, mentioned that there was a juried show that had "collaboration" as the theme, and we decided to work on an art piece together. It was a perfect opportunity to use those dog food cans that were taking up residence in my garage. With so many cans, it was apparent that the piece must take the form of some sort of an array, which lit up by the motion of the viewer. We met at a local coffee shop and I laid out my plan, the name of the piece came as natural as nature itself, an array of light using an electrical charge.

Here is a quick description of the work and process creating this piece of art.

Step 1 Building the Frame

The cedar panels were found at a local hardware store and were designed for lining closets. The cost was inexpensive $23 dollars for 12 planks; they were perfect for the project. They were also chose for color and form with an added benefit of the slight cedar aroma.

First the face of the planks were sanded and coated with a flat Varithane to prevent them from attracting grease and dirt through handling, and to bring out the color of the cedar.

The planks are 3.75" wide and 48" long, perfect for the matrix to fit within the width and height of the planks creating perfect spacing for a square matrix.

The dog food can diameter is 3" and finding a hole saw this size was easy. I measured the centerline of the planks and then the distance between the centers of two planks side by side.

Using this measurement I spaced the holes along the vertical line of the planks to create a square array of cans. This provided me with some space on the top and bottom of the piece, to balance the piece horizontally, two blank planks were added, one on each side of the matrix.

Drill the holes for the cans using the 3" hole saw, sand the hole and test the can in the hole to test the opening. Glue the panels together with a small amount of wood glue and clamp together, let dry overnight.

I wanted the ends of the cans to be even and the base so they would protrude through the back of the panel by only 1". Using stacks of the hole pieces that were drilled out of the planks in order to level the completed panel face down so that each can protrude by 1" through the back. Using the hot glue gun, a bead of glue was placed around the base of each can securing them to the panel.

In order to give the piece enough strength so the panels would not crack and separate when handled, the planks were also tied together on the top and bottom with a flat aluminum bar and a piece of angled aluminum. The flat bar could be left out, but I wanted strength and have been known to over-engineer from time to time.

First line the bar and angle bracket with the edge of the panel, clamp then drill a single hole through the vertical centerline of each plank, one on top and one on the bottom. Tie them together with the brass screws, nuts and washers. To add strength to this application, a bead of hot glue down the length of the bars and the planks. I also put a small hot glue bead at the base of each nut to keep them in place; the frame is ready.

Next prepare the cans. The interior of the cans were a gray color which absorbed the light from the LED, in order to get more of the light to strike the lenses it to bounce around, this was accomplished by painting the inside of the cans with marker paint.

The reason for the choice of chose marker paint was due to its nozzle, which is designed to point down at the ground so the nozzle is straight which makes painting the interior of the cans easy. I also wanted the colors to shift somewhat so I chose a red, green, blue, white and yellow colors; at this time, the look and color was not known to me since my friend was busy making them while I built the frame and electronics.

To drill the holes in the cans, a standard drill created a burr, which was too difficult to clear and also make the hole oblong once de-burred. By using a step drill bit, the hole is clean because this bit will mill the edges of the hole as it drills making a perfect round hole the right size for the LEDs.

Next I measured the diameter of the business end of the DP-001, so I could drill holes in the panel for them to peek through; picked a corresponding drill size and laid out a circular pattern for the holes. This was to keep the consistent similarity with circles.

With all the cans in painted, drilled and installed into the frame, it is time to work on the electronics.

Comments

[FeedTheGrid]

Very cool. Nice re-use of the 64 dog food cans!

[AndyGadget]

"Cans to the left of them, Cans to the right of them . . . " You REALLY need a video to go with this as it looks very impressive but It's hard to imagine it in action.