IBeat Tee

This was a class project for GEEN 1400 at the University of Colorado-Boulder, Craft Technology Group (www.cs.colorado.edu/~ctg)

The idea behind this idea is to create a new way for a person to express his or her music while on the go. We like to think of this project as the current generation's way of walking around with a boom-box on your shoulder. 

The iBeat Tee is standard t-shirt that has a completely removable front panel (meaning that all the electronics are fully removable for washing of the shirt) that lights up according to the beat of music coming directly from the user's MP3 player much in the same way the equalizer does in your media player on your computer.

The iBeat Tee takes input from a user's MP3 player and measures the magnitude of the peaks and troughs of the selected music. We then have written and program that dictates which and how many lights to illuminate on the shirt based off of the magnitudes measured.

The iBeat Tee is designed in a way such that the user can keep his or her MP3 player in his or her pocket while wearing the Tee and so that the user can be using headphones or speakers while the shirt is still in use.

This specific Tee has a cityscape design to it. Feel free to change the design however you wish, though for the purposes of this Instructable the steps will be designed specifically to give guidance on how to build a Tee with a cityscape design.

NOTE: We strongly suggest you look at/do our VU Meter Instructable as we feel it will make this project much easier. Here is the link:

https://www.instructables.com/id/VU-Meter/

For this project you will need:
-Four (4) 9V power inverters with 9v snap connectors on one end of each
-One (1) black t-shirt
-Two (2) 11x16 inch pieces of black fabric
-One (1) 11x16 inch piece of Heat N' Bond Iron-On Adhesive
-One (1) 8.25x6.5 inch piece of blue fabric
-One (1) 8.25x6.5 inch piece of Heat N' Bond Iron-On Adhesive
-One (1) Size A4 Cut and Shape EL Sheet (phosphorescent blue-green)
-One (1) Size A4 Cut and Shape EL Sheet (Pink off - White on)
-Nine (9) JST 2-Pin Connectors
-Approx 25 feet of solid or threaded wire (one color)
-Approx 25 feet of solid or threaded wire (different color)
-Heat Shrink
-Thin-Width Masking Tape
-Conductive Tape
-Electrical Tape
-Needle and Black and White Thread
-Needle Nose Pliers
-One (1) Relay-Super Glue (or equivalent)
-Razorblade
-Two (2) 3mm Bright White LEDs
-Soldering Iron
-Solder
-One (1) 3.5mm Male to Spade-Tongue Speaker Cable (At least three feet in length)
-22 gauge solid wire
-One (1) EL Escudo
-Breakaway Headers - Straight - Strip of 40
-One (1) ArduinoMega
-Velcro
-Four (4) 9V Batteries

Step 1: Cutting the Design for the Cityscape

For this step you will need:
-One (1) 11x16 inch piece of black fabric
-One (1) 8.25x6.5 inch piece of blue fabric
-One (1) 8.25x6.5 inch piece of Heat N' Bond Iron-On Adhesive

NOTE: For this step you will be asked to user a Laser Cutter. If you do not have access to a Laser Cutter or simply do not wish to use one you can always cut the design out by hand. If you do end up using a Laser Cutter, we have attached the design files the Laser Cutter will need to create the cityscape.

Iron the Heat N' Bond, paper side up, to one side of the blue fabric.

Using a Laser Cutter and the supplied designs (attached) cut out the cityscape design from each the blue fabric and the black fabric. MAKE SURE that you cut out the design with the actual building shape from the blue fabric and the design with ONLY the rectangular windows from the black fabric.

Step 2: Cutting the EL Sheeting

For this step you will need:
-One (1) Size A4 Cut and Shape EL Sheet (phosphorescent blue-green)
-One (1) Size A4 Cut and Shape EL Sheet (Pink off - White on)

NOTE: If you do not already have a source to get EL Sheeting, we got our EL Sheeting from: Electro Luminescence Inc. : http://e-luminates.com/osc3/index.php

Cut out seven (7) 0.5 inch by 8.5 inch strips of EL Sheeting from the "pink off - white on" EL Sheet. MAKE SURE that there are is a positive lead on one end and a negative lead on the other end on each strip of EL Sheeting that you cut. If there is not the EL Sheeting will not work. These will be the different "floors" in building.

Next, cut out one (1) 4 inch by 8.5 inch rectangle of the "phosphorescent blue-green" EL Sheet. This will be the lake.

Next, cut out one (1) 3.5 inch by 3.5 inch square of the "phosphorescent blue-green" EL Sheet. This will be the moon. IMPORTANT: make sure that at least one (1) side of the square has both positive and negative leads on it.

Step 3: Creating Leads for the EL Sheeting

For this step you will need:
-Seven (7) JST 2-Pin Connectors
-Approx 15 feet of solid or threaded wire (one color)
-Approx 15 feet of solid or threaded wire (different color)
-Heat Shrink
-Thin-Width Masking Tape

NOTE: If you do not already have a source to get the needed JST 2-pin Connectors we suggest using Sparkfun Electronics: www.sparkfun.com

The direct link for the connectors is: http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8670

Strip approximately 0.5 of an inch of the insulation off of all  the ends of the JST Connectors

Next, pick one color of your solid or threaded wire to be used for your positive leads and the other color to be used for your negative lead.

Now, solder 20 inch pieces of your solid or threaded wire to your the positive and negative wires of your JST Connectors.

Next, use heatshrink to insulate the exposed connections that you just made.

Now, wrap a small piece of masking tape, close to the 2-Pin connector, on each of the seven JST Connectors. Label each connector 1 through 7 with a permanent marker.

Step 4: Creating Connections for the EL Sheeting

For this step you will need:
-Conductive Tape
-Needle and Black Thread
-Needle Nose Pliers

Cut fourteen (14) pieces of conductive tape that are approximately a quarter of an inch (0.25 inches) long.

On the back of the black fabric that you cut in Step 1, place each of the seven strips of "pink off - white on" EL Sheeting so that they cover the "windows" of the building for the cityscape. Making sure that each window is covered, place a piece of conductive tape so that it connects the positive leads to the fabric. Now do the same for the negative lead. NOTE: do not let the conductive tape for the negative lead touch anything other than the negative lead or the fabric. Repeat this step for the remaining six strips.

First,  Strip off approx 0.5 of an inch of the insulation from each of the ends of your now longer JST 2-Pin Connectors.

Now, wrap the exposed end of each wire around the very tip of the needle nose pliers so that a sort of small circle is formed by the exposed wire.

Next, sew the ends of the JST Connectors to the conductive tape. NOTE: when sewing the leads to the conductive tape make sure you sew THROUGH the small circles created earlier. Also you will be sewing through both the conductive tape and the black fabric.

You may wish to use some electrical tape to secure the EL Strips to the fabric.

Step 5: Readying the Relay

For this step you will need:
-Two (2) power inverters
-One (1) Relay
-Two (2) 9V snap connectors

The following link is has the specifications for the relay we used and suggest you use:

http://www.crydom.com/en/Products/Catalog/d_o.pdf

NOTE: For EVERY connection made in this step it will be expected that you slip heatshrink onto one of the wires prior to soldering, and then proceed to cover the connection with the heatshrink after soldering.

Solder a lead wire onto each of the pins extruding from the relay.

TIP: Take the lead that you are going to solder to a pin on the relay and wrap it tightly around the solder you are using so it makes a sort of coil. Then pull the solder out and, without undoing the coil, slip the lead onto the relay pin. Since the relay pin is fairly inflexible and is also similar in size to the solder the coil should fit snugly around the relay pin, keeping it steady for you to solder a good connection.

Solder the Positive DC Load pin of the relay to two positive wires of your 9V snap connectors.
NOTE: In this step you will be soldering three (3) wires together: the lead coming from the relay, and the two positive leads coming from the snap connectors.

Next, solder the negative DC Load pin of the relay to the two positive wire from both of the power inverters. NOTE: In this step you once again will be soldering three (3) wires together: the lead coming from the relay, and the two positive leads coming from the power inverters.

Next, solder a short (two (2) inches or so) piece of 22 gauge solid wire to the end of the POSITIVE DC Control pin lead wire of the relay. Leave this wire aside, you will connect this wire in a later step.

Step 6: Creating Connections for the Moon

For this step you will need:
-Conductive Tape
-Needle and Black Thread
-Needle Nose Pliers

Take your square piece of EL Sheeting that you cut out for the moon and position it so that the circular hole cut in the black fabric is completely covered.

Next, attach the two leads (approximately 20 inches long) to a positive and negative lead on EL Sheet in the same manner you connected the JST Connectors to the EL Sheets in Step 4.

Now, take one unconnected lead from one power inverter and one unconnected lead from your other power inverter and solder the two wires to the negative lead coming from the moon. Repeat this step for the remaining two unconnected leads from your power inverters and solder them both to the positive lead coming from the moon. Make sure you insulate your connections with either heatshrink or electrical tape.

Step 7: Making the Connections for the Lake

For this step you will need:
-One (1) Power Inverter w/ 9V snap Connector
-Approx 20 inches of lead wiring

Attach output leads of your power invert to the positive and negative leads on the EL Sheeting in the same manner as all previous connections to EL Sheeting.

Step 8: Insulate the Connections

For this step you will need:
-Electrical Tape

Using electrical tape cover all of the exposed pieces of bare wiring. Make sure that the electrical tape covers all of the conductive tape aw well. NOTE: When taping over the connections run the negative (in the attached pictures they are green) lead wires along the bottom of the EL strips so that both positive and negative leads come out on the same end of the EL striping. The reason behind this is because this whole unit will be removable and it makes for a neater application when all the wires are in the same place.

We also suggest that you add extra electrical tape where needed to just secure the pieces of EL Sheeting so that they do not move around.

Step 9: Creating the Stars

For this step you will need:
-Access to a 3D printer
-Two (2) 3mm Bright White LEDs
-Approximately 8ft of solid wire
-Heat Shrink
-Soldering Iron

Attached are the STL files that the 3D printer will need to create the two stars. Feel free to size the stars however you wish. NOTE: If you do not have access to a 3D printer you can just use the LEDs without the 3D printed stars or just completely ignore this step.

Once you have printed your 3D stars and the support material has been completely removed you will now enlarge the holes in the back of the stars so that the bulb of the LED will fit snugly. Using a soldering iron, carefully trace the edges of the hole in the back of the star. What this will do is slowly melt the material the star is made of and thus enlarge the hole. Do this step for both stars. WARNING: Make sure you do not allow the soldering iron to touch any other part of the stars. Also, to avoid doing damage to your soldering iron, clean off the tip every few seconds.

Next, solder approximately 20 inch solid wire leads onto the ends of both your LEDs. Make sure you insulate the connections with heat shrink.

Step 10: Attaching the Stars

For this step you will need:
-Your 3D printed stars
-White Thread
-Your LEDs
-Super Glue (or equivalent)
-Razorblade
-22 gauge solid wire

First, decide where you want to put your stars. Once you have decided on a location sew the stars onto the black fabric by stitching around each point of the stars.

Next, feel around on the back of the black fabric and find the holes that you enlarged in the last step. Once you have located these holes use a razorblade to create a similar size hole in the back of the fabric.

Once you have created the holes, stick the bulbs of the LEDs into them.

Next, superglue the edges/bottom of the LEDs to the fabric so that the LEDs cannot come out.

Now, take both of the negative leads for the LEDs and the lead wire coming from NEGATIVE DC Control pin of the relay and, with all of the bare ends pointing in the same direction, twirl all three ends together by hand. Now take a short (two or so inches) piece of 22 gauge solid wire and solder one end to the other three combined wires. Leave these wires aside, you will connect them in a later step.

Then, solder a short (two or so inches) piece of 22 gauge solid wire to the end of EACH positive lead coming from each LED. Leave these wires aside, you will connect them in a later step.

Step 11: The Speaker Cable

For this step you will need:
-One (1) 3.5mm Male to Spade-Tongue Speaker Cable (At least three feet in length)
-22 gauge solid wire

NOTE: You can use any cable that will fit into a 3.5mm headphone jack. The reason for us using the specific cable we did was purely cost based. Using another cable will not affect the functionality of this project.

First, cut off the both of the spade-tongues on the speaker cable. Next, separate the two wires from each other and strip of approximately 1/3 of an inch of the insulation.

Next, solder a short piece (two or so inches) of 22 gauge solid wire onto the end of each lead of the speaker cable.

Now take one of the exposed ends of the speaker cable (does not matter which one) and insert it into the ground plug on the Arduino located next to DIgital Pin 53. Then take the other exposed end of the speaker cable and insert it into ANALOG plug 8 on the Arduino.

NOTE: If you are using our code (attached in the next step) for this project you must use Analog plug 8 on the Arduino because it corresponds to our code. If you are writing your own code for this project feel free to use any plug AS LONG AS it is still an Analog plug.

Step 12: Mating the EL Escudo to the Arduino

For this step you will need:
-One (1) EL Escudo
-Breakaway Headers - Straight - Strip of 40
-One (1) ArduinoMega
-Short solid jumper wire
-One (1) 9V Snap Connector.

NOTE: We strongly suggest you get your EL Escudo from Sparkfun Electronics. However if you can find a similar product (the EL Escudo we used was developed by Sparkfun themselves) feel free to use it. If you decide to get your EL Escudo from Sparkfun here is the link: http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=9259 You can also get your breakaway headers from Sparkfun as well as your ArduinoMega

Insert the positive lead of your 9V snap connector into the VIN pin on the Arduino. Insert the negative lead of the same 9V snap connector into the ground (GND) pin next to the VIN pin.

From your strip of breakaway headers create two (2) small strips of six (6) pins each, and two (2) strips of of eight (8) pins each. You can just use your hands and snap the strips to the desired lengths.

Insert one of the strips of 6 breakaway headers into the group of 6 plugs on the ArduinoMega that are labeled Reset, 3V3, 5V, GND, and VIN. MAKE SURE that you are inserting the long ends of the breakaway headers into the Arduino. NOTE: This strip of breakaway headers will be very difficult to insert because of the leads of the 9V snap connector that are already inserted into two of the plugs. This step may require force, but the breakaway headers will fit into the plugs along with the snap connector leads.

Next, insert the other strip of 6 breakaway headers into analog pins 0 through 7 on the Arduino. Once again make sure that you are inserting the long ends of the breakaway headers into the Arduino.

Next, insert one of the strips of 8 breakaway headers into the group of 8 plugs that labeled PWM pins 8 through 13 as well as REF and GND. Once again make sure that you are inserting the long ends of the breakaway headers into the Arduino.

Now, insert the remaining strip of 8 breakaway headers into the group of 8 plugs that are labled PWM plugs 0 through 7. Once again make sure that you are inserting the long ends of the breakaway headers into the Arduino.

Now, place the EL Escudo onto the short ends of the breakaway headers (there is only one way for this to happen).

IMPORTANT: For the following steps it is very important that you have a very steady set of hands. You will need to create very small and precise solders.

Solder the short ends of the breakaway headers to the EL Escudo board. MAKE SURE that you DO NOT allow any of the connections to touch eachother or you will have to start over and may even have to obtain a new EL Escudo is you cannot clean the solder off completely.


NOTE: for this step, orientate the EL Escudo so that the words "EL Driver" face you rightside up. 
In the area labeled "EL Driver" solder a short solid jumper wire from the right most hole of the two under the label "Inverter Output" to the right most hole of the two under the label "Raw Voltage"

Step 13: Connecting the Inverter for the EL Escudo

For this step you will need:
-One (1) power inverter (w/o 9v Snap Connector)
-Two (2) JST 2-Pin Connectors

First, solder the positive lead of one of your JST Connectors to the positive lead of the inverter (wire is colored red). Then, solder the negative lead of the same JST Connector to the negative lead of the inverter.

Next, cut off the male connector from the end of the power inverter and solder the positive lead of your other JST Connector to one of these wires. Solder the other wire to the negative lead of the JST Connector.

Make sure you insulate your connections with either electrical tape or heat shrink.

Finally, plug the JST Connector that is connected to the positive and negative leads of the power inverter into the "Raw Voltage" plug on the EL Escudo. Plug the Other JST Connector into the "Inverter Output" plug on the EL Escudo.

Step 14: Final Connections

Take the JST connector labeled "1" and plug it into the plug labeled "A" on the EL Escudo. Follow this by inserting the JST connector labeled "2" into the plug labeled "B" on the EL Escudo and so on and so forth until you insert the last JST connector (labeled "7") into the plug labeled "G" on the EL Escudo.

Next, take the 22 gauge solid wire you soldered to the negative leads of the LEDs in Step 10 and insert it into an available ground (GND) plug on the Arduino (there are two ground pins right by Digital pins 52 and 53).

Now, take the Positive DC Control pin lead wire from the relay and insert it into Digital Plug 53 on the Arduino.

Next, take one Positive LED lead and insert it into Digital Plug 50 on the Arduino. Insert the remaining Positive LED lead into Digital Plug 51 on the Arduino.

Step 15: Organizing the Wires

Using your discretion, gather wires close to each other together and use some sort of tape to connect them so you have a fewer number of leads. We suggest you group the wires together based off of where on the Arduino they end up being connected.

Step 16: Insulation

For this step you will need:
-One (1) piece of iron on fabric the same size as the black fabric with the EL Sheeting on it
-Scrap piece of fabric that is larger than the piece of iron on fabric
-Velcro

Sew four pieces of velcro onto the corners of the iron on fabric on the NON-ADHESIVE side.

Place the black fabric with the EL Sheeting on it face down on an ironing board. Next, make all the wire leads come out the right side of the fabric. Tape down the leads if needed to keep them in place. Next, place the iron on fabric over it. Make sure all the edges line up.

Next, place the scrap piece of fabric over the iron on fabric and use an iron to adhere the iron on fabric to the fabric with the EL Sheeting attached. MAKE SURE that you do not let the iron touch any of your wire leads. You can burn through a wire's insulation very easily with the iron.

Step 17: Attaching to the Shirt

Sew on the other four pieces of Velcro onto the front of the t-shirt. Make sure the pieces are aligned properly with the pieces on the front panel with all your electronics.

NOTE: Even if you use Velcro with adhesive on the back we suggest you still sew the Velcro on so that it will still be attached to the shirt after being washed.

Next, cut a hole in the front of the shirt that is just large enough to fit all of your wires through.

Next, turn the shirt inside out, and on the back of the shirt sew a pocket that is large enough to hold your Arduino + El Escudo, 4 9Vs, and your various wires.

Attach the front electronics panel to your shirt, feed your wires through the hole, store all your components in the pocket and you are set!