Halloween DIY Decoration

In my robotics class, we are making Halloween decorations using our new-found soldering techniques.

You will need:

A Styrofoam Tombstone (We got ours at the Dollar Tree)

Female to Female Jumper Wires ($2.75 at Amazon)

Female to Male Jumper Wires ($2.12 at Amazon)

A 9V Battery

A Velleman MK 102 Flashing LED Kit ($3 at Fry's)

8 Color Changing LED's ($.75 each at SparkFun)

Equipment:

Soldering Iron and Solder

Safety Goggles

Something to clean your Soldering Iron

A Phillips Screwdriver

Wire Cutters

*Make sure that you are in a well ventilated area!

Step 1: Follow Your Kit

Using your flashing LED kit, follow the instructions provided but DO NOT use their LED's.

Step 2: Use Your Jumper Wires

Where the LED slots are, insert your male to female jumper wires and solder.

*Remember that the slot on the outer end of board is positive!

Insert positive side of LED into the corresponding slot and insert the negative side into a female to female wire.

Continue this chain until you have 4 LED's connected through this method and attach the 4th LED to the other soldered wire.

Repeat on second LED slot.

*It is best to test your LED's by putting a battery in your battery clip and seeing if they light up or not. REMEMBER to unplug the battery from the battery clip. It is also a good idea to leave your LED's as wired for the next step.

Step 3: Use Your LED's

Because this tombstone is only Styrofoam, drilling will not be necessary and you can just insert and position the LED's to your liking.

However, this step can be tedious if not done correctly the first time or if your jumper wires are not long enough.

If you already inserted the LED's as described in the last step, then all you will need to do is unplug, insert, and plug back in.

Step 4: Finish!

Once you insert your LED's then you can choose to leave it as is or tape the motherboard to the back of the tombstone.

Insert the battery into the battery clip to turn it on and remove to turn it off.

Enjoy!