Introduction: Sound Activated LEDs
Ive always wanted lights to flash with the bass in my truck but the store bought lights don't work very well so I decided to build them myself. I used 100 each of red, green, and blue LEDs. I accidentally recorded upside down cause I had to use my ipod to record cause my camera doesn't have a mic.
Step 1: Required Materials
For this instructable you will need the following tools:
Wire cutters
Small Needle Nose Pliers
Solder
Solder gun
Solder clamp
300 LEDs (for me)
60 51 ohm resistors
Binder
Nail
Wire (I used speaker wire)
Step 2: Make Holes
First you need to cut the binder to the desired shape and put the required number of holes in it for your LED array. I used 300 LEDs so I cut two rectangular pieces of binder and put 300 holes in each (1 for positive and 1 for negative).
Step 3: Insert LEDs Into Proper Holes
Next you need to put the LEDs in the holes in a pattern you like. I put them RGBRGBRGB.
Step 4:
Next you twist the ends of the LEDs together leaving the first positive and last negative sticking out to the side. Make sure you do it like in the pic or it won't work right.
Step 5: Solder the Resistors
Next solder the resistors together to make a negative "line" and do the same with the positive side.
Step 6: Attach the Wires
Next you need to solder the wire to their respected sides. I originally planed on wiring them up to a sound module but it didn't supply enough power to light up all the LEDs so I just wired them directly to my subs.
Step 7: Install
To install this I pushed needles through the board and bent them so I could slide it into the headliner.
Step 8: Final Thoughts
Overall it turned out great but it was a little brighter than I thought luckily my amp is on a switch so I can turn it on and off whenever I want.
Participated in the
LED Contest
18 Comments
2 years ago on Step 4
It looks as if all of the colors flash at the same time to the music. How do you set them up to where different colors flash with different levels of sound? Higher sound brighter LEDs, lower sound like bass darker colored LEDs.
Reply 2 years ago
What I am wanting to do is build an old school music trip light that flashes to the different sounds of the music.
8 years ago on Introduction
Is there a way to do this without hooking the lights directly up to the speakers? Its for a wall art project in my house and I want to be able to move my speakers around
9 years ago on Introduction
sorry...but i cant understand..will your LED flash with sound?
11 years ago on Introduction
Im trying to do this in my house. But I want a strip not just a square of dense leds. So I was thinking of getting 600 leds like these below http://www.ebay.com/itm/5M-White-3528-SMD-LED-Flexible-Strip-600-leds-120-LEDS-M-500cm-/120827895789?pt=US_Car_Lighting&hash=item1c21e75fed Can I use them and will they work? And how do I plug them into my subwoofer with speaker wire into the line out? thanks
12 years ago on Introduction
stick the wires in to the amp input instead of the output they should work fine
13 years ago on Step 1
wouldn't running lights off the sub blow the amp? is it safe?
Reply 13 years ago on Step 1
No it wouldn't. I would be more concerned about the amp blowing the subs. Most amps put out well over over 12 volts to the subs. My amp puts out enough to run my computer if it wasn't A/C. I actually had to add a voltage regulator between the sub and the lights cause it outputted too much.
13 years ago on Introduction
Interesting idea, but i think there maybe a legal issue here. Flashing lights in the car maybe seen from the windows and other people may think your an undercover cop and other possibilities.. This is very risky.. Nice idea though.. maybe implement it somewhere else.
Reply 13 years ago on Introduction
people already think i'm an undercover cop cop. I drive a white tahoe with black rims and dark tint with antenna's on the roof. I removed them from the truck because the subs blew a few of the LEDs out.
Reply 13 years ago on Introduction
Glad you didn't get in trouble!
13 years ago on Introduction
Theres a little machine called a "light organ" that listens to your highs mids and lows and sends your adjusted settings to the lights. It'll save you from your amplifier woes. http://www.xkitz.com/catalog/color-light-organ-your-p-33.html
13 years ago on Introduction
There's no drive circuitry, what did you hook the LEDs up to? Is it wired directly to the subwoofer?
Reply 13 years ago on Introduction
Yes, they are wired directly to the sub which I found out today was a bad idea but I don't have any way of regulating the voltage from the subs to the LEDs. Yes I could put a voltage regulator on it but the voltage output to the subs can get as high as 80+ volts when the you turn it up. I don't want to fry the regulator.
Reply 13 years ago on Introduction
Well you could make a scaled up verion of this https://www.instructables.com/id/Music-LED-Light-Box/step6/Building-the-circuit/ given if you find a suitable transistor that works in the specified voltage range, this way you can detach (it's not really detached, but it's enough to not fry your LEDs, OR the sub) the LEDs from the sub, and it would work as a switch! Of course, as I didn't try it, it could have other issues, but maybe it gives you some ideas on how to protect the sub, and the LEDs!
13 years ago on Introduction
It's interesting that the LEDs are close enough together that in your video they look white! I wonder if a somewhat more complicated circuit, for example where you wire the three colors separately with delay lines (maybe as simple as an RC), could make for interesting effects.
Quite awesome!
Reply 13 years ago on Introduction
Thanks! I had to make the projects as compact and easy to install as possible. Maybe next time i'll tackle an equalizer made of LEDs.
13 years ago on Introduction
First, if you don't put a regular still image as the first image on a step, it leaves the thumbnail blank (and on your intro, that means the picture on the Recent Instructables page is blank).
Second, I see that you included an MPEG video. The Instructables site doesn't have any streaming video of its own. Instead, what they ask users to do is to upload their videos to any of the major services (YouTube, Google Video, Vimeo, Flickr, and so on), and then use the "embed code" function from those sites. When you're editing a step, you'll see a button for "add video", and with that you can paste in the embed codes and the video will appear in that step. Other than those issues this is a really cool project, and nicely written up.