Sync LED to Music
Intro: Sync LED to Music
This is a very basic circuit for syncing LED's to music.
There are several issues:
1. You do not need a 9volt power source, I have used 3volts and it worked
2. Depending on your speakers system setup you will have turn the volume up very loud
- I have connected this to a Latte Ipearl mp3 player, the volume (0-32) had to be a 26 to get the LED to start to blink.
3. Make a amplifier to correct problems with volume having to be very loud.
4. I could not get this work using headphones; it did not work because I could not get the enamel of the headphone wires, so I cut open the headphone jack and connected my own wires.
5. If you have an equalizer you can adjust the different frequencies to and the LED will blink accordingly.
STEP 1: Connect and Enjoy.
Materials: (scavenge electronics if you can)
Power source - 3volts to 9volts should work
Resistor - 220ohm, though I have used 150k and it worked
LED
TIP31 NPN Transistor (Negative Positive Negative)
DO NOT HAVE POWER ON
1. Connect the resistor to the power and the positive side of the LED
2. Connect the negative (look for the flat side) of the LED to the center pin (collector) of the transistor
3. Connect the positive side of your audio signal to BASE on the transistor
4. Connect the negative side of your audio signal the Emitter of the transistor
5. Connect the negative side of your power source Emitter of the transistor
6. Turn on your power source, turn on you audio, turn up the volume and experiment with a equalizer (VLC player has one built in to the software and it is free)
STEP 2: Placement of TIP31 NPN
you may use a bread board or simply soldier each step
STEP 3: Be Positive
Connect positive pin of LED to center pin of transistor.
STEP 4: 220ohm Resistor
connect one end of resistor to negative pin of LED connect other end of resistor to power.
STEP 5: You're Grounded
Connect emitter (E) pin to ground
*ground is the negative of your power source or battery
*ground is the negative of your power source or battery
STEP 6:
Connect base (B) pin of transistor to positive line in audio.
STEP 7: You're Grounded Again
Negative from audio to ground on circuit
STEP 8: And Again
Negative of battery/power source
STEP 9: Something Positive
connect positive of battery/power source to circuit.
always good to connect power last so not as to fry anything.
always good to connect power last so not as to fry anything.
STEP 10: View From a Different Angle
STEP 11: Enjoy
I made a few changes before making the video, in the video the blue wire is negative from audio and the white/blue wire is positive from video
23 Comments
DiegoP113 7 years ago
Can I use a small npn transistor?
jeffronva 7 years ago
Can I do this using speaker wire instead of the line-in jack? I'm making a bluetooth boombox and I think this would be a nice addition.
vahire 10 years ago
can i use tip41
shoninshon 8 years ago
OvidiuA 9 years ago
This video does not exists.
Charlie Godfrey 10 years ago
jameswxm 10 years ago
wramirez 10 years ago
ehudwill 10 years ago
deleishen 11 years ago
mossDboss 13 years ago
This instructable is a remake of what of one
zatek made https://www.instructables.com/id/Sync-LEDs-to-music/
glomicilina 13 years ago
can you help me? :D
Thanks :D
mossDboss 13 years ago
does it work on your laptop if you turn the volume up high?
The project works with mp3 players only with the volume up real high.
Here is my theory
There is something with audio signals and speakers called impedance (I think that is the correct term), which means the signal and the speaker need to match (this matching gets into a realm I do not understand). for example not all mp3 players will match 8ohm speakers. that is just my guess
It was suggested to me to place a resistor between the LED and the Collector or center pin.
an idea i did have and might try is put a omp amp (many listed on instructables) and run the output of the amp to this circuit that, my hypothesis is that with the op amp the listening volume could remain low but the signal to the LED circuit would be high enough to flash the LEDS. I'll put it together soon and let you know. here is the instructable i followed in making to the op amp https://www.instructables.com/id/LM386-Audio-Amplifier/step3/Observe-Diagram/
Dibin M Dixit 11 years ago
RocketBurn11 12 years ago
And it would be awesome if I could adjust it, so when I blast the volume the LED's aren't just full blast all the time. Thanks
mossDboss 12 years ago
ernest950 12 years ago
RocketBurn11 12 years ago
That might exceed the 12v rating on my LED's, but then I could add a 12v voltage regulator.
ToOkiE14 12 years ago
i already finish my project..
dog digger 13 years ago