These addressable LEDs are extremely small, less than 1/4 the size of a standard 5050 LED.
This project was built using engineering sample standard MicroNova 99 LED / meter strips . The MicroNova strips we are selling have 198/meter - twice the density!
Reason for a Choker necklace:
Hats have been done, shoes have been done, pendants have been done.
This is something new for a Valentine’s dance costume, so I decided to go with a choker design. I also wanted something that was interactive, something that would add another layer of WOW to just lighting.
Build:
I used a Wemos D1 Mini development board along with a boost-converting battery shield for the Wemos D1.
The battery shield was a particularly good choice here because the MicroNova LEDs should be supplied a solid 5VDC. This board boosts the battery voltage to 5V, and then the Wemos D1 Mini bucks it down to 3V3 for it's own operation.
A mini SPDT Slide switch toggles the power from the battery shield to the D1. This allows charging the battery using the battery shield USB connector while not powering the D1.
Epoxy locks the switch and wires in place.
The battery used is a conveniently handy older 450mAh Lithium Polymer. Depending on the lighting mode, this battery can power the necklace for a couple of hours.
I used elastic thread to attach the LED strip and components to the necklace. A heavy duty needle was all that was needed to punch through the (imitation) leather belt. Because the thread was elastic and tied under tension, it held the MicroNova strip well in place.
Operation:
When the choker powers up, it creates a WiFi Access Point called "HeartBurnChoker1".
Once I connected to this WiFi, I opened a browser and went to 192.168.4.1. The control interface is simple, but effective. The D1 Mini has more than ample power and speed to effectively drive these LEDs. The MicroNova features separate clock & data lines, so even relatively slow I/O (like Raspberry Pi) can still make it work.
Eric L. was so kind as to send us a link to a video of his Make 06 Trimet on YouTube. If you want to build your very own Trimet you can get all the parts here, and if you don't have the magazine, you can buy it here. Order both together and get 10% […]
Hey everyone, just a quick heads-up - there's was a bit of a technical hiccup with some account data, so we've had to clean out any stored addresses. We just know how much fun it is to type it in again, but fortunately any address that's used with an order will automatically get saved to […]
Well ladies and gentlemen, I'm sure we can all say at this point that our current website is in need of a bit of love (we certainly think so). Now's your chance to speak up and tell us what kind of shiny new features you'd like to see implemented in the new site. We've already […]
Dah-na nah-nuh “Turkey is tastey” Dah-na nah-nuh “With veggies and pastry” Dah-na nah-nuh. “Monday is Thanksgiving” Dah-na nah-nuh “...and our office will be CLOOOOSED...oh yeah” Canadian Thanksgiving is Monday October 13, 2008. Our office will be closed all day Monday, but never fear - we will roll ourselves back into work first thing on Tuesday […]
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Warning: This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm. Please visit www.P65Warnings.ca.gov for more information. This item was manufactured prior to August 31, 2018.