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.
No matter that we've been beating this website up for the better part of 6 months, you guys still find some bizarre bugs. Thanks to all that have been sending in the bug reports. We'll get the fly-swatter out Monday to squish them. Thanks again for all your (mostly very positive) feedback! Dave Hrynkiw, President
Oh the rain… Oh the 90% humidity… This is the monsoon that happens sometimes in Albertaland. The rain floods basements, frizzes hair, overflows rivers. What is doesn’t do is dryclean the basement carpets, straighten hair, and apply various agricultural procedures of soil draining. Neither it brings you cool links! Which are by some strange coincidence […]
It's officially hot outside. So if you're looking for an excuse to take a break, check out this week's batch of cool links: Artist to Cover Bay Bridge in Programmable LEDs The idea is to cover the San Francisco area Bay-Bridge with a bristling of white LED pixels. The conceptual video looks great, but having […]
Solarbotics just attended the MakeFashion Gala here in Calgary. It was a glowing show of glowing lights and wearable technology. Check out the photos in our Flickr stream. Photo courtesy George Dimitrov Photography Among all the other wonderful things we've seen using our string LEDs before, there was nothing quite as intense as these outfits. […]
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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.